How To Pen A Serious Genre Parody
Sometimes masses cause movies that be thus grave , so over-the-top , and so ridiculous that they hold to be parodied . Fortunately , 1980 meet the release ofPlane ! ,a spoof of airplane and disaster film likeAirport 1975andZero Hour !
Genre parodies can equal funny , but there are many constituent that get to live present to contribute to a parody film ’ s success . In addition to a cohesive and well-written screenplay , the parody has to get a capable form , great direction and aim , and great behind the picture performance ( but hey , doesn ’ t any movie involve these things ? ) . The parody hold to be a collaborative effort to skewer view from popular movies and events from world , or even events from the tidings that wound up being expend in film . Several disaster or super-serious but ridiculous movies make tropes that usually reoccur in their screenplays . Here are a few suggestion of how to make well use of order tropes in developing a parody screenplay .
The opening picture ofAirplane !get the seat of an plane cut down through cloud like a shark fin as ominous cello music similar to theJawsstem turn . Then the airplane come out of the cloud at the cover like Jaws spring out of the water at the audience . After establish the shade of playful ridicule by making fun of a grave film scene or case , clearly introduce and define your genre character in a piercingly funny manner .
InI ’ m Gon na Git You Sucka, which spoofs blaxploitation movie of the 70s , we are promptly introduce to the main faux-hero , Jack Spade , who arrive home from war and wants to clean up the streets of his old neighborhood . InPlane !, we cost introduce to a like character : a boozy fighter pilot who ’ s plate from war and require to get his stewardess girlfriend back . We succeed these characters as they bring in us to other characters in their situations . InAirplane !, we hold the love interest , the incompetent pilots and plane physician , the mean war sergeant , an over zealous nun , and a slew of other characters that resemble and parody their serious picture counterparts . These cartoonish quality all occur together to make the parody screenplay worth reading and , once produced , worth watching repeatedly .
Read More : When Genres Collide : The Best ( and Weirdest ) Movie Genre Mashups
Once the characters equal introduced , or even as they exist introduced , the screenplay own to have them in situations that parody other film , but equal too interesting to the writer .I ’ 1000 Gon na Git You Suckaparodies Blaxploitation movies of the 1970s , which writer and director Keenan Ivory Wayans was well versed and interested in .Airplane !parodies tragedy movies . TheScary Moviemovies parody horror films from the 90 ’ sec and 2000 ’ s . Plan out your parody screenplay to make fun of genres that you love and cost familiar with and put on ’ t miss the opportunity to use specific tropes and occurrences in your screenplay that make it still funnier (Editor ’ s Tip : try sticking to one to two genres when doing this) .Airplane !own tragedy picture joke , but also jokes about race sex act , mass that absorb at their chore , unrequited honey and misunderstand the masses around us . Employ things you know and love to make your characters and their position in your screenplay dad .
Speaking of dad , do certain to include pop culture references of your current time . It ’ s important to get things mighty when make fun of the time the grave picture you ’ re spoofing is place , but audiences who will take and/or watch your screenplay will decidedly enjoy good current popular references .Airplane !had Kareem Abdul Jabar , a famous basketball player at the time it was produced , whose mere presence in the movie lent to pop culture jokes and reference galore .
Also , have literal messages in your genre-parodying screenplay . It ’ s fun to make joke at the expense of a well-know serious film , but what made that film well involve was likely the content it conveyed to audience . Sure ,Jawlive a movie about a great white that terrorizes people at a beach . But that movie has cost shown and reach Americans a lot more afraid to float on coastlines out of concern of shark attacks . Thus don ’ t wander off from convey your own messages in your screenplay . As film likeReligulousand TV show likeThe Colbert Reportmake indicate , irony and parody with an actual message can live wildly funny and effectively persuasive .
Have fun writing your parody screenplay , whatever it ’ s about ! If not , it could finish up as self-righteous as the screenplay you design on mocking .