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Affectionate Parody

"With MSPA I am always on the lookout for raw material to manipulate in esoteric ways, and it's usually garnered through satire. But then I ride that material pretty hard, and before you even know what's going on, it's not satirical anymore! Ask yourself this: at what point did John's love of Con Air cease to be a mockery of the film, and became more of a SHRINE to it? Hard to say."
— Andrew Hussie

Many parodies take things apart to laugh with the work and the fans. Malice is almost never intended to the source, just good fun.

Affectionate Parodies are generally done by fans (and sometimes creators) of the source material. Don't presume, however, that because of this, the Affectionate Parody can't be harsh; ultimately, it can be even more cutting than usual, because as devotees of the thing parodied, the creators know exactly where its faults, flaws, and weak points are (and also because, as genuine lovers of the source material, the parodists can be said to enjoy N-Word Privileges of a sort). Unfortunately, if the jokes are mean-spirited enough about their subjects in general, fans might mistake the creators for hating the subjects and, well, it can lead to Misaimed Fandom.

They often function as both a send-up of a genre and an honest member of it. Generally, there's some kind of underlying plot, a twisted version of a stock tale, and actual characters, even if they're swathed in cliches like a mummy in wrappings. Some of them can lean more toward the "Affectionate" than the "Parody" and just seem like more light-hearted versions of the usual with maybe some Lampshade Hanging. Very often, affectionate parodies are based on humoring as many tropes typical of the genre as possible, and can easily be classified as Troperiffic.

Often times, being parodied is a sign of doing something right. Being parodied by well known artists like Weird Al or South Park means that you've made something big, and is the price of making a hit. When the parody is well received by the creator of the original, then this is Approval of God.

Many a comedy Fan Fic has used this.

See also Satire/Parody/Pastiche and Adam Westing, where the original actor joins in the fun. If an Affectionate Parody is so loving that the parody aspect falls out, it is an Indecisive Parody, and may be a sign that the creators are about to make a Decon-Recon Switch.

Compare Take That, where the parody / reference is a lot less affectionate.

Contrast Deconstructive Parody.

Example subpages

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • This commercial spoofs kaiju. Ultraman in particular. Also '80s (neo-classical) power metal.
  • This Irn Bru advert spoofs the flying sequence from Christmas classic The Snowman. Showing a variety of Scottish landmarks instead of ones from the South East of England and the music is a parody version of Walking in the Air.
  • The 2015 San Francisco Giants' parody of the Full House opening, aptly named Full Clubhouse. Brandon Crawford rocking his long hair and strumming a guitar like Uncle Jesse, Hunter Pence polishing his scooter, and Jeremy Affeldt's shit-eating grin must be seen to be believed.

    Pinball 

    Professional Wrestling 
  • Sakura Hirota has done parody gimmicks of Command Bolshoi, Aja Kong, The World Famous Kana, Stan Hansen, Kinnikuman, Bull Nakano, Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru, Lady Gaga, Mayumi Ozaki, Ayako Hamada, The Undertaker, Toshi Uematsu, GAMI and Akira Maeda, among others.
  • Ebessan has also done Hansen as well as The Great Kabuki, Miracle Man, Gamma, Abdullah the Butcher(eventually endorsed by the real thing at All Japan's excite series), Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger, Cactus Jack(another real thing endorsement at ROH's third anniversary), Goldberg, Y2P 160kg(who approved at Zero 1 land II), Jumbo Tsuruta, Rey Misterio, Kurt Angle, Killer Khan, El Blazer(endorsed in VKF), Akebono, Tarzan Goto, Bret Hart, Dump Matsumoto, Tiger Jeet Singh, Ultimate Warrior, Kodo Fuyuki and probably a few more we've overlooked.
  • WWE wrestler Gregory Helms's former character, The Hurricane, was an Affectionate Parody of Superheroes, especially Superman and the Adam West Batman. His character previous to that was an Affectionate Parody of comic-book fanboys, as he trotted out his encyclopedic knowledge of the Green Lantern and compared situations from the comic to everything he came across in his wrestling career (in fact, his costume as Hurricane was heavily influenced by the costume worn by Kyle Rayner as the Green Lantern).
  • In 2005 Shocker, Máscara Mágica and El Terrible held a competition in mockery of competition based reality shows that had the same format as WWE's Million Dollar Tough Enough called "Guapos University" in which they searched for a new member of their CMLL group, Los Guapos.
  • The LayCool characters were affectionate parodies of the Alpha Bitch with them being fashion obsessed, finishing each other's sentences, their own Buffy Speak catchphrases and a whole lotta Les Yay. And they were still some of the best written heels on Smackdown.
  • Dragon Gate turned CZW wrestler Rich Swann into Swann Hanson, a parody of Stan Hansen. For the record, Stan is a "smash mouth" striker while Swann is a high flying garbage wrestler.

    Radio 
  • Stan Freberg recorded several Affectionate Parodies of Dragnet, including "St. George and the Dragonet" and "Little Blue Riding Hood" ("only the color of the hood has been changed to prevent an investigation"). The supposed Dragnet Catch Phrase "just the facts, ma'am" originated in these parodies.
  • I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again always had an extended sketch at the end of each episode, presented as the Prune Play Of The Week. These were often affectionate parodies of plays, books, genres, or whatever was on TV at the time. Their parody of Star Trek: The Original Series is quite memorable, mostly for being a parody of something still well-known.
    Spock: Illogical, captain. Allow me to raise my eyebrow to signify how ridiculous that is.
    Announcer: See him! See him raise the incredible eyebrow!
    Spock: And now...the other eyebrow. (fanfare)
    Announcer: The other eyebrow! Oh, the talent! Oh, the joy!
    Spock: And now...(drumroll)...both eyebrows at once! (fanfare)
    Announcer: Fantastic! Magnificient!
  • In And Out Of The Kitchen is a parody of lifestyle cookery shows.

    Sports 

    Tabletop Games 
  • The Pokethulhu roleplaying game is an arguably affectionate but very tongue in cheek cross-parody of, guess what, Pokémon and the Cthulhu Mythos.
  • Depending on who you ask, the Munchkin roleplaying game series is either an affectionate parody or a Take That at the selfish, loot-grubbing behavior of some gamers. Though it very likely is both.
  • The game Illuminati is one of conspiracy theories.
  • Rocketmen is an affectionate parody of Buck Rogers, and the Raygun Gothic genre.

    Theme Parks 

    Web Animation 

    Web Video 

    Abridged Series 
  • Avatar: The Abridged Series is, like its many brethren, at heart a fan series that isn't afraid to make friendly jabs at the source material. While much of its humour is derived by changing aspects of the original show, a lot of it still comes for exaggerating character traits and pointing out the show's plot holes and illogical-ness.
    • For example, Sokka points out some anachronisms in episode 10:
    Sokka: Let me get this straight. You can invent tanks (invented 1915), jet skis (1973), and a gigantic freakin' drill (20xx). But the concept of a hot air balloon (1783) eluuuuuuudes you.
    The Mechanist: Umm... yes.
    Sokka: I hate this world and everyone in it.
  • My Little Pony: Camaraderie Is Supernatural literally invokes this as one of the Elements of Parody: "Faithfulness to the Source Material."
    Twilight Sparkle: The best parodies are those which positively build on the original work, rather than rely on things like gratuitous cursing and unrelated pop culture jokes. There's a reason the original show caught people's interest in the first place, and paying tribute to that isn't a cop-out... IT'S COMEDY!
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series proved this in Episode 50 with an immensely encouraging speech from Joey about copyright infringement but at its core showed how affectionate the series really is.
    Joey: Yeah, I have a closing statement. Maybe we have committed copyright infringement. But you gotta know we've done everything in our power to support the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise! And if it weren't for us, I don't think the show would be nearly as strong as it is right now!
    Johnson: And where is your evidence of such?
    Joey: Look around, Johnson! There are more Yu-Gi-Oh fans now than ever before! And the more you try to stifle our creativity, the more we'll try to express our love for a show that's about more than children's card games! It's about fighting for what you believe in, and I believe in this show and its fans now more than ever! Because they believe in me!
  • Sonic The Ghetto Hog The Creator truly loves Sonic, which is why he made a parody of it.

Alternative Title(s): Affectionate Parodies

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