Why is it so hard to find a good parody?

Hollywood keeps struggling with making them

Parodies were big in the 2000s. With the success of the 1996 movie Scream and the subsequent success of its parody, Scary Movie, many tried to recreate the formula.

Scary Movie earned over 270 million dollars with a 19 million budget, by parodying over 15 horror movies, from Scream to The Exorcist. It also catapulted stars such as Anna Faris. Many sequels and similar parody movies followed the trail, trying to earn some bucks and achieve the same success.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a Parody is

'a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule'.

However, I would say most parody productions, unfortunately, actually fall under the second definition the dictionary has:

'A feeble or ridiculous imitation.'

Those movies were all somewhat tasteless, with over-the-top jokes, mocking easily-mockable movies such as Twilight, 300, and 50 Shades of Grey. They never reached the initial success of Scary Movie, and if you have ever watched any of those, it's not hard to understand why.

The streaming era

In the streaming era, most mid-budget movies have disappeared from production. This has probably affected the making of these types of movies. But in reality, those movies that weren't that funny, to begin with, have aged even worse. Many of the jokes were very sexist, racist, homophobic, and carried all kinds of prejudice.

I was then surprised to see a new parody just hit Netflix in series format. The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. This series mocks thrillers such as The Women in the Window and The Girl in the Train. But, not only that, it mocks the genre itself with its many plot twists, that sometimes don't make a lot of sense.

I was drawn to the series because of Kristen Bell, the leading actress. But, to be honest, I didn't like this series at all. It has a big issue, it's not so clearly shown as a parody from the start. Because of that, most of the jokes in the series just seemed absurd, and I can only remember chuckling over a few moments, such as the main character pouring a whole bottle of wine into her cup.

Maybe if you go in already knowing that it is a parody, you will like it more. I went in not knowing anything and thinking it was a thriller, and I just got upset about the whole thing. I could, of course, notice that there were a lot of absurd things going on that would probably be meant to be funny, but I didn't find it funny; it was just confusing. And I totally blame the writers for that.

Do we have good parodies?

Parody is a really hard format because viewers already expect over-the-top, Saturday-night-live-style jokes. Which can be a little offputting. I prefer more subtle jokes.

Maybe a way around this is something like Sex Education. Although not initially considered a parody of the High School series and movies, they do tease in some scenes a connection with movies such as Mean Girls. Also, another indicator that it could be considered a parody is the fact that the story is set in a British high school that usually doesn't have any of the classical American high school looks and feel that Sex Education has.

In Sex Education, the students don't use uniforms, there are lockers in the corridors and even jock jackets for the athletes. That was a complaint that some British had with the series: that it doesn't actually portray a British high school. But producers have said it is intentionally so.

I think what Sex Education does, and it does it really well, is to subvert the former expectations that we could have from high school series and movies and their tropes. The popular mean girl is actually poor and takes care of her dad, the tough girl is actually quite sweet, the main character is a nerd but can also be quite awful at some moments, and the bully is actually a closeted gay…

That is an interesting way of imitating a genre in a fun and intelligent way while exploring its limits. Sex Education, in a way, parodies former high school media and, by making it more real and modern and contrasting with other shows and movies, ends up making it more relatable as well. What is really hard to do.

In comparison, The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window resembles much more the old parodies from the 2000s. With the only positive side of being a less aggressive and bigot version of it.

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What to watch?

There is actually a nice parody movie that was released not that long ago: Isn't it romantic? The movie was released in 2019 on Netflix and stars Rebel Wilson as a woman who finds herself in a world where everything around her plays out like a clichéd romantic comedy. It's a funny movie that plays with our nostalgia for the old rom-com.

What to read?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I don't think this can be considered a parody per se either, but it's a fun read. And of course, I can only agree with any book that says that dolphins are much smarter than us.

What to binge?

Well, not The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window, I hope. :)

Go to Sex Education instead, which you probably already have. This is one of the best series on Netflix. It's funny, it's heartwarming, it’s pretty, and it's smart.