Sunday, July 04, 2004
Whither Parody?
The parody is a very interesting kind of narrative. Even though no comedic-critic would want to intellectualise his/her work, thereby removing it from common understanding, a good piece of social satire is a very intelligent look at things that need to be opposed and things that need to be encouraged. Whichever end of the political system you may reside in, the parody could be seen the Hegelian/Marxian antithesis in the social dialectic.
But those are the intelligent pieces of satire. Right now, the MTV India parody of Sholay imagery is so trite that, it is no longer funny. The same can be said of college sketches and adzaps. The main reason is that they have no underlying intelligence. Just a parody for the sake of it. This gives them a small shelf-life. The truly timeless ones are �really serious� comedies.
By their own nature, parodies are iconoclastic, but if they achieve iconic status themselves, they cannot do their duty unless they go into a self-destructive loop. Self-parody is an artform when consciously pursued (but there are also those who practice it without being aware of it).
Comments to Whither Parody?
D'you suppose I can claim credit for the first Indian blog parody (http://www.kingsley2.com/archives/2004/01/indian_bloggers)? :)
posted by 
Kingsley Joseph
Kings... If I may add, social satire has seeped in so deeply into your writing that it is beyond parody.. almost Pythonesque! :)
posted by Anand
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