|
2.2. What is parody. Requirements and main peculiarities of writing parody.
According toAristotle,Hegemon of Thasoswas the inventor of a kind of parody; by slightly altering the wording in well-known poems he transformed the sublime into the ridiculous. In ancientGreek literature, a parodia was a narrative poem imitating the style and prosody ofepics"but treating light, satirical ormockheroicsubjects".[5] Indeed, the components the Greek word are παρά para "beside, counter, against" and ᾠδή oide "song". Thus, the original Greek word παρῳδία parodia has sometimes been taken to mean "counter-song", an imitation that is set against the original. The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, defines parody as imitation "turned as to produce a ridiculous effect". Because par- also has the non-antagonistic meaning of beside, "there is nothing in parodia to necessitate the inclusion of a concept of ridickule". Old Comedy contained parody, even the Gods could be made fun of.The Frogsportrays the hero-turnedgodHeraclesas a Glutton and the God of DramaDionysusas cowardly and unintelligent. The traditional trip to the Underworld story is parodied as Dionysus dresses as Heracles to go to the Underworld, in an attempt to bring back a Poet to save Athens.
Romanwriters explained parody as an imitation of one poet by another for humorous effect. InFrenchNeoclassical literature, parody was also a type of poem where one work imitates the style of another to produce a humorous effect. TheAncient Greekscreatedsatyrplayswhich parodiedtragic plays, often with performers dressed like satyrs.
In the 20th century, parody has been heightened as the central and most representative artistic device, the catalysing agent of artistic creation and innovation. This most prominently happened in the second half of the century withpostmodernism, but earliermodernismandRussian formalismhad anticipated this perspective. For the Russian formalists, parody was a way of liberation from the background text that enables to produce new and autonomous artistic forms.
Jorge Luis Borges's (1939) short story "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote", is often regarded as predicting postmodernism and conceiving the ideal of the ultimate parody. In the broader sense of Greek parodia, parody can occur when whole elements of one work are lifted out of their context and reused, not necessarily to be ridiculed. Traditional definitions of parody usually only discuss parody in the stricter sense of something intended to ridicule the text it parodies. There is also a broader, extended sense of parody that may not include ridicule, and may be based on many other uses and intentions. The broader sense of parody, parody done with intent other than ridicule, has become prevalent in the modern parody of the 20th century. In the extended sense, the modern parody does not target the parodied text, but instead uses it as a weapon to target something else. The reason for the prevalence of the extended, recontextualizing type of parody in the 20th century is that artists have sought to connect with the past while registering differences brought bymodernity. Major modernist examples of this recontextualizing parody includeJames Joyce'sUlysses, which incorporates elements ofHomer'sOdysseyin a 20th-century Irish context, andT. S. Eliot'sThe Waste Land, which incorporates and recontextualizes elements of a vast range of prior texts, includingDante'sThe Inferno. The work ofAndy Warholis another prominent example of the modern "recontextualizing" parody. According to French literary theoristGérard Genette, the most rigorous and elegant form of parody is also the most economical, that is a minimal parody, the one that literally reprises a known text and gives it a new meaning.
Blank parody, in which an artist takes the skeletal form of an art work and places it in a new context without ridiculing it, is common.Pasticheis a closely relatedgenre, and parody can also occur when characters or settings belonging to one work are used in a humorous or ironic way in another, such as the transformation of minor charactersRosencrantz and
GuildensternfromShakespeare's dramaHamletinto the principal characters in a comedic perspective on the same events in the play (and film)Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. InFlann O'Brien's novelAt Swim-Two-Birds, for example, madKing Sweeney,Finn MacCool, apookah, and an assortment ofcowboysall assemble in an inn inDublin: the mixture of mythic characters, characters fromgenrefiction, and a quotidian setting combine for a humor that is not directed at any of the characters or their authors. This combination of established and identifiable characters in a new setting is not the same as thepost-modernisthabit of using historical characters in fiction out of context to provide a metaphoric element.
Sometimes the reputation of a parody outlasts the reputation of what is being parodied. For example,Don Quixote, which mocks the traditionalknight erranttales, is much better known than the novel that inspired it,Amadis de Gaula(although Amadis is mentioned in the book). Another notable case is thenovelShamelabyHenry Fielding(1742), which was a parody of the gloomyepistolary novelPamela, or Virtue Rewarded(1740) bySamuel Richardson. Many ofLewis Carroll's parodies of Victorian didactic verse for children, such as "You Are Old, Father William", are much better known than the (largely forgotten) originals.Stella Gibbons's comic novelCold Comfort Farmhas eclipsed the pastoral novels ofMary Webbwhich largely inspired it.
In more recent times, the television sitcom'Allo 'Allo!is perhaps better known than the dramaSecret Armywhich it parodies.
Some artists carve out careers by making parodies. One of the best-known examples is that of "Weird Al" Yankovic. His career of parodying other musical acts and their songs has outlasted many of the artists or bands he has parodied. Yankovic is not required under law to get permission to parody; as a personal rule, however, he does seek permission to parody a person's song before recording it.
Several artists, such as rapperChamillionaireand SeattlebasedgrungebandNirvanastated that Yankovic's parodies of their respective songs were excellent, and many artists have considered being parodied by him to be a badge of honor.
In the US legal system the point that in most cases a parody of a work constitutes fair use was upheld in the case ofRick Dees, who decided to use 29 seconds of the music from the song When Sonny Gets Blue to parodyJohnny Mathis' singing style even after being refused permission. An appeals court upheld the trial court's decision that this type of parody represents fair use.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
