User:Caprilee

The World Of Parodies

Introduction It is very difficult to find a media consumer who is disinterested in being entertained humorously. Consider all of the sitcom television shows that have been launched to viewers over the past few decades: Friends, Seinfeld, The Cosby Show, King of Queens, The Office, Modern Family. These are all examples of fictional families and communities that tell amusing stories viewers can relate too. It is mostly because that connection is created between character and audience through existing context that the scenarios appear humorous. Although sitcoms are not parodies, this same concept exists within the genre. This idea of creating humor from something that is not humorous has become so in demand that there are multiple web channels for consumers to share their parodic and sataristic art. This paper will illustrate what parodies are and what it is about them that viewers find so amusing. It will explore the different genres in which a parody can collaborate with and the legal issues that they may arise while creating them.

Where do Parodies Belong?

Where do parodies fit in next to other varieties of comedic entertainment? “There is no scholarly consensus on how, exactly, to define parody and how to distinguish it from other genres and formats such as satire, pastiche, mash-ups and remix” (Bergh, Le, Quilliam, 2011, P.3). This flexibility allows parody media to never be subject to just one topic and therefore it can be open to all works of art and media including interests, genres or themes. Author of Pop Politics: Online Parody Videos, Intertexuality, and Political Participation Chuck Tryon, explores how parodies work: ”Most parodies reiterate elements of the original video [art work] if only to create a point of departure from the original, but the primary techniques are inversion, in which the video maker inverts the meaning of the original by adding new elements, and exaggeration…”(Tryon, 2008P.6). This genre begins by taking universal concepts that audiences already understand and then processed to overstress certain features and points to create absurdity. This can be done through a variety of ways. “Parodic techniques involve various combinations of imitation and alteration: direct quotation, alteration of words, textual rearrangement, substitution of subjects or characters, shifts in diction, shifts in class, shifts in magnitude,” (Hariman, 2008, P.4). There are many elements one can add or subtract from whatever or whoever is being altered or imitated as long as the audience can comprehend the original source that is being inverted and exaggerated.

This notion of amusement can be found on many late night television programs. An article from the International Journal of Advertising explains that, “An important drive for this [the article’s] multi-phase study was the long tradition of ad parodies in professional media outlets such as Mad Magazine and Saturday Night Live with the growth of social media and amateur production on the internet. This confluence gave the opportunity of parody commercials to non-media professionals including end users or other kinds of amateurs and ‘media professionals outside of their professional routines and practices’” (Bergh, Le, Quilliam, 2011, P.2). Television shows like Mad TV and SNL opened up doors for anyone to poke fun at products, celebrity figures, political issues and other well known themes. The online channels like YouTube enforce the idea of a prosumer where users can produce and share their material to the world as well as consume other user’s art. “The internet has enabled more people to engage in information and cultural production and dissemination, with even fewer barriers to participation” (Ellie, 2007, P.2). The combination between mainstream media parody and social networking parody has proven the interest behind this phenomenon to be very immense.

Popular Uses of Parody

As mentioned before, parodies can be used in many different ways. Arguably the most successful uses of the technique are performed when paired with themes that are very well known to the audience and in which audiences have easy access too. This paper will examine two very popular parody designs: news parody and advertisement parody. These are just two examples in which this form of humor can be performed. Parodies can also be combined with more than one genre like activist advertisements. This is simply specifying what kind of commercial is being worked with.

Saturday Night Live is a show that is build around parody and satire. It is and has been very well known for its ‘weekend update’ segment piece. This is a skit where comics on the show sit at a news desk, take bits of actual news, put their own twist on it and add a punch line. The article Live From New York, It's the Fake News! Saturday Night Live and the (Non)Politics of Parody from Popular Communication provides an overview of where this field of entertainment originated; “News parody was, of course, not invented by SNL. In broadcast history, comic commentary on the news dates back to radio. On television, there were several examples of genre-blending satirical news programming in the 1960s that lived somewhere between real news reportage and satire by irreverently interpreting the news of the week, notably, That Was The Week That Was in Britain and later the United States and This Hour Has Seven Days in Canada” (Day, Thompson, 2012, P.5). Along with Saturday Night Live, dozens of other late night talk shows spend the majority of their programs making fun of current events and news. Examples of these late night programs are The Daily Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live. There are similar versions of these programs in many countries and therefore each have unique qualities so that their news jokes can always be relevant to their audiences “…news parody appears as a truly universal phenomenon; in any culture where television is used as a means of disseminating authoritative information about the real, parody- what some have labeled, or mislabeled “fake news”—plays an increasingly important discursive function,” (Baym, Jones, 2012 P. 4). What the Authors of News Parody in Global Perspective: Politics, Power, and Resistance are saying is that news parody in the media keeps an eye on what important figures and organizations are doing in societies. Traditional news channels and broadcasts can typically be one sided but news parodies show events and people in different lights for viewers to see. “News parody thus often serves a watchdog function by monitoring and exposing media excess and artifice, strategically aiming its sights on the machinery of news and current affairs programming that routinely make claims on the real. So, too, does parody quite often use the form of news to take aim at its discourse—at the rhetoric of officialdom that is regularly circulated and amplified by television news” (Baym, Jones, 2012, P. 4). Most of these shows are on daily throughout the work week and because they use real current events, material is endless. The style and news topics vary depending on where the show is being aired. However, no matter where viewers are, if they are watching late night news hosted by a comedian, they can trust in knowing their best interests are being kept in mind.

The shows mentioned above have also been known to incorporate parodies about advertisements as well. This form of parody is popularly shared within online worlds more so than news parody. Advertisement parodies can be used simply for comedic purposes but it can also be used to prove an obvious point to viewers. The authors of The Multidimensional Nature and Brand impact of User-generated ad Parodies in Social Media uses the example of the MacBook Air parody commercial as an example of this. “…the selling point is that the MacBook Air is so thin that you can put it inside a manila envelope. Using the same video, the parody of the spot re-dubs the voiceover to tell the viewer you cannot do a lot of things you can do with an ordinary laptop because it does not have an internal disk drive. You cannot play CDs or DVDs but you can impress friends at parties by challenging them to be able to put their laptops inside an envelope, like you can with your $3000 MacBook Air” (Bergh, Le, Quilliam, 2011, P.2). What this parody does that the mainstream ad it mimics fails to do (like most ads) is mention the product’s flaws. Yes the MacBook Air is much more compact than a normal laptop, but that is because it lacks important hardware most consumers need. These, like news parodies have been circulating media streams for years now. This type of advertising has its positives and negatives whether it be to poke fun at a product or service or to simply create an entertaining commercial. “At the present time the full effects of humorous commercials seem difficult to predict…as it is sometimes argued that detracts from message recall…None the less, humour is often found to have a number of positive effects including increased audience attention and creating positive emotion,” (Carmack, H.J., 2011 P.3). There is always the risk of audiences not finding an ad to be funny but what would be worse is finding oneself liable for committing a legal offence in the process of producing or airing one’s material. The Legal Issues of Parodies

Channels such as Youtube that thrive off of parodic entertainment have made it possible for just about anyone to be able to create and share their own pieces of art. That being said if anyone is posting whatever they want, they might find themselves in legal binds. “Borrowing copyrighted material without permission is legal provided the purpose of the use is to comment on or to criticise the original work…Since a parodic transformation can be reasonably perceived as a comment or criticism, than a parody can fall into the category of “fair use” which does not infringe on the rights of the copyright holder” (Johnson, Zinkhan, 1994 P.3). This is a simplified explanation on how parody works according to copyright. As soon as a copyright holder believes an artist to be within infringement of their work, the Supreme Court must consider four factors: “(1) the purpose or character of the use; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantially of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work” (Johnson, Zinkhan, 1994 P.4).

Parodies can also come into trouble involving trademark laws “…First, the court must find that the parodied mark is a valid mark entitled to trademark protection. Then, if the court finds that the parodists use of that mark is likely to cause confusion in the eyes of consumers as to the origin or sponsorship of that mark, the parodist will be liable for trademark infringement” (Yoon, 2002, P.5). As one might imagine, it would be very easy for someone become liable for either of these offenses. When teens or anyone who is not familiar with laws such as these, post their videos on the web, they can find themselves in some serious legal trouble. These are just two examples of how parodies can violate laws. Conclusion

Parodies can come in all shapes and sizes. That is because their main purpose is to mimic an original piece of art or media, exaggerate it a transform it for viewers and audiences to observe in a humorous light. The popular genres vary with creativity and ideas but nonetheless they cross over the all media platforms. Online producers and main stream producers all run the risk of becoming tangled up in legal implications that can arise with composing work from already existing work. Parodies exist to entertain but it is also important to remember that they serve a larger purpose: To continuously offer viewers different perspectives of news and advertisements everywhere. Media plays an important role in societies in that is shapes the majority of what we think, do, wear, and buy. This is a large power that can go overlooked. Parodies are there to remind these societies that media is not the be all that ends all.

References

Baym, G., Jones, J.P., 2012. News Parody in Global Perspective: Politics, Power, and Resistance Communication, Vol. 6 Issue 4, P. 2 Bergh, V., Lee, B.,Quilliam, M., Thomas, E.H., 2011. The multidimensional nature and brand impact of user-generated ad parodies in social media. International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 30 Issue 1, P. 4 Carmack, H.J., 2011.,Everythang's Gonna Be All White: The Fightin' Whities' Use of Parody and Incongruity for Social Change. Florida Communication Journal, Vol. 39 Issue 2, P. 3 Day, A., Thompson, E., 2012. Live From New York, It's the Fake News! Saturday Night Live and the (Non)Politics of Parody. Popular Communication, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, P.5 Ellie, R., 2007. Community Media in the Prosumer Era. Journal of Community, Citizen's & Third Sector Media & Communication, Issue 3, p25-32, P.2 Hariman, R., 2008. Political Parody and Public Culture.. Quarterly Journal of Speech, Vol. 94 Issue 3, P.4 Johnson. M., Zinkhan, G.M., 1994. The use of Parody in Advertising. Journal of Advertising, Vol. 23 Issue 3, pIII-VIII, P.3-4 Tryon, C., 2008. Pop Politics: Online Parody Videos, Intertexuality, and Political Participation. Popular Communication, Vol. 6 Issue 4, P.6 Yoon, T, 2002. Legal Considerations When Consumer Opinion Web Sites Parody Companies or Brands. Communications & the Law, Vol. 24 Issue 4, P. 5