Pastiche and Parody

Pastiche and Parody

Pastiche

I think that Pastiche is a more serious version of what a parody would be. This is due to the mixing of styles that it produces. This is shown in the likes of the film Shaun Of The Dead where the main idea is a horror film about the living dead, but with a parody idea it has been turned into a comedy. The music video Thriller by Michael Jackson also does this because the video starts out serious but then it becomes comical when there are dancing zombies. These two examples are very different in terms of the text they come from, but they can also be put into the same category for the ideas that they portray where they have taken something that is seen to be serious/scary and have made it a funny concept.

This is the extended version of the Thriller music video by Michael Jackson, this shows the serious side of the concept behind the video and then leads onto the parody during the song.

Speech in a dead language

This is another way of showing a social trend. It is said to be a language that no one understands and no longer exists. Examples of this can be seen in everyday life by the clothes that people wear and the way that it is constantly changing.

Displaces 'real' history

Replacing history with the modern unknown.

Parody

Parody is a way of being able to mock something whilst making it funny at the same time. A good example of this would be Austin Powers, this is a film about a spy which can relate to the likes of James Bond, but the story lines through the film and the style of the film have made the film a comedy. In Pastiche terms relating to parody, it says that the ways in which articles are mocked all follow the same styles from history which may no longer be recognised in modern day society, but they all relate. This explains the theory that there is no longer individuality because everything that is considered to be 'new' has taken ideas from something that already exists.This means that nothing that is coming out is truly original and that history is repeating itself.

The Pink video "Stupid Girls" is a good example of parody, it takes stereotypes of "dumb blondes" and celebrity obsessives. Throughout the video it exaggerates the typical behaviour that people expect to see from the stereotypical people who fit into these categories.

This is the official music video for "Stupid Girls"