| Parody films are merely movies that mock movies such as scary, crime, romantic,
sci-fi and even political movies. Parody movies date back to the silent
era when even without sound parody movies rising was far from being stagnant.
Charlie Chaplin, a famous actor from the silent era, starred in a parody
as early as 1914.The movie was called The Face on the Bar Room
Floor, based on a popular poem by Hugh d' Arcy. Will Rogers
was another famous actor during the silent era that starred in many
silent parodies such as the 1921 movie Doubling for Romeo
where he burlesqued Shakespeare's hero, and The Headless
Horseman a parody of Washington Irving's tale, and many
more. Although these two gentleman had a great influence on future
parody film making and their makers, other influences came from two
other gentlemen who were both directors and actors as well. Mack
Sennett's football comedy The Half Back of Notre Dame (1924) and
Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. (1924), brought out many other
spoofs that helped continue the process of parody filmmaking. Most of
the movies that this sub genre originated from are rarely mentioned that
our generation does not even know that these movies even existed, much
less that they were what influenced parodies today.
Even with its lengthy existence parody has yet to be fully
appreciated. Wes D. Gehring, a professor from Ball State University states -"Parody is the least appreciated of all film comedy genres and receives little serious attention, even among film fans. Many think that parody is just a low blow of poking fun, but parody film is a lot more than
a mockery of a film. The way I see it is, parody is a very careful and highly critiqued analysis of the conventions of the specific movie that is being
parodied. |
