Line #37 Main/SpoofedTheIronicFilmSeriously


1	->''"They shouldn't satirise the ''show'', though. It was ''already'' tongue-in-cheek. This is a sendup of a sendup, so it's cancelling itself out."''
2	-->-- '''Nick Setchfield''', ''SFX'' magazine, on ''Film/TheAvengers1998'' as a remake of [[Series/TheAvengers1960s the TV show]].
3
4	Parodies often delight in pointing out works' contradictions and silly nature. But sometimes, parodies mistakenly spoof a work that's ''intentionally'' contradictory or silly. The spoof writer misses the point of the original, mocking it for entirely intended qualities.
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6	Similarly, parodies often play with original works by throwing in silliness of their own. But the writer may underestimate the original's capacity for incongruous situations, characterization or dialogue, falsely thinking such elements will necessarily parody the source. The result is a silly work but one that duplicates the original rather than mocking it.
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8	Compare SpoofingSpoofiness, when a spoof knowingly mocks a work's ironic qualities. See also RedundantParody, which occurs when a parody unwittingly reproduces an exact joke from the original.
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10	Contrast ShallowParody, which is when a work spoofs another work for qualities that it didn't really have to begin with.
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12	----
13	!!Examples:
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15	[[foldercontrol]]
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17	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
18	* The cancelled-after-one-chapter story ''Manga/CheatSlayer'' claimed isekai protagonists were terrible people, shown through some ''very'' unflattering CaptainErsatz versions of notable isekai characters. One of the characters shown is a parody of Aqua from ''Literature/{{Konosuba}}''... apparently unaware that ''Konosuba'' was already a parody of the genre, and its protagonist, Kazuma, is a [[LoserProtagonist self-centered loser]] who is respected by no one.
19	** Another character is a parody of Subaru from ''Literature/ReZero'', which while not being a straight-up parody, is more of a GenreDeconstruction where Subaru’s beliefs about isekai cliches are shown to be wrong and he has to learn to be a better person the hard way.
20	[[/folder]]
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22	[[folder:Fan Works]]
23	* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' played the ''Ginyu Force'' as a parody of the Franchise/SuperSentai series. The Ginyu Force in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' already ''were'' Sentai parodies, so they didn't actually add anything new with that. They did soon branch out though, with Recoome becoming wrestling personified, Jeice taking his being a Space Australian to extremes, Burter being extremely self-conscious about his speed and wanting to be special, and Guldo ending up becoming their resident ButtMonkey.
24	* ''Fanfic/EigaSentaiScanranger'' had [[http://www.oocities.org/tetsuokurata/epi33.html a chapter]] that attempted to parody spy movies, with each of the heroes becoming a pastiche of a well-known character in the genre. The thing is one of them becomes [[Film/AustinPowers Boston Powered, New England Man of Mystery,]] and the villain is even outright compared to Dr. Evil. During the big fight scene, he even uses his powers to become Fat Bastard. [[OldShame The chapter was noticeably left out when the story was re-posted elsewhere,]] with even the chapter numbers and teasers deliberately moved around to exclude it.
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26
27	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
28	* ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'' had the same problem in spoofing a [[Film/LethalWeapon film series]] that obviously didn't take itself all that seriously to begin with. Creator/RogerEbert pointed out the flaw in sending up [[Film/LethalWeapon2 a movie]] that featured [[TheCanKickedHim an exploding crapper.]]
29	* The first ''Film/ScaryMovie'' got some flak for parodying [[Film/{{Scream}} a movie series]] that was already meant to be a satire of the SlasherMovie genre. It works mostly because ''Scream'' itself [[IndecisiveParody doesn't really seem sure whether it's meant to be a parody]] and seemed more like a straight entry of the genre at times, and because ''Scary Movie'' also parodied a lot of serious examples of the genre.
30	* The similar horror spoof ''Film/ShriekIfYouKnowWhatIDidLastFridayTheThirteenth'' received some of the same criticism. Sometimes mistakenly referred to as a parody of ''Scary Movie'' in turn (a parody of a parody of a satire?), it's actually an original spoof of ''Scream'' and similar movies which just happened to be created around the same time.
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33	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
34	* One of the very last Creator/BobHope specials on NBC tried to lampoon the 1989 ''Film/{{Batman\|1989}}'' movie, and had Hope done up as Creator/JackNicholson's Joker. The dialogue had a light, derisive tone that evidently conflicted with the writers' view of serious superheroes and supervillains. Actually, the Joker takes this exact tone (he is named "the Joker" after all) and even volleyed [[RedundantParody the same sort of insults]] in the real movie as those the special featured.
35	* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil parodies often ignore the fact that the shows are often extremely funny and not simply two hours of posing and pretentiousness.
36	* A particular problem with British comedy shows in TheEighties was impressionists "doing" people like "Dame Edna Everage", "[[Series/SomeMothersDoAveEm Frank Spencer]]" and "[[Franchise/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]]", completely ignoring the fact that these were already comedy caricatures created by Creator/BarryHumphries, Creator/MichaelCrawford, and Creator/PeterSellers respectively, leaving absolutely nothing left to parody.
37	* Parodies of the Energizer Bunny, which tend to forget that one of the Bunny's original gimmicks was [[CommercialSwitcheroo interrupting absurd parody commercials]]. That they all make the same joke (stretching the "it keeps going and going" line until it becomes annoying) doesn't help.
38	* ''Series/MadTV1995'' did a parody music of Music/{{Jewel}}'s ''Intuition'' video and ''0304'' pop album, labeling her a pop sellout... except that video and album were satire of the then-current teen pop trend. The [[http://youtu.be/8Ilh1ewceco Intuition original video]] featured such mockery as texts reading "Jewel's voice sounds much better now that she's dancing" and a pyrotechnics performance that ended with the fire department's arrival.
39	* Andrea Martin of ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' once remarked that the only show they couldn't spoof was ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' because they couldn't come up with any situation that was more ridiculous than what the show already did.
40	* In the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode guide, the writers admit that ''Film/CatalinaCaper'' was one of the hardest episodes to write, being an unfunny musical comedy, thus making it difficult to effectively mock. One of ''[=MST3K=]'''s several {{Spiritual Successor}}s, ''Podcast/RiffTrax'', sets a policy of never featuring comedy movies for this precise reason.
41	* Most parodies of ''Series/Batman1966'' starring Creator/AdamWest. Even a cursory look will show it wasn't meant to be taken seriously and was, in fact, itself parodying comics of [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks the time]] and the '40s Batman serials.
42	* ''[[Creator/MuchMusic Fromage]]'' often fell into this, much to the chagrin of its bitter chain-smoking host Ed the Sock, where fans would pressure him to riff on ''deliberately'' cheesy music videos. He'd call them out every time, pointing out that ''Fromage'' was there to call out songs that weren't meant to be cheesy.
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45	[[folder:Magazines]]
46	* This was practically the specialty of ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' Magazine:
47	** Several ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' parodies, apart from some BreakingTheFourthWall moments, could pass for real episodes. The corny dialogue was so dead on, some might wonder if the actual ''Mork and Mindy'' writers made them.
48	** In later years, their ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' parody pretty much played it straight as well - nothing at all like ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' and its constant LampshadeHanging, [[NoFourthWall fourth-wall demolition]] and hilarious DeusExMachina endings.
49	** Cracked did a parody of ''Film/HotShots'' once. Yes, a parody [[Film/TopGun of a parody]]. They did ''Film/TheNakedGun'' films as well.
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52	[[folder:Music]]
53	* There's a "response" to Music/TheLonelyIsland's "Jizz In My Pants" called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJsQcnB6GC0 "Puke In My Mouth"]]. Those behind it fail to see the original was a parody, [[SelfDeprecation self-deprecating]] and ''actually funny''. The result is you get a bunch of attractive women who spend the entire song mocking ''other'' people.
54	* Numerous parodies of The Lonely Island's track "I'm On a Boat", ignore the fact that the original song was itself a parody of materialistic hip-hop themed around ostentatious displays of wealth and luxury.
55	* Music/RayStevens' song "Teenage Mutant Kung Fu Chickens" spoofed ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', which was itself a parody of Creator/FrankMiller's ''Ronin'' among others. There was also a whole genre of ''Ninja Turtles'' [[TeenageMutantSamuraiWombats parody knockoffs]] of which Stevens appears unaware when he made his own parody knockoff.
56	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk Cakewalk]] song and dance numbers performed in MinstrelShows by white dancers in {{blackface}} are a parody of a particular style of dance held by black former slaves on plantations. However, the type of dance they're parodying is itself a parody of dances performed by white plantation owners.
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59	[[folder:Video Games]]
60	* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'': Senpai, the opponent of Week 6, was based on a combination of arrogant pretty boy characters and RomanceGame archetypes. One inspiration [=PhantomArcade=] names directly is Tamaki Suoh of ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', a series that itself played shoujo romance manga tropes of the day for laughs.
61	* Pretty much all the stuff that's played for laughs (like stupid guards and rescuing hostages on the toilet) in ''Mesal Gear Solid'', the VideoGame/MetalGear parody in ''VideoGame/ApeEscape 3'', is stuff that was played for laughs (or at least played non-seriously) in the actual series. The ending line of the PAL version ("I go wherever the wind takes me. So long as war never ends, I will always have a place in this world.") would not sound remotely out of place in the actual games - the canon is already so [[PoesLaw deliberately over-the-top]] that it's pretty much impossible to parody.
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64	[[folder:WebOriginal]]
65	* ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' will often take comedic moments or sometimes ''entire comedies'' and treat them as if they were meant to be taken seriously. For instance, his review of ''Film/LastActionHero'' doesn't give the slightest indication he knows the film was supposed to be a comedy, and in his review of ''Film/Godzilla1998'' he goes on a minutes-long rant about why he doesn't understand the inclusion of the line [[CaptainObvious "That's a lot of fish"]] when the asinine nature of the line was meant to be the joke. He also acknowledges the possibility that ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' is a StealthParody (it is), but spends the rest of the review taking it deadly seriously and criticizing its over-the-top fascistic elements.
66	* Creator/DougWalker explained in his list of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkhHcjcg7ec Top 11 Movies I'll Never Review]]'' this is the reason he'll never review ''Film/KillerKlownsFromOuterSpace'' or ''Film/AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes'':
67	--> '''Doug:''' It's ''meant'' to be bad, guys! It's like reviewing ''Film/EvilDead2'' or ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness''! There's no point! It makes fun of itself! It's supposed to be silly!
68	* Various paleontology personalities known for making fun of poor paleoart or reconstructions have been known to mock [[https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8BV0y0a9GAs/UjivJEnd5HI/AAAAAAAADGw/ejXOJ5H1Ars/s640/Fakes.jpg this image]] of "Aeolosaurus", supposedly an ankylosaur that could glide like a flying squirrel. In fact, the creature was a joke created for an "identify which of these dinosaurs isn't real"-type quiz, underlined even further by the fact that it sits opposite "[[Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms Rhedosaurus]]."
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71	[[folder:Western Animation]]
72	* The old cartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Batfink}}'' is basically a spoof of...the silly Creator/AdamWest ''Series/Batman1966'' show. Which was a spoof of superheroes to begin with.
73	** Even a classic ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode ("Radioactive Man") was guilty of this. The parody was merciless and [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilarious]]... until you learned that the original was intentionally silly.
74	* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "War is the H-Word" parodies a lot of war media, but the premise is closest to ''Film/StarshipTroopers'', and quite a few jokes seem to be derived from that film, like the laughable HollywoodTactics, the [[SillyReasonForWar incredibly spurious reason behind the conflict,]] and the fact that humanity turns out to be the invaders. Of course, the film itself was already playing those elements for satire.
75	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' tried to spoof ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' one time. The scene they showed was of Moses, as a pickle, confronting "King Yameses" about his people having to build "food pyramids" and telling him to "let my pickles go." Thing is, this is ''exactly'' the kind of humor the actual cartoon is famous for. So much so that probably the only thing stopping this from being a full-on RedundantParody was that ''[=VeggieTales=]'' hadn't gotten around to doing a Moses episode yet.
76	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episode "Quantity Time" ends with Helga and her father, Bob, watching "Rats: The Musical", a parody of ''Theatre/{{Cats}}''. The show depicts "Rats" as a musical that takes itself completely seriously, with an orchestral soundtrack, a LoveDodecahedron story arc, and a well-dressed couple in the audience lauding it for its artistry. This is the complete opposite of how ''Cats'' treats itself, with a contemporary pop soundtrack, highly-energetic choreography, and an ExcusePlot that only drops its silliness whenever it's time for Grizabella to sing. The aforementioned couple would most likely hate ''Cats'', just as Helga and Bob did with "Rats".
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Context Main / SpoofedTheIronicFilmSeriously