This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Citizen: Right, so Popcultural Osmosis / Pietà Plagiarism with parodies. Whatever works.
Ununnilium: Not quite, but it's related.
Looney Toons: I'm not sure this really belongs on the page proper, but note that this is even more pronounced, in Weird Al's case at least, with parodies of styles. For instance, how many people these days will realize that Weird Al's song "Velvet Elvis" is in fact a spot-on parody of the Police, circa their first album? Or "Dog Eat Dog" is the Talking Heads?
YYZ: Or that "Everything You Know Is Wrong" is note-perfect They Might Be Giants, circa 1989? And what percentage of his audience is likely to recognize "Genius in France" as a Zappa pastiche?
Kizor: "Everything You Know Is Wrong" didn't seem to have the kind of varyingly subtle ominosity that TMBG has, but what do I know?
Ununnilium: "Everything You Know Is Wrong" is a TMBG parody? Wow. I'm a fan of both, and I never knew that. @@
Licky Lindsay: I like to think of those as tributes or homages rather than parodies..
Tzintzuntzan: I don't know..."Dare to Be Stupid" is a pretty nasty spoof when you think about it (even if Devo gave their approval). It does to Devo what the film A Mighty Wind did to folk music.
BTW, I originally heard "Dare to be Stupid" before I'd heard Devo, and didn't find it funny. Then, years later, when I'd become a Devo fan, I heard "Dare to be Stupid" again...and I was hysterical. And like Ununnilium, I didn't realize the TMBG parody until it was pointed out to me.
YYZ: Frankly, I find "Your Horoscope For Today" to be the single most memorable song of the entire late-Nineties ska revival. Which is probably the biggest irony of all.
Duckluck: What's that about The Fifth Element? What trope is it subverting or mocking. Admittedly I don't remember the movie that well, but still give me some context to work with.
Paul A: Pretty much every single trope in the movie, really. Everyone involved in making The Fifth Element had their tongues set so firmly in their cheeks it's a wonder the dialogue is intelligible.
Citizen: Well played, Paul A, well played. ^^
Morgan Wick: I don't know, at this point I'd say "Beat It" gets more play than "Eat It," thanks to the MTV group deciding "Beat It" is one of the best videos ever made. On the other hand, "Gangsta's Paradise" is only remembered anymore because Coolio objected to "Amish Paradise".
Phartman: I gotta go with Wick on this one. There can't possibly be a teenybopper out there so stupid as to not know "Beat It." If there are any, then they can be considered legally brain-dead, and subsequently used for experimentation and/or harvested for organs as needed.
Alright, changed "Beat It" to Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park," as it's perfectly understandable that most people today wouldn't recognize that Al's Jurassic Park song wasn't actually an original composition. Really, ask your parents; they've been trying to forget about that song for decades now.
Licky Lindsay: Even the "Beat It" example is not as far fetched as some of ya'll think. I grew up in the Deep South. When I was in high school I had friends whose parents were such conservative Christians that they wouldn't let the kids watch MTV or buy pop and rock records. But they did let them have Weird Al... and of course they turned out to be the biggest Al fans of all. They all loved "Like A Surgeon" even though they had never heard "Like A Virgin".
Phartman: That certainly wasn't the norm, though; even my pastor knew who Michael Jackson was, and even non-Christians tried to avoid Madonna.
i never heard "like a virgin" and the only version of "beat it" i've ever heard was alvin and the chipmunks', but i know who madonna and micheal jackson are
Phartman: Don't sweat it; people born past a certain time aren't expected to know that Madonna didn't just start singing three years ago, and Michael Jackson wasn't always famous for being a noseless, child-endangering pedophile.
he wasn't?
Phartman: Mwa ha ha! I rest my case. Jacko's always been insane, but before his insanity became outwardly manifest, he was actually a pretty damn good musician.
he sounds really dated now
Falcon Pain: Wait, what? I have heard that song about the combine harvester only once in my life, and have had repeated (and often begrudging) exposure to Melanie's "Brand New Key". Am I alone on this one? Skorpy: Yes.
Zinfandel: Not to slight His Weirdness, but Looney Tunes is a far more "classic" example, and should be more than a footnote. As a kid, I somehow knew the catchphrases and mannerisms of Groucho, Jimmy Durante, W.C. Fields, etc. Cartoons also made several items into household objects despite the fact that no house in 1980s America had them — straight razors, old-fashioned lawn-mowers, wind-up alarm clocks, etc. Just seems like the Looney Toons influence extends well beyond Weird Al's.
Fire Walk: Very good example: I guess it's not given as much attention because most of the users here aren't familiar with the original stuff that Looney Tunes played off. Oh, and Fun (but not verified) fact. Classical musicians have been observed sing "Hunting Wab-bits wid my Spear and magic Hel-met!" when performing Wagner.
- The Colbert Report , as a parody of "The O'Reilly Factor" (average viewer age; 71), is well on its way to this.
Pulled for two reasons: One, it's speculation (no speculation please, only facts or opinions based off fact) and it's a bad one as that — O'Reilly still has one of the most popular cable news shows at the moment, and the average viewer is much younger. Yeah, nice snark there, hur hur hur.
And two, considering that there are a lot of BOR fans and haters out there, and thus they remember the show, it pretty much disqualifies it from the trope. The Weird Al Effect is about when something parodies something, but you have no effing idea what the original even was.
For the record, I'm no fan of BOR, but it's just so damn hard to forget. And I haven't even seen a full ep of TCR. But come back in five to ten years and we'll see.
I still catch myself using the "most ridiculous item" catchphrase a lot, though. :)
Wait: So someone is claiming that "Ann-Magrock" is *more* famous than Ann-Margret??
- The Fifth Element approaches the tropes it subverts or even openly mocks so directly that some viewers didn't recognize the parody at all until it was pointed out to them.
- And this editor only just now realized that the title of Terry Pratchett's "The Fifth Elephant" is a parody.
- If you mean of the Aristotelian concept of "The Fifth Element," or "quintessence," better known as "aether," then yes.
- And this editor only just now realized that the title of Terry Pratchett's "The Fifth Elephant" is a parody.
Moved this here. Neither Wikipedia nor IMDB shows any reason why TFE might be considered a parody of anything. Also, Pratchett's book is a parody of lots of things, but really not of this particular movie. - Spark9
Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and moved it here. The "seven dirty words" skit originated in The '70s, and the attempt to defend it gave the FCC its power. Carlin as Mr. Conductor was late '80s or early '90s, and while there may have been an audience who knew him better as that then, there likely isn't now.
- George Carlin is so well known for his "Seven Dirty Words" routine and similar satire that most people this troper has met have a hard time believing that Carlin, at one point, played Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station.
Daibhid C: It's not exactly an example of this trope, but a magazine once mocked Marvel Comics' Blade having the real name Eric, saying it's unsurprising he changed it since "Eric the Vampire Slayer" simply doesn't work, apparently unaware that, before the name Buffy became synonymous with vampire-slaying, the contrast between the cheerleader-type name and the description was actually the point of the title.
Spiritsunami: Interesting examples at the top of the main page here. I'd heard of the originals there, but not the Weird Al parodies. When I think of a Weird Al parody that's better known than the original, I think of "Amish Paradise", the parody of Coolio's "Gangster's Paradise".
- Besides, "Mac Arthur Park" is weird enough as it is.
Metz77: I removed this because it has no real relation to the topic.
- Members of the Television comedy show, The Goodies were apparently appalled when they found out that their show, a surreal take on current affairs in the United Kingdom and run at quite a late hour there, was being lapped up as a silly comedy watched and loved mainly by children in Australia, to whom the subtext remained impenetrable.
- False: This show was always early evening family view, and in fact in one episode is specifically called "kids show!" by guest star John Cleese, of Monty Python (which was NOT a kids' show).
Took this out...
- In the live action movie Halle Berry as Sharon Stone (not to be confused with the actress) and Jay Leno as Bedrock's most wanted host.
...because in what world is a bad movie more famous than Sharon Stone or America's Most Wanted?
Took this out...
- Bill Willingham's recent inclusion of two characters who are obviously Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser in Fables might increase interest in Leiber's originals. Whether or not Prachett's characters will reach the same status (at least in Willingham's mind) is still up for debate.
...because it's tangential to the trope and because I doubt Fables will revitalize interest in Leiber's books when, at the moment, in the greater scheme of things it's even less well-known to the public.
And finally, took this out...
- Two words: Family. Guy.
...because, no, it's not obvious, at least not to me. If someone wants to add it back in with an actual explanation, go right ahead.
Prfnoff: Removed this stuff, which doesn't really fit and mostly falls under Tom Hanks Syndrome:
- This occasionally happens to actors, to the point where the old roles seem strange.
- Slim Pickens, a fairly serious actor, is best known for two great comedies: Blazing Saddles and Dr. Strangelove.
- Pickens was not given a complete script to Dr. Strangelove (just his parts) and not told that the film was a comedy and was ordered to play his role completely straight.
- Leslie Nielsen also began as a serious actor. After Airplane!, however, he transferred into an incredibly successful career in comedy.
- It's now very difficult for this troper to see Nielsen in any role without chortling a little at the master's "deadpan delivery" — including Commander Adams in Forbidden Planet, one of the best Science Fiction films of all time.
- Which, in turn, is based largely on Shakespeare's The Tempest.
- This could quite possibly be happening to Tom Hanks --only he's turning into a ''serious'' actor. Who remembers Bosom Buddies? Who would admit it?
- Prior to becoming half of Laurel And Hardy, Oliver Hardy mostly played villains and thugs. They first shared a screen as robber and victim in a comedy short.
- Leonard Nimoy remarked on this in his book I Am Spock, noting that before Star Trek, De Forrest Kelley was fairly well-known for playing villains in westerns. "Imagine the lovable, friendly Dr. McCoy sneering and cold-bloodedly [shooting a dog in the street."
- Slim Pickens, a fairly serious actor, is best known for two great comedies: Blazing Saddles and Dr. Strangelove.
Prfnoff: Removed a bunch of "this troper" examples, a good number of which aren't strictly parodies anyway:
- This troper sees far more parodies of motivational posters than serious motivational posters nowadays.
- Regarding "Solomon Grundy want pants too" — more than half of the people this troper has heard quote that afterwards admitted that they didn't know where it was from. Not just the Superfriends joke but, indeed, the Cartoon Network commercial itself has fallen prey to this.
- This troper only knew of that rhyme through a particular chapter of the manga Godchild, played as a murder mystery, and damn if it wasn't weird watching the cartoon...
- This troper didn't understand why Boromir saying "Still Sharpe" in The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was funny.
- This troper is endlessly amused by the amount of people he's seen who seem confused when they hear mention of any parts of the following information: Hugh Laurie, who plays House, is both English, and made his name first as a comedian and comedy actor.
- This troper might be paranoid, but he wonders how many World Of Warcraft fanatics have ever cracked open a Dungeons And Dragons rulebook. Tolkien seems to have escaped this fate thanks to the Peter Jackson films.
- This troper would crack open a Dungeons And Dragons rulebook... if they were ever sold here. WoW boxes, on the other hand, are sold on every corner.
- What, they don't have bookstores where you live? Or Amazon.com?
- To say nothing of the artistic stylings of Warhammer; some younger players even think that Warhammer Online is a ripoff of Warcraft!
- Let's hope they don't meet Tycho
from Penny Arcade.
- Let's hope they don't meet Tycho
- For that matter, how many Warcraft fans have been corrected by WoW players that it's World of Warcraft?
- ...Or Starcraft fans who think that the Warhammer 40,000's Tyranids are a rip-off of the Zerg?
- This troper would crack open a Dungeons And Dragons rulebook... if they were ever sold here. WoW boxes, on the other hand, are sold on every corner.
- This troper is certain that more people attribute the line, "It's time to kick ass and Chew Bubblegum. And I'm all out of gum." to Duke Nukem than to Rowdy Roddy Piper's character from They Live. Admittedly, Duke's line isn't an EXACT quote from the film (Roddy's is: "I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubble gum."), but it's close enough.
- The line's also been parodied, notably in Yu Gi Oh The Abridged Series when one character says "I've come to kick ass and play card games... and I'm all out of ass."
- Itself actually referencing the earlier line by "Limey Man" Bakura/Florence: "I'm here to kick ass and drink cups of tea. And I'm all out of tea." Then again, how many people actually know what "Limey" means?
- British sailors drank lime juice to alleviate scurvy. In the UK at least I think this has gotten to the same level as 'Frankenstein was the name of the scientist not the monster' (ie a supposedly obscure factoid that everybody knows). I'm sure the same is true in Australia (where they still call us Brits limeys, if tv is to believed).
- We call them Pommies, actually.
- Also parodied in the second part of the Abridged version of the Dragon Ball Z movie Dead Zone: "I'm here to kick bubblegum and chew ass... and I'm all out of ass... Wait..."
- The characters in the Abridged Series of the anime Last Exile are constantly complaining that the references the creator of the abridged series, Unwardil, is having them deliver, are way too obsure for anyone else to get
- The line's also been parodied, notably in Yu Gi Oh The Abridged Series when one character says "I've come to kick ass and play card games... and I'm all out of ass."
Twentington: I removed this from the Music section:
- The common children's song "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" appears to be a parody of an earlier spiritual, "Ship of Zion".
- You mean the same "Ship of Zion" that uses the melody of "Gimme that ol' time religion"?
- Perhaps he means "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)?", whose melody is very definitely a slower version of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain".
- "Were You There" isn't even close to "Mountain" in terms of melody, nor is "Ship of Zion" close to either. Their structures alone are different enough.
- Not many people know this, but the song Boyz in the Hood was not originally an easy-going song by Dynamite Hack, but a gangsta-rap by Eazy-E called Boyz n Da Hood. Still, you'll never, ever hear Eazy-E's version (it really sucks), but Dynamite Hack's is a classic to many Gen X'ers.
Kraas: Am I the only one who read this and went "WTF?" Eazy-E's version doesn't suck, and most people I know do know about the original song. Not that Dynamite Hack's version isn't amusing.
Arima Reiji: Beats me, but I don't really give much of a flip about either one. Sorry. (Just thought you deserved someone responding instead of dead silence.)
