# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/21 "2010-07-25T06:43:00Z")
I saw a British documentary about an obscure British prog-rock band named “Hawkwind” on youtube the other day, and I was thinking … Spinal Tap was not a parody! Spinal! Tap! Was! Not! A! Parody! the musicians interviewed were all very, very British, and very, very dumb. The founder of the group elected not to appear because another member DID appear. He might not be an idiot. But I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/22 "2010-07-25T06:51:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The _Left Behind_ series is an excellent instance of [Poe’s Law.](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Law) People who lambast _Left Behind_ have never read the 1970’s fiction of Salem Kirban (_666_ and _1000_) or the 1950’s Ernest Angley novel _Raptured_. Compared to them, LaHaye & Jenkins look like Hemingway. However, the only Rapture novels I can recommend now are Mark Rogers’ _The Dead_, James BeauSeigneur’s _Christ Clone Trilogy_ and Brian Caldwell’s _We All Fall Down_. Think the Apocalypse according to George Romero, Tom Clancy & Quentin Tarantino. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/23 "2010-07-25T06:54:04Z")
Every new Picasso I see, I think the same thing: _This_ is the one where he’s just fucking with people. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/24 "2010-07-25T06:56:55Z")
> [@Emeria](#): > > what what, in the butt > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbGkxcY7YFU](http://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. Oscar Wilde and Elton John would bash this guy. For crimes against Art! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/25 "2010-07-25T06:59:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Historians argue to this day over whether Machiavelli was being earnest or satirical in _The Prince._ I’ve heard at least one person raise the same question about Plato’s _Republic_. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/26 "2010-07-25T08:19:20Z")
> [@Rrose\_Selavy](#): > > [Artist's Shit - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist's_shit) > > [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) Sometimes Wikipedia reads like a parody of an encyclopedia. The cans didn’t contain real shit – and once the shit tried to escape! ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/27 "2010-07-25T11:11:22Z")
**Conservapedia** Your mouth will literally fall open. [http://www.conservapedia.com/Main\_Page](http://www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/28 "2010-07-25T13:17:55Z")
The Battlefield Earth movie is so bad and contains so many plot holes and is so poorly directed, it looks almost like a parody. I actually think that if you took all the footage they filmed and hired an editor, you could re-build that movie into a pure comedy. Skip to 40 seconds into this clip to see how it is. It thinks it’s a real sci-fi movie. [When you were still learning to SPELL YOUR NAME, I was being trained to CONQUER GALAXIES!!!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqWK85gJaxc) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/29 "2010-07-25T14:22:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Historians argue to this day over whether Machiavelli was being earnest or satirical in _The Prince._ > [@FriarTed](#): > > I’ve heard at least one person raise the same question about Plato’s _Republic_. And Kipling’s _White Man’s Burden_. ---
**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, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/30 "2010-07-25T17:00:56Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > **Conservapedia** > > Your mouth will literally fall open. > > [http://www.conservapedia.com/Main\_Page](http://www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page) Trolls don’t count. Conservapedia might not have been _created_ as a parody, but sabotage has definitely turned it into one. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/31 "2010-07-25T17:23:28Z")
[The Room](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ4KzClb1C4). ---
**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, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/32 "2010-07-25T17:26:10Z")
This is the third time in as many days that I’ve heard of The Room, even though I’ve never heard of it before. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/33 "2010-07-25T18:02:11Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > [The Room](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ4KzClb1C4). Throughout that scene I kept expecting one of the guys’ eyeballs to be melted by an atomic blast, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/34 "2010-07-26T02:59:24Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > > [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > > > [The Room](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ4KzClb1C4). > > Throughout that scene I kept expecting one of the guys’ eyeballs to be melted by an atomic blast, for some reason. Throughout? Throughout? Through? Out? Meaning you watched the whole thing? You poor thing, you. You were supposed to click the little “close” button after “Hi, Mark.” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/35 "2010-07-26T14:47:09Z")
> [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](#): > > 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. And you were correct. The best part of the thread was all the indignant replies unwittingly proving your point. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/36 "2010-07-26T16:11:47Z")
> [@Hades](#): > > This is the third time in as many days that I’ve heard of The Room, even though I’ve never heard of it before. You are really missing out. [You are tearing me apart, Lisa!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plz-bhcHryc&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![bramma23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@bramma23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bramma23)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/37 "2010-07-26T18:39:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@Hades](#): > > > > This is the third time in as many days that I’ve heard of The Room, even though I’ve never heard of it before. > > You are really missing out. > > [You are tearing me apart, Lisa!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plz-bhcHryc&feature=related) I wonder if that particular quote is an homage to Rebel Without A Cause which has Dean saying the same thing in an almost over the top fashion that doesn’t seem to fit the emotion of the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865/38 "2010-07-26T20:08:33Z")
> [@bramma23](#): > > I wonder if that particular quote is an homage to Rebel Without A Cause which has Dean saying the same thing in an almost over the top fashion that doesn’t seem to fit the emotion of the scene. Thing is, I don’t give Tommy Wiseau enough credit to have even seen Rebel Without a Cause. He claims his movie was supposed to be funny and fun like it is, but the other actors insist this was a real movie for him. He has another one coming out, by the way. [The House That Drips Blood On Alex](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS1-xMQMbsM) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-over-the-top-that-it-could-be-a-parody-but-its-not/547865.md?page=1)