A self-parody is a
parody
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
of oneself or one's own work. As an artist accomplishes it by imitating their own characteristics, a self-parody is potentially difficult to distinguish from especially characteristic productions. Self-parody may be used to parody someone else's characteristics, or lacking, by overemphasizing and/or exaggerate one's own. Overemphasis can be made for the prevailing attitude in their life's work, social group, lifestyle and subculture. Including lines and points made by others or by the recipient of the self-parody directing it to a parody of someone else which that other person is likely to remember and can't de-emphasize without frustration.
Sometimes critics use the word figuratively to indicate that the artist's style and preoccupations appear as strongly (and perhaps as ineptly) in some work as they would in a parody. Such works may result from habit, self-indulgence, or an effort to please an audience by providing something familiar. An example from
Paul Johnson writing about
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
:
:Some
f Hemingway's later writingwas published nonetheless, and was seen to be inferior, even a parody of his earlier work. There were one or two exceptions, notably ''
The Old Man and the Sea'', though there was an element of self-parody in that too.
Examples of self-parody
The following are deliberate self-parodies or are at least sometimes considered to be so.
Literature
* In ''
One Thousand and One Nights'', the fictional storyteller
Sheherezade sometimes tells folk tales with similar themes and story lines that can be seen as parodies of each other. For example, "Wardan the Butcher's Adventure With the Lady and the Bear" parallels "The King's Daughter and the Ape", "
Harun al-Rashid and the Two Slave-Girls" has a similar relationship to "Harun al-Rashid and the Three Slave-Girls" - and "The Angel of Death With the Proud King and the Devout Man" has two possible parodies: "The Angel of Death and the Rich King" and "The Angel of Death and the King of the Children of Israel". This observation needs to be tempered by our knowledge of the nature of folk tales, and the way this collection "grew" rather than being deliberately compiled.
*
Chaucer's "
Tale of Sir Topas" in ''
The Canterbury Tales'' shows "Geoffrey Chaucer" as a timid writer of
doggerel. It has been argued that the tale parodies, among other romances, Chaucer's own ''
Troilus and Criseyde
''Troilus and Criseyde'' () is an epic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Cressida, Criseyde set against a backdrop of war during the siege of Troy. It was written in ''rhyme ro ...
''.
* "Nephelidia", a poem by
A. C. Swinburne.
* "Municipal", a poem by
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
.
* "L'Art" and "To Hulme (T. E.) and Fitzgerald (A Certain)", poems by
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...
.
* "Afternoon of a Cow", a short story by
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...
.
*
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
often discussed his own work, sometimes in the form of parody, as in "How to Write a Blackwood Article" and the short story that follows it, "A Predicament".
* ''
Pale Fire
''Pale Fire'' is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional poet John Shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index written by Shade's neighbor and academic co ...
'' is a novel by
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
in the form of a long, pedantic, self-centered commentary on a much shorter poem. It may parody his commentary on his translation of
Pushkin's ''
Eugene Onegin
''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (, Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: Евгеній Онѣгинъ, романъ въ стихахъ, ) is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin. ''Onegin'' is considered a classic of ...
'', in which the commentary was highly detailed and much longer than the poem. Both the poet and the commentator have been called self-parodies.
* The short story "
First Law" by
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
is described by Asimov himself as a 'spoof' in ''
The Complete Robot''.
Film and television
* ''
Gekisou Sentai Carranger
is a Japanese ''tokusatsu'' television show. It was Toei Company, Toei's twentieth production of the Super Sentai metaseries. It is the second vehicle-themed Super Sentai, preceded by ''Kousoku Sentai Turboranger''. It aired from March 1, 1996, ...
'' is the twentieth production of
Toei's long-running
Super Sentai
The is a Japanese superhero team media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi. The shows are of the '' tokusatsu'' genre, featuring live action characters and colorfu ...
metaseries and
media franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...
, and was written as parody of its own franchise.
* ''
Enchanted'' is a Disney movie which is both a homage to, and self-parody of, previous
animated Disney films featuring princesses.
*
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
as Jack Slater in the film ''
Last Action Hero''. Slater uses many of Schwarzenegger's action star characterizations including saying one-liners. Schwarzenegger even cameos as himself at the on-screen Slater film premiere.
*
Bruce Campbell portrays himself as a B-movie actor who is called to fight a spirit who turns out to be real in ''
My Name is Bruce''.
*
Chris Kattan portrays himself as an actor who reinvents his career in ''
Bollywood Hero''.
*
James Van Der Beek portrays himself as the title character's friend in the sitcom ''
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23''.
*
Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...
plays a fictionalised and exaggerated version of himself in the television series ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm''.
*
Kevin Hart
Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. The accolades he has received include the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and nominations for two Grammy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.
After winning se ...
portrays himself as an aspiring action star in the series ''
Die Hart''.
*
Maria Bamford portrays herself in the Netflix sitcom ''
Lady Dynamite''.
*
Matt LeBlanc plays a satirical version of himself in ''
Episodes
Episodes may refer to:
* Episode, a part of a dramatic work
* Episodes (TV series), ''Episodes'' (TV series), a British/American television sitcom which premiered in 2011
* Episodes (journal), ''Episodes'' (journal), a geological science journal
...
''.
*
Mike Tyson voices and spoofs himself as a former boxer who becomes a detective in the adult cartoon ''
Mike Tyson Mysteries''.
*
Neil Patrick Harris in the ''
Harold & Kumar'' series, where he plays "an extreme version of himself who enjoys drugs, female hookers and alcohol etc."
*
Nicolas Cage portrays himself in the film ''
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent''
*
Richard Dawson as Damon Killian in the film ''
The Running Man''. Dawson parodies his ''
Family Feud'' persona as the film's game show host.
*
Rob Schneider portrays himself in the self-produced sitcom ''
Real Rob'', which also stars his real-life wife and child.
*
Samuel L. Jackson as Agent Neville Flynn in ''
Snakes on a Plane''.
* The 1990 film ''
The Freshman'' features
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia'' playing a parody of his famous character from ''
The Godfather
''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...
''.
* The later
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
films, specifically those with
Roger Moore and
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...
in
the title role, have been called self-parodies.
* The ''
Scary Movie
''Scary Movie'' is a 2000 American parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon Wayans, Marlon and Shawn Wayans (who both also star), alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Jon ...
'' film franchise parodies the popular horror film genre.
''Scary Movie V'' parodies the Scary Movie franchise itself.
* The 2023 film
''Barbie'', directed by
Greta Gerwig and starring
Margot Robbie, is an extended self-parody of the
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...
toy franchise.
* The penultimate episode of ''
Avatar: The Last Airbender'', "
The Ember Island Players" involves the main characters watching a play of their own journey. The play itself is a self-parody of the entire story of ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' up to that point.
Video games
* In
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
's ''Luigi's Mansion'' games, the character
Professor E. Gadd presents
Luigi with a communication device designed as a parody of a Nintendo portable console, as such the "
Game Boy Horror" in the
original title, the "
Duel Scream" in ''
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon'', and the "
Virtual Boo" in ''
Luigi's Mansion 3''.
*
Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
's ''
Parodius'' games parody their own ''
Gradius'' games, as well as several other games they have created. Similar games from other companies that parody their own games include
Hudson Soft's ''
Star Parodier'' and
Taito
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
's ''
Space Invaders '95''.
See also
*
Poe's law
*
Cameo appearance
A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
*
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke with humour that is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest ...
*
Mockumentary
A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
*
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
*
Self-insertion
*
Typecasting (acting)
References
External links
"Nephelidia" from Representative Poetry Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Self-Parody