We explain what a parody is, its origin and the characteristics of each type. Also, examples of parodies throughout history.
What is a parody?
A kind of satire or burlesque imitation of a artistic work, or in any other way speech, in which he often makes use of the irony and exaggeration, for humorous purposes. This word comes from ancient Greek (paroideia), specifically voices for ("Against" or "next to") and ode ("singing").
Parody exists in absolutely all artistic and discursive genres. It is a practice whose history dates back to a certain type of song in Greek antiquity, the purpose of which was to make fun of the contents or the forms of the poems epic or tragic of the great authors.
Is tradition it was incorporated by the Romans and later assimilated into the different western artistic traditions, in which it is part of the most transgressive and irreverent genres.
Roughly speaking, parody can be classified into three different types, depending on what they are scoffing at:
- Parody of artistic works, such as literary parody, which humorously and ironic imitates other artistic works, exaggerating their forms and caricaturing their contents. This type of parody occurs in all artistic genres.
- Parody of historical figures, in which the character in question is copied by exaggerating his physical features, his general behavior or his methods of thought, thus achieving a comedic and often transgressive effect.
- Parody of ideas, which takes a certain topic and enacts it in a mocking or ironic way, or takes it to an extreme point to emphasize its weaknesses or possible consequences.
On the other hand, there are two ways of exercising parody: from the bottom up or from the top down. In the first case, a "low" or vulgar issue is taken, and raised in a high or refined way. While in the second, the procedure is the reverse: a "high" issue is taken and raised in a vulgar way.
Examples of parody
Examples of parodic artistic works are:
- Don Quijote of La Mancha, novel by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) who parodies medieval knighthood novels.
- Gulliver's Travels, satirical novel by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) that pokes fun at the travel accounts of the literature of the time.
- A musical joke, burlesque musical composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), in which he mocks many of his contemporaries.
- The Great Dictator, a film by Charles Chaplin (1889-1977) that makes fun of Adolf Hitler and the esthetic Y rhetoric of fascism German.