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Old 09-01-2004, 02:21 AM   #2
Estelyn Telcontar
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Lalwendė's post:

I wouldn't say parody and satire are the same thing, although sometimes they can be combined. "The Soddit", "Bored of the Rings", "Barry Trotter", these are all straight parodies as they're based on a pre-existing work. Another example might be where French & Saunders take off famous films. A true satire is a comment on something in history or society, such as Kurt Vonnegut's novels or "Gulliver's Travels". Comedy shows such as The Day Today combine both - parodies of characters and TV formats with satirical comment.

Now, I find parody quite funny, but I also find it gets tiresome after a while, and I start to wonder why the writer or comedian could not come up with their own original material. For that reason I've been really wary of the Tolkien parodies, I suspect they would be kind of...unsatisfying, although I wouldn't say an absolute no to reading them.

When certain comedians take off LOTR it can be funny. I found the Avid Merrion sketches quite funny - although obviously not written by someone with real knowledge of the books or films. And I like the Orange cinema advert with Sean Astin. All in all, I think the best parodies are the briefest ones.


davem's post:

I suppose Lalwende has said it all. Generally I find parody boring & unconvincing, but most of all its cheap. I distinguish it from satire, I suppose, which I usually understand to be more subtle.

Its Tolkien parodies that don't interest me specifically, as they are almost never well done. Of course, there are always exceptions!

At Oxonmoot two years ago we were presented with The Reduced Silmarillion, which was hilarious, because it was written & performed by people who knew the book. Its difficult to give a true flavour of the thing, but all the parts were played by men (Luthien Tinuvial being played by a guy in a blonde wig was something to see), Ulmo was a three foot high inflatable penguin, & in the Last Battle Morgoth's dragons were paper aeroplanes. Farce, yes, but deeply moving in its own way (& to be repeated at Tolkien 2005.) Though, to be honest, what I especially liked about that was that it depended on the audience having a real knowledge of the book.

I suppose my position is that I'm not against parodies as such, they're just not my thing.


Mithalwen's post:

I did like Bored of the Rings - with the proviso that not being American or quite old enough... some of the jokes missed their mark ...whereas the French and Saunders and Dead Ringers skits made me howl with laughter as did the online secret diaries ..... I bough the Barry Trotter but couldn't get past the first few pages so I didn't go for the soddit.... However I must admit that I have indulged in parody writing in my time


Hookbill the Goomba's post:

There are two types of Parodies, a direct parody, and an indirect parody. The Latter is a humorous take on a particular genre, where as a direct parody is what it says, directly parodying a single thing, Book/ TV program/ Film ect.
I think it’s fairly obvious which one this is...

Apparently the Sellamillion (Sell a million, w00t! Just noticed that!) Will not be as a direct parody as the others were. Although there will be a parody of Beren and Luthien. The rest will be made up gibberish I expect.


Encaitare's post:

Anyway, it's true that most parodies are done pretty poorly. But I have read a few that have made me laugh hysterically, my favorites being a monosyllabic version of FotR and the "Gat Gandizzle" parody over at stupidring.com which makes everyone act all "gangsta." I can see, though, why some people are against such parodies, as they are pretty much belittlement of the original work.
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Last edited by Estelyn Telcontar; 09-01-2004 at 02:28 AM.
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