The 3 that come to mind for me are Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The Princess Bride. All three are poking fun at their respective genres but also are great examples of the genre. I’m curious if Lemmy has other such examples.
Everybody is talking about movies so here’s some books: Discworld by Terry Pratchett started as a parody of the fantasy genre but evolves into one of the richest fantasy worlds you’ll even have the pleasure to read.
I’ve been considering reading these books. This might just be the thing that pushes me to start.
Just to let you know, Pratchett’s writing improves massively over the series. This means, if you read it in chronological order, you start with the least good books (Colour of magic, and light fantastic).
There are multiple story arcs, however, that can be read semi-independently. The “Witches” arc, or “City guards” arc are an easier in point for many people.
I personally read them in chronological order. I knew the earliest books wouldn’t be as good, so got to watch his writing improve, and the world crystallise. I knew about the slow start however, and so wasn’t put off by the “average” level writing, at the start.
https://www.hookedtobooks.com/discworld-reading-order/
I’ve always read them in published order personally, books tend to reference earlier novels in the series and a lot of little in jokes appear as the series progresses.
The first 2 novels have a slightly different “feel” to the others, then he settles into a style that continues to the end.
The first thing I thought when reading this question! Discworld is amazing
For sure, it’s one of the greatest fantasy series ever written.
Galaxy Quest
I still say “Never give up! Never surrender!” occasionally to this day
It’s legitimately one of the best Star Trek movies.
There is a curse in the Star Trek movies where every other movie in the franchise is terrible. The first one is bad, the second is good, the third is bad, and so on. This almost fits perfectly, but it inverts from the 10th movie onwards. The 9th is bad, the 10th is bad, the 11th is decent, the 12th is bad…
However, if you add Galaxy Quest into the line up, then it’s the good Star Trek movie between the 9th and 10th, and the pattern holds.
TMP and Insurrection are great Star Trek films! Insurrection is arguably the most TNG of the TNG movies.
Scream was incredibly meta. It references plenty of slasher films and even has one character talking about the rules of slasher films.
While it’s not exactly a parody, it does poke fun at its own genre a lot.
Starship Troopers
DO YOU APES WANNA LIVE FOREVER!?
Heathers. it was made to parody adolecent movies and its considered the mother of all adolecent movies (like, the mother of netflix-like movies.)
After many seasons, it turned out that Joss Whedon was secretly the Big Bad.
Anyone know what’s up with him?
Last I remember hearing allegations from the Justice League team… Nothing further.
He’s made some of my favourite movies, including both Avengers 1 and 2, and Cabin in the Woods… So it was disheartening to hear such stuff about him.
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Goddammit. We’ve both shattered each others “ignorance is bliss” moments lol.
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That’s a bummer.
I love her in so many things.
I haven’t seen Charisma so idk any of the rest but I’m sad that he created some of my favourite work and destroyed his reputation and my respect for him all at once.
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Dammit. Honestly, Allison Hannigan not saying anything hurt me more.
The Cabin in the Woods is pretty good. It tells an interesting story while still hitting its marks to be a “college kids getting picked off by the supernatural far from civilization” horror movie parody.
Tucker and Dale Vs Evil. Starts fine and eventually becomes a horror. It’s great.
James Bond. Ian Fleming wrote a series of novels parodying spy novels, and they’ve turned into one of the best spy movie franchises, with no hint of parody left.
Though when I go back and watch the Pierce Brosnan movies, it’s obvious they’re a parody.
What’s weird is how serious they seemed in the 90s when they came out. But they’re so silly.
None of the Bond movies are serious, they’re all clearly campy and fun movies. Timothy Dalton is the closest to the Bond of the novels.
Not Another Teen Movie
This is such a quality question. But a lot of people are just naming their favorite movies in the comments.
What you want is Moore’s Watchmen. It is a deconstruction and reconstruction of the Superhero as an American trope.
What I loved about HBO’s continuation is that they focused on how white supremacy is intertwined with heroism, just as Moore wrote in his original IP.
Then you got the Zack Snyder movie which was mostly, “ooh, look at these people with powers fight crime”. None of the impending doom of the fall of society from nuclear war and/or fascism, and how the heroes were pointless because they were the ones pushing forward this doom. “Who watches the Watchmen?” etc.
Cool supplementary article: https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/watchmen-creator-alan-moore-says-superhero-genre-remains-a-white-supremacist-dream-of-the-master-race
The Orville had some genuinely good episodes that told a great message.
This Is Spinal Tap.
The unbearable weight of massive talent, with Nic Cage.
Night & Day, with Tom Cruise.
Upvoted for Nick Cage.
Hot Fuzz is what I came here to suggest - it’s the best ACWATNOBI (A Cop With A Theory No One Believes In) spoof/film ever.
I also think Cabin in the Woods did a great job balancing spoof (or at least meta) with actual horror.
