# So over-the-top that it could be a parody--but it's not! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865 "2010-07-24T18:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/1 "2010-07-24T18:38:31Z")
A while ago, I opened a thread in which I tried to show that metal sounds like a parody of metal; that metal already exaggerates all of its own defining features, so any parody of metal would actually sound a lot like normal metal. I got shot down. I was rightly informed that what I thought was “metal” was really just a certain type of metal: power metal. The examples I cited of this sort of thing were Holy Diver by Dio and Under a Glass Moon by Dream Theater. Now I’d like to ask a much broader question: what pieces of media (art, music, writing, news reporting, whatever) seem to you like they could very well be parodies of their own genre or form, but aren’t? Let’s see it! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/2 "2010-07-24T18:48:11Z")
All of those E! and MTV reality shows really can’t be made any more absurd than they already are. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/3 "2010-07-24T18:57:38Z")
A friend of mine and I agreed that [Pola X](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0152015/) was like a parody of what people think French films (and arty foreign films in general) are like. Characters who talk cryptically while looking meaningfully at anything other than the person they’re speaking to; really obvious, overblown symbolism (he wrecks his motorcycle… because he’s _wrecking his life!_/they’re wearing all white… _because they’re pure!_/there’s a hidden room in his mom’s house… _just like there’s a secret child from mom’s past!_/and so on); explicit sex that doesn’t advance the plot, but seems to be included to be “real” despite the fact that everything about the film is artificial as hell; dissonant music that clashes with the film. Image comic books in the late 1990s-- and Rob Liefeld’s work in particular-- was practically a parody of what people would expect superhero comics to be like (though in context it was just the logical extreme of some bad storytelling practices that had been gaining fleeting favor among superhero fans of the time). Bad dialogue and plotting that served as an excuse to have fight scenes, pin-up poses of anatomically-incorrect steroid cases and porn stars in spandex, ludicrously huge guns/muscles/breasts/fists/explosions/whatever pre-teens thought was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/4 "2010-07-24T19:28:33Z")
If I hadn’t been told otherwise, I would have been sure this [ad](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFMt4oFPoM8) was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/5 "2010-07-24T19:28:48Z")
The _Left Behind_ series is an excellent instance of [Poe’s Law.](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Law) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/6 "2010-07-24T20:01:46Z")
**Starship Troopers** (the movie). It actually has fooled people into believing that it was _meant_ to be a parody. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/7 "2010-07-24T21:58:04Z")
Historians argue to this day over whether Machiavelli was being earnest or satirical in _The Prince._ ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/8 "2010-07-24T22:03:06Z")
CSI :_takes off sunglasses dramatically_Miami ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/9 "2010-07-24T22:37:08Z")
I stumbled on that old metal thread a couple of days ago, too. Neat idea for a thread! Adding: - Obscure home shopping networks, like the Knife Shopping Network, hosted by stereotypical good 'ol boy Southerners. - BBC’s _[My Word!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Word!)_ - extremely posh and pretentious, and self-consciously intellectual. Basically, over-the-top more-British-than-thou; perhaps even more British than [this guy](http://imagemacros.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/im-so-british/). - A lot of prog rock is over-the-top, like a parody of itself. [Rick Wakeman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Wakeman), for example, with his grandiose, twenty-plus minute long works with medieval and fantasy themes, is what I’d call the most “proggy”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/10 "2010-07-24T23:48:58Z")
\*MacArthur Park. \*Sounds like a parody of mindless hippie-speak lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/11 "2010-07-25T00:19:24Z")
Professional wrestling. All of it, even before it became a constantly-lampshaded self-parody. I remember once, back in the late 1970s, I tuned in for _Saturday Night Live,_ which for some reason that night had been pre-empted by professional wrestling . . . and I watched for more than 10 minutes before I figured that out. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/12 "2010-07-25T00:30:28Z")
If you can’t tell the difference between pro-wrestling and a sketch comedy show – especially thirty years ago, when vignettes were not all that common – that says more about you than either type of show. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/13 "2010-07-25T00:34:20Z")
Richard Simmons ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/14 "2010-07-25T00:56:31Z")
When we saw _[American Movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181288/)_ at the Chicago International Film Festival, we had no idea before it began if it was real, or a very clever parody. I don’t remember at what point we decided it was real, but I suspect it wasn’t until after the credits when we went to the lobby and met Mark Borchardt, Mike Schank and Chris Smith. We bought a VHS copy of _Coven_ from Mark. Some things simply cannot be parodied. I read in an interview that SCTV tried to parody _Laverne and Shirley_ and gave up. No matter how broadly they played it, no matter how ridiculous the premise…it just looked like an episode of _Laverne and Shirley_. Todd Rundgren said the only reason he agreed to produce Meatloaf’s _Bat Out of Hell_ was that he thought it was a hilarious satire of Bruce Springsteen. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/15 "2010-07-25T00:59:40Z")
> **[Artist's Shit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist's_shit)** > > Artist's Shit (Italian: Merda d'artista) is a 1961 anti-artwork by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work consists of 90 tin cans, each reportedly filled with 30 grams (1.1 oz) of faeces, and measuring 4.8 by 6.5 centimetres (1.9 in × 2.6 in), with a label in Italian, English, French, and German stating: > Artist's Shit > Contents 30 gr net > Freshly preserved > Produced and tinned > in May 1961 > At the time the piece was created, Manzoni was producing works that explored the relationship between art ... [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=27330&tabview=text&texttype=10](http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=27330&tabview=text&texttype=10) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/16 "2010-07-25T02:37:23Z")
If you haven’t seen _The Order of the Black Eagle_, you have totally missed out. It’s a very sub-par James Bond clone sort of thing. Most of it’s set in Argentina with a bunch of Nazis and, of course, Cryo-Hitler. There is also an orangutang who dresses just like Our Hero. There is a point at which the orangutang drives the tank. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/17 "2010-07-25T03:20:00Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > If you haven’t seen _The Order of the Black Eagle_, you have totally missed out. It’s a very sub-par James Bond clone sort of thing. Meh. > [@](#): > > Most of it’s set in Argentina with a bunch of Nazis and, of course, Cryo-Hitler. _yawn_ > [@](#): > > There is also an orangutang who dresses just like Our Hero. Bori… wait, what? > [@](#): > > There is a point at which the orangutang drives the tank. SOLD! ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/18 "2010-07-25T03:23:31Z")
_Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann_ is a mecha anime where, in the last episode: the protagonist summons a galaxy-sized mecha through sheer willpower, which is piloted by a moon-sized mecha, which is piloted by a city-sized mecha, which is piloted by a building-sized mecha, which is piloted by a man who wears no shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Emeria](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Emeria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emeria)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/19 "2010-07-25T05:05:58Z")
what what, in the butt [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fbGkxcY7YFU/hqdefault.jpg "Samwell - "What What (In the Butt)"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbGkxcY7YFU) South Park parodied this, and many I have spoken to thought they came up with it originally. For quite a while I thought that this just HAD to be a parody, but there’s no “wink”, no nod to acknowledge that this might be attempting to be funny … which just makes it even more hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/20 "2010-07-25T05:06:04Z")
The last 15-30 minutes of _Requiem for a Dream_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865.md?page=2)