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Denied Parody: Difference between revisions
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[[File:eventualismpromo2.jpg|frame|This should not remind you of [[Church of Happyology|anything]].]]
{{quote|[[This Is a Work of Fiction|The Characters and incidents portrayed and the names used are fictitious and any similarity to the names, characters, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional.]]
Signed RICHARD M. NIXON|Credits, ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]''}}
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It should be noted that the standard disclaimer "[[This Is a Work of Fiction|any similarity to persons living or dead...]]" does not constitute a denial in this case (indeed, some disclaimers now acknowledge that such names may be used fictitiously). After all, ''[[The Simpsons]]'' had a character named [[Bill Clinton]] who was president of the United States, and despite the disclaimer, it is doubtful that they were denying that it was based on the real-life person. This trope only applies when it's a specific denial.
Also, this trope does not cover situations where the denials are plausible—for example, McBain on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' could easily be a parody of the character from the [[Christopher Walken]] film
This is usually due to one of two reasons:
# [[Our Lawyers Advised This Trope|Fear of lawsuits]]
# Fear of [[Executive Meddling]]
# Ironically, a direct parody may give the authors ''less'' freedom, since all of the humorous features of the fictional thing must be based on characteristics of the thing being parodied.
{{examples}}
* When ''[[Code Geass]]'' first came out, a lot of fans believed it was a parody-slash-critique of the [[George W. Bush|Bush administration]] and the [[War On Terror]]. When asked about this in an interview, director Goro Taniguchi denied that there was any political motivation behind the plot and said that his goal was just to make an entertaining TV show.▼
== Film ==
* While ''[[The President's Analyst]]'' was being filmed, the FBI, not pleased with their portrayal, threatened massive tax audits on the director/writer. After renaming the pertinent intelligence agencies, he added the opening disclaimer:▼
{{quote|This film has not been made with the consent or cooperation of the Federal Board of Regulations (F.B.R.) or the Central Enquires Agency (C.E.A.). Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, and so forth and so on.}}▼
* The boss from ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]'' bears a striking similarity to Vogue's editor Anna Wintour, but the author maintains that she is a composite of fiction and various stories of her friends' first jobs.▼
* [[Steven Soderbergh]]'s ''Schizopolis'' features a self-help religion called Eventualism, based on a book by T. Azimuth Schwitters and featuring a volcano on its cover. But it's not a parody of Scientology.▼
** This is a good example of the second rationale above. Aside from the name, Schwitters doesn't seem to have anything in common with [[L. Ron Hubbard]].▼
* ''[[Good Night and Good Luck]]'', a film about McCarthyism, is widely seen as being a commentary about the legal processes for alleged unlawful combatants in Guantanamo Bay. The creators deny any such connection.▼
* [[Meryl Streep]] denied that her character in ''[[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]]'' was a parody of Hillary Clinton. (Well, they do have similar [[Power Hair]]...)▼
* [[Orson Welles]] denied that the lead character of ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' was based on William Randolph Hearst. It's unclear whether Welles was telling the truth, but Hearst certainly went out of his way to make sure everyone would think Kane was based off him. [[Hypocritical Humor|How very Charles Foster Kane of him.]]▼
** Hearst: "Please remain. You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war." Kane: "Dear Wheeler, You provide the prose poems. I'll provide the war." Completely different!▼
** Welles actually tried to get around this by including a line in the film in which a journalist makes a reference to both Kane and Hearst, thus indicating that Hearst actually exists as a separate entity in the ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' universe. Didn't stop Hearst from wrecking Welles's career, though...▼
* The ''[[Monty Python]]'' team have always denied that ''[[Life of Brian]]'' was a parody of the [[Jesus]] story - instead it's just a story about a guy called Brian living around the same time who is mistaken for the Messiah. The parody is about the various trappings of the religion - things like emphasis on symbols and extreme sectarianism and interpretations of Jesus's teachings that [[Completely Missing the Point|completely miss the point]], while the teachings themselves are left intact. They never said they weren't making fun of religion, they just said they weren't making fun of ''Jesus''. And they weren't. At least, not more than a couple of times. ("Bloody do-gooder.") They rejected their initial concept of Brian as a forgotten disciple of Jesus because the laughs stopped dead whenever Jesus was around — none of them felt comfortable directly making jokes about Him because [[Jesus Was Way Cool|there's nothing to really mock about the man Himself]].▼
== Literature ==▼
* Willie Stark, the governor in ''[[All the King's Men]]'', is widely held to be a parody of Gov. Huey Long. The author claims that this belief is "innocent boneheadedness."▼
* Arguably, [[Mark Twain]]'s line at the beginning of ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' was meant to veil the satire and parody that the book contained:▼
{{quote|NOTICE: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR, per G.G., Chief of Ordnance. }}▼
== Live Action Television ==▼
* Around 1970, there was an incident of an expensive, state-of-the-art apartment high rise in London that proved to be a structural disaster as it literally fell apart soon after completion. This seems to be the basis of the second part of the [[Monty Python]] "Architect Sketch" where Eric Idle gives his presentation on his building proposal while his scale model collapses, slumps over, and catches on fire - as the caption "SATIRE" flashes on and off, and the review board still gives it the go-ahead.▼
* David Morgan-Mar will often insist that ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' plotlines and characters that are clearly based on [[Real Life]] have nothing to do with them (for example, [[Crocodile Hunter|Steve Irwin]] and the "Steve and Terri" comics). In all fairness, it's probably sarcastic.▼
* Jennifer Saunders denied that her character, Eddie in ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'' was a parody of PR guru Lynne Franks; the character was actually derived from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfNKjINokAY this sketch] that she did with Dawn French in ''[[French And Saunders]]'', where the responsible daughter had to look after her flighty teenager-like mother. Of course, for ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'' both characters needed expanding, so it's still possible.▼
▲* When ''[[Code Geass]]'' first came out, a lot of fans believed it was a parody-slash-critique of the [[George W. Bush|Bush administration]] and the [[War On Terror]]. When asked about this in an interview, director Goro Taniguchi denied that there was any political motivation behind the plot and said that his goal was just to make an entertaining TV show.
* Alex Borstein has flatly denied that Ms Swan, a character she did on ''[[Mad TV]]'', is an old Asian woman, and claims she's based on her grandmother. [[Sarcasm Mode|Uh huh. Sure.]] (The Vancome Lady thinks she's Icelandic.)▼
== Music ==
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* Like ''Good Night and Good Luck'', ''[[The Crucible]]'' is commonly interpreted as an [[Anvilicious]] commentary on a contemporary legal scare. In the case of ''[[The Crucible]]'', that was McCarthyism, though Arthur Miller denied it at the time.
== Video Games==▼
▲== Live Action Television ==
* The makers of ''[[Dead Space (series)|Dead Space]]'' insist that the Church Of Unitology isn't based on the Church of Scientology. They claim that they were trying to create the archetypal cult and ''happened'' to come up with one resembling Scientology.▼
▲* Around 1970, there was an incident of an expensive, state-of-the-art apartment high rise in London that proved to be a structural disaster as it literally fell apart soon after completion. This seems to be the basis of the second part of the [[Monty Python]] "Architect Sketch" where Eric Idle gives his presentation on his building proposal while his scale model collapses, slumps over, and catches on fire - as the caption "SATIRE" flashes on and off, and the review board still gives it the go-ahead.
▲* Jennifer Saunders denied that her character, Eddie in ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'' was a parody of PR guru Lynne Franks; the character was actually derived from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfNKjINokAY this sketch] that she did with Dawn French in ''[[French And Saunders]]'', where the responsible daughter had to look after her flighty teenager-like mother. Of course, for ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'' both characters needed expanding, so it's still possible.
== Webcomics ==
▲* Alex Borstein has flatly denied that Ms Swan, a character she did on ''[[Mad TV]]'', is an old Asian woman, and claims she's based on her grandmother. [[Sarcasm Mode|Uh huh. Sure.]] (The Vancome Lady thinks she's Icelandic.)
▲* David Morgan-Mar will often insist that ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' plotlines and characters that are clearly based on [[Real Life]] have nothing to do with them (for example, [[Crocodile Hunter|Steve Irwin]] and the "Steve and Terri" comics). In all fairness, it's probably sarcastic.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Futurama]]'': "[[Rattling Off Legal|Weresemblebutarelegallydistinctfrom]] the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild!"
* Parodied on ''[[The Simpsons]]''. Bart denies his comicbook character "Angry Dad", an [[Expy]] of ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'', is based on Homer, claiming instead he is a composite character, based on his dad, Lisa's dad, and Maggie's dad.
▲== Video Games==
▲* The makers of ''[[Dead Space (series)|Dead Space]]'' insist that the Church Of Unitology isn't based on the Church of Scientology. They claim that they were trying to create the archetypal cult and ''happened'' to come up with one resembling Scientology.
▲== Literature ==
▲* Willie Stark, the governor in ''[[All the King's Men]]'', is widely held to be a parody of Gov. Huey Long. The author claims that this belief is "innocent boneheadedness."
▲* Arguably, [[Mark Twain]]'s line at the beginning of ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' was meant to veil the satire and parody that the book contained:
▲{{quote|NOTICE: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR, per G.G., Chief of Ordnance. }}
▲== Film ==
▲* While ''[[The President's Analyst]]'' was being filmed, the FBI, not pleased with their portrayal, threatened massive tax audits on the director/writer. After renaming the pertinent intelligence agencies, he added the opening disclaimer:
▲{{quote|This film has not been made with the consent or cooperation of the Federal Board of Regulations (F.B.R.) or the Central Enquires Agency (C.E.A.). Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, and so forth and so on.}}
▲* The boss from ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]'' bears a striking similarity to Vogue's editor Anna Wintour, but the author maintains that she is a composite of fiction and various stories of her friends' first jobs.
▲* [[Steven Soderbergh]]'s ''Schizopolis'' features a self-help religion called Eventualism, based on a book by T. Azimuth Schwitters and featuring a volcano on its cover. But it's not a parody of Scientology.
▲** This is a good example of the second rationale above. Aside from the name, Schwitters doesn't seem to have anything in common with [[L. Ron Hubbard]].
▲* ''[[Good Night and Good Luck]]'', a film about McCarthyism, is widely seen as being a commentary about the legal processes for alleged unlawful combatants in Guantanamo Bay. The creators deny any such connection.
▲* [[Meryl Streep]] denied that her character in ''[[The Manchurian Candidate]]'' was a parody of Hillary Clinton. (Well, they do have similar [[Power Hair]]...)
▲* [[Orson Welles]] denied that the lead character of ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' was based on William Randolph Hearst. It's unclear whether Welles was telling the truth, but Hearst certainly went out of his way to make sure everyone would think Kane was based off him. [[Hypocritical Humor|How very Charles Foster Kane of him.]]
▲** Hearst: "Please remain. You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war." Kane: "Dear Wheeler, You provide the prose poems. I'll provide the war." Completely different!
▲** Welles actually tried to get around this by including a line in the film in which a journalist makes a reference to both Kane and Hearst, thus indicating that Hearst actually exists as a separate entity in the ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' universe. Didn't stop Hearst from wrecking Welles's career, though...
▲* The ''[[Monty Python]]'' team have always denied that ''[[Life of Brian]]'' was a parody of the [[Jesus]] story - instead it's just a story about a guy called Brian living around the same time who is mistaken for the Messiah. The parody is about the various trappings of the religion - things like emphasis on symbols and extreme sectarianism and interpretations of Jesus's teachings that [[Completely Missing the Point|completely miss the point]], while the teachings themselves are left intact. They never said they weren't making fun of religion, they just said they weren't making fun of ''Jesus''. And they weren't. At least, not more than a couple of times. ("Bloody do-gooder.") They rejected their initial concept of Brian as a forgotten disciple of Jesus because the laughs stopped dead whenever Jesus was around — none of them felt comfortable directly making jokes about Him because [[Jesus Was Way Cool|there's nothing to really mock about the man Himself]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Parody Tropes]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Wicks]]
[[Category:
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