Parody is fun, but please take it more seriously
冷静看待恶搞名人名剧现象
作者：RAYMOND ZHOU 时间：2008-04-14 来源：21世纪英文报第749期
A scene from Superhero Movie, the latest Hollywood parody
deconstruct 解构
parody 恶搞剧
ludicrous 滑稽的
overblown 过分渲染的
pretension 矫饰
coin 造字
dubious 引起怀疑的
juggernaut 使人盲目崇拜的事物
devoid 缺乏的
repressive 压抑的
lampoon 强烈讽刺
slick 光滑的
caricature 讽刺画
disparage 蔑视
COMEDY is a serious business. Parody is a form of comedy, so, by extension, it's also a serious business.
There have been two waves of parody movies in recent memory. In 1994, Stephen Chow made a two-part fantasy adventure film based on the Monkey King story.
A Chinese Odyssey did not attract much attention until it began to circulate on campuses on VCD. College students realized that Chow was "deconstructing" a well-established myth by pushing its elements to an extreme.
Chen Kaige released his mythological epic The Promise at the end of 2005. Many felt it was overblown to the point of being ludicrous. One young man knew exactly how to express the public sentiment. Hu Ge made a 20-minute short that stripped away the pretensions of Chen's blockbuster, laying bare its silliness and absurdity. A Bloody Case That Was Caused by a Steamed Bun, was not only an instant Internet hit, but also a social phenomenon.
Chow and Hu's films belong to a genre called parody or spoof. We didn't have an equivalent in Chinese to the English words. So the word was"egao"was coined. However, the word "e" may give the misleading impression that the person making the parody has a malicious intention.
A parody can be humorous or satirical; it can imitate a literary classic, such as Journey to the West, and be serious or fun, or a commercial juggernaut of dubious artistic value like The Promise. One thing is for sure: The parodist imitates only those works that are well-known, otherwise, they simply becomes an insider jokes.
The popularity of parody in today's China is grounded in the shifting sands of social mentality. A generation ago, a literary authority like Yu Qiuyu was revered; now, young people may not like him because he represents a repressive force that overshadows the young.
They don't like his style of speech, which they think is devoid of humor; they even hate his hairstyle, which is slick "as if he puts a lot of oil on it", as youth writer Han Han has put it. Yu is seen as a figure of authority to be toppled, at least subconsciously.
Personally, I don't think parody is a bad thing. When you lampoon a person or a work of art, it does not necessarily mean you disparage it. One can make loving caricatures, too. But it takes a lot of talent to make good parody.
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