Sad Truth or Funny Fiction? (Part 1)

When you told me you'd like to study a comedy this semester, I decided we should do two: American Movie and This Is Spinal Tap. I thought we could cover more ground that way. When we're done with the unit, you can say you saw (1) a documentary, (2) a parody, (3) a dark comedy, and (4) a straight comedy. So that's one reason why we're watching Tap.

There's another reason. There's one simple rule about parody that most recent parodies miss completely, and I'd like you to learn the rule. Ready? Here is comes...

The more similar a parody is to its source material,
the funnier it is.

That's it. That's the secret. And that's the reason why so many parodies are just...not...funny. For example:

Do you think this movie...

...actually looks like this movie?

And do you think this movie...

...looks anything like this movie?

You can tell just from the posters that the filmmakers have absolutely no idea what they're doing. If you want to make a funny horror movie, then you have to make a movie that actually looks like a horror movie! Or a superhero movie! Or a disaster movie! Or a romance! Or a...whatever!

Check out this next bunch. Can you guess which is NOT the parody?

Exactly. In fact, I'm not so sure they all aren't parodies. One more time.  Can you tell which of the following is the 21st century parody, and which are the 1970s originals?

You can barely tell. That's because the filmmakers understood the foundation of what they were making fun of; they weren't simply taking cheap shots at the most obvious aspects of their satiric target.

This is why I think This Is Spinal Tap is so successful. I think it looks, sounds, and feels like a real documentary. So, do you agree? Give some support to your response. Pick some moments from the film that either feel very real, or not real at all. Compare it to moments of American Movie in terms of realism and tone.

Also, can you think of any other parodies that support my rule? In other words, can you think of any parodies that work because that look and feel like their source material, and can you think of any that fail because they don't? Hey, can you think of any that break my rule? That I'd be interested in hearing about!