Parody | Creative Writing, Definition & Examples
A parody is a creative work that imitates and exaggerates an existing work, person, or style. It takes recognizable elements from the original and zooms in on them. The goal can be to entertain, comment on the original, or criticize aspects of it.
All parodies build on existing works, genres, or people as their source material. It is always a response to something that came before it. By transforming familiar elements, it creates something new while relying on the audience to recognize the original reference.
Parodies can take many different forms, including musical, literary, political, film, and TV parody.
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What is a parody?
A parody is a creative work that mimics or exaggerates another person, work, or style. This is generally done for comic effect. It highlights certain features, taking recognizable elements from the original and exaggerating them.
The original work that is imitated in the parody is often called the target. This can be a specific song, movie, book, advertisement, celebrity, political speech, or artistic style. For a parody to work, the audience generally needs to recognize what is being imitated.
Humor is usually not the only purpose of a parody. It can also be used to critique, question, or comment on the original work or the ideas associated with it. By exaggerating a particular feature, the creator can make an audience notice something that might otherwise go under the radar.
- Imitation: It copies an already existing and recognizable style or form of work.
- Humor: It exaggerates specific traits to create a humorous effect.
- Commentary: It provides a critique of the original.
- Exaggeration: It takes elements from the original and makes them way more extreme.
Types of parody
Parodies can take many different forms. They can appear in literature, poetry, film, television, music, visual art, theater, advertising, social media, and online videos.
Film and TV parody
Film and TV parody is a comedic work that imitates and exaggerates movies, television shows, characters, or styles. It takes specific elements of a work and pushes them to an absurd and humorous extreme.
Film and TV parodies usually come in the forms of:
- Movie parody: Imitates a specific movie, often exaggerating its characters, dialogue, or plotline
- Genre parody: Mocks the conventions and clichés of an entire genre
- TV show parody: Imitates a recognizable television program, format, or characters
- Character parody: Exaggerates the personality, mannerisms, or appearance of a character
- Scene parody: Recreates a memorable scene while making its original characteristics more ridiculous
- Scary Movie: Parodies horror films
- Airplane!: Parodies disaster movies
- Austin Powers: Parodies spy films and characters
- The Simpsons: Frequently uses parody to imitate movies, TV shows, celebrities, and popular culture
- The Naked Gun: Uses exaggerated comedy to parody police and detective films
Literary parody
Literary parody is a form of parody that imitates the writing style, themes, characters, or conventions of another literary work or genre. It can be created for entertainment, but it can also be used to comment on or critique particular elements of a work.
Literary parody usually comes in the form of:
- Author parody: Imitates the distinctive writing style, structure, or recurring themes of an author
- Genre parody: Mocks the conventions of a literary genre
- Work parody: Reimagines a specific literary work
- Character parody: Takes recognizable fictional characters and exaggerates their characteristics
- Style parody: Imitates a particular literary style or tradition without necessarily targeting one specific author or work
- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: Satirizes the conventions of medieval chivalric romances
- Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift: Uses elements of travel literature while turning them into social and political commentary
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith: Combines Jane Austen’s novel with the conventions of zombie fiction
- Bored of the Rings by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney: Parodies J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
Musical parody
Musical parody is a form of parody that imitates a recognizable song, artist, genre, or performance style. It takes certain elements of a work and exaggerates them for comic effect. This can be accomplished by changing lyrics, imitating a vocal style, or exaggerating characteristics of a genre. Because music is often highly recognizable, even the smallest changes to a familiar song can make the parody immediately identifiable.
Musical parodies usually come in the forms of:
- Song parody: Uses the melody or structure of a recognizable song with new or altered lyrics
- Artist parody: Exaggerates the vocal style, appearance, or performance associated with a particular artist
- Genre parody: Mocks the conventions of a musical genre
- Music video parody: Recreates the style, choreography, costumes, or narrative of a recognizable music video
- Performance parody: Exaggerates the way a song or genre is performed
- Eat It by “Weird Al” Yankovic: A parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” that changes the original song into a comedy about food
- White & Nerdy by “Weird Al” Yankovic: Uses the style and structure of contemporary hip-hop to humorously portray stereotypical nerdy interests
- The Lonely Island: a comedy trio creating songs and music videos that parody pop, hip-hop, and contemporary music culture
- Flight of the Conchords: a comedy duo imitating and exaggerating different musical genres and performance styles
Political parody
Political parody is a form of parody that imitates politicians, political speeches, campaigns, and advertisements. It often exaggerates recognizable patterns, mannerisms, and slogans to make a political point.
Political parody can be particularly effective because politicians often rely on recognizable visual and verbal conventions. A parody can reproduce these conventions and make the absurdity or contradictions more noticeable.
Political parody usually comes in the forms of:
- Politician parody: Imitates a politician’s appearance, voice, or mannerisms
- Speech parody: Recreates the structure and language of a political speech while exaggerating its rhetoric or subject matter
- Campaign parody: Mocks political campaigns, slogans, or advertisements
- Political news parody: Imitates the format and presentation style of television news or political commentary
- Saturday Night Live: Frequently uses political sketches to parody politicians and political news
- The Daily Show: Uses parody to comment on political news, politicians, and the way current events are presented by the media
- Yes Minister: Uses political comedy to exaggerate the language, bureaucracy, and conventions of government
Related terms
The word parody is often used interchangeably with other similar terms. While these concepts overlap, there are some important differences in their meaning and purpose.
| A satire uses humor to criticize broader human behavior, social issues, or political ideas. | A parody imitates and builds on a recognizable work or genre. Its source is usually more specific. |
| A pastiche imitates the style or characteristics of another artist, often as an homage. | A parody usually adds exaggeration, humor, or commentary. This can be in a positive or negative light. |
| A caricature exaggerates specific physical features or mannerisms. | A parody can appear in virtually any creative medium. |
| A spoof is a broader term for a comic. imitation that makes fun of a recognizable subject. | A parody is a more specific form of imitation that transforms recognizable elements of an existing work, person, or genre. |
Frequently asked questions about parody
- What is the definition of spoof?
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Spoof is a broad term for humorous imitations of a work, genre, or person. It exaggerates recognizable elements of the original.
Spoof and parody overlap significantly, and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. However, parody usually refers to a specific work, while spoof can be used more broadly to describe humorous imitations of genres or trends.
For example, the comedy film Scary Movie is a spoof of the horror genre. It imitates and exaggerates common horror conventions and scenes from popular horror films.
Other terms with similar meanings are “satire,” “pastiche,” and “caricature.”
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- What are examples of parodies?
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Parodies come in many different forms. They can appear in literature, poetry, film, TV, music, visual art, and online content.
Some examples of the main types of parody are:
- Film and TV parody: Scary Movie.
- Literary parody: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.
- Music parody: Eat It by “Weird Al” Yankovic.
- Political parody: The American show Saturday Night Live.
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