The Art of Parodies

From political cartoons to YouTube tributes, we are constantly surrounded by parodies. But what do they do? Are they a sign of derision or affection? On Friday 1 March, LSE's 'Branching Out' Literary Festival brought together three experts with very different attitudes to discuss these questions: biographer, critic and novelist D J Taylor, cartoonist Martin Rowson and author Ewan Morrison. The result was a very lively and thought-provoking debate. Here are some of the main points from each speaker:

D J Taylor

David Taylor began his presentation reading from a short literary parody of his own, gently mocking the tropes of A S Byatt's work, to insist that parody is not disparaging.He insisted he was a big fan of Byatt, proving the old adage 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'. For him, parody is a kind of authentication as it means at least someone has taken an interest in your work. It is also a vehicle for literary criticism, allowing critics to highlight key stylistic aspects of texts while having fun at the same time.

Read more of DJ Taylor's thoughts on parody and his top 10 literary parodies in this Guardian article.

Martin Rowson

Named 'Cartoon Laureate' by Ken Livingston, Martin Rowson is one of Britain's most successful political cartoonists. His presentation described political cartoons as both a parody of people and of iconic images to create the humour we need to help us survive. Starting with a musing on scatological humour, Martin claimed "If we didn't laugh, we would go mad at the horror at the stuff that falls out of our bodies on a daily basis". It's the same for politics, he adds, we need humour to cope with the ineptitude of politicians. 

Politicians too turn themselves into parodies of themselves in order to become recognisable. Martin has many stories of politicians and other notables (such as Charles Saatchi) who relish the attention of cartoonists as they ensure that they remain in the public eye. In contrast to David's assertion that parody is flattery, Martin uses parody as explicit criticism. Outside of politics, Martin has published a few graphic novel adaptations of classic works, notably T S Elliott's The Wasteland, which he calls a "truly terrible poem". One panel features Eeyore's corpse being pulled out of the river to 'celebrate' Winnie the Pooh (published around the same time as The Wasteland and Ulysses) as "the third pillar of modernism".

Ewan Morrison

Opening with a horrible Star Wars/Somebody That I Used to Know YouTube clip, one of the many thousands that appear when you search for 'parody', author Ewan Morrison set out to convince us that parody has gone too far in the digital age and lost any power it had ever had. "Parody is an overly familiar form and no longer effective". The problem, as he sees it, is that "everybody has an abundance of spare time". People take to the Internet to create mash-ups or fan-fic rather than interacting constructively with the rest of the world, and as a result "mass media is just talking to itself", like Twilight breading Fifty Shades of Grey. Where parody may once have combined the humour and political drive that Martin Rowson suggests, today they have "fallen away". 

"We are becoming a world of domestic parodists, spending our vital forces parodying and not doing anything in the real world".

From political cartoons to South Park, if we laugh at everything indiscriminantly then parody becomes obsolete, no longer a political tool but mere entertainment. Citing David Foster Wallace, Ewan insisted that we must "go back to being sincere". "We should stop thinking politics is funny. It's not. The cathartic function of parody is a problem". 

As you can imagine, David and Martin were quick to defend the types of parodies they work with, but there was unanimous agreement that this "domestic parodying" is unproductive and, often, frankly terrible. This left all sorts of questions discussed but unresolved: should parody be judged on its aesthetic quality? Its ability to make us laugh? Its political effect? Is there any point to parody any more? 

The event should hopefully be released as a podcast. Stay tuned to LSE's podcast page.