Comedy can be a difficult creature to categorise. Indeed, humorous works of fiction often draw from many of its sub-genres at once. Two of these sub-genres, however, can be particularly tricky to differentiate between. The terms ‘spoof’ and ‘parody’ are often conflated and used interchangeably to describe comedic works. As both are imitations which utilise exaggeration and irony, the confusion is, of course, forgivable. Nevertheless, there is a marked difference between the two.
For an artistic work to be considered parodic, the subject in which it mocks – usually another work of fiction – must be easily identifiable. A parody chooses a specific work to mock and rags on it relentlessly. Spoofs, however, play a bit more fast and loose with their particular subject matter. While still an imitation to some degree, spoofs concern themselves with poking fun at characteristic hallmarks of a genre. Spoofs then tend not to mock just one, individual piece of work and are subsequently not tied to imitating any specific work.
There is admittedly a bit of crossover, with many spoofs containing parodic elements. Indeed, the DAFTAS competition is where the waters get a bit murkier. Here, parodies take a direct piece of source material as their inspiration – the DAFTAS organisers give contestants one specific film to imitate. Namely one of BAFTA-nominated film from that year – inevitably involves parodic aspects. At its core though, it is a competition which seeks to spoof.
There is much more freedom in spoofing than in parodying. Spoofs take more of a thematic approach to their source material and plotlines can be looser and less recognisable than simple parody. Indeed, although submissions to the DAFTAS spoof a single Bafta nominated film – with multiple entrants spoofing the same film – there is huge variance in all the short films submitted. Three of the award-winning films from 2021 were spoofs of Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, and not one was alike. Both the team leaders from Nordmannland, Ashley Jonassaint and Line Nathalie Ronning, comment on the artistic freedom they felt they had to change elements of Nomadland. They agree that they gave themselves ‘a lot of space to play as much as we could [with Nomadland]’ and ‘add things that weren’t real.’ This is the core of what makes spoofs so special a genre; its ability to imitate while maintaining a sense of creating something new – something a strict parody would struggle with.
All the submissions which spoofed Nomadland, spoofed on the indie film genre. Indie films, unlike their more escapist studio film counterpart, often feature more challenging and realistic storylines that are designed to make their viewers contemplate certain issues. However, out of all the spoofs, it is Madeleine Kasson’s NoGoLand that arguably stayed truest to the genre of spoof. Speaking to Madeliene, I mentioned how it took me two or three watches of her short film before I started to recognise the similarities between the two. Her spoof certainly plays into the tropes that make up the indie film genre and strongly feature in Nomadland: emotional, slow-paced music, thought-provoking storytelling, and introspective performances. NoGoLand reverses the plotline of Nomadland which features its protagonist traveling across the American West as a modern-day nomad, and instead portrays its protagonist as remaining indefinitely in one place due to covid lockdown. However, in her spoof, Kasson manages to play up the theme of isolation which runs throughout Nomadland while avoiding a direct parody of the plotline. Kasson takes the introverted performance of Frances McDormand as Fern, which plays on the tension between resilience to crisis and stubbornness to break through her self-imposed isolation and applies this to the reality of all our experiences of lockdown. As Team Leader Madeleine Kasson says,
‘With Nomadland, we looked at the theme of this character in crisis; [she] was forced into a new lifestyle and then was offered all these opportunities to leave this lifestyle and chose to stick with it. So that was the theme we were going for and it just so happened that the crisis at our moment was staying in one place rather than traveling around. So, we were actually trying to match themes of Nomadland and fit it to our circumstances.’
By ‘fitting’ the themes of Nomadland to all our experiences of lockdown, Madeleine blends a parody of reality with the spoof of a genre. Additionally, trademarks of a Western film are also present in her spoof. Sweeping scenery and vast landscapes feature ironically to remind us viewers of her protagonist’s hermit-like status.
Similar to NoGoLand, both NoParkingLand and Nordmannland also spoof on the indie film’s tendency towards cultural critique: NoParkingLand explores what it means not to lose one’s home but to lose one’s free parking space in London; while Nordmannland adds a surreal twist on the capitalist criticism of Nomadland by having Santa himself abandon his warehouse and enter into a nomadic lifestyle in Norway.
Other spoofs submitted in the same year similarly avoided direct parody. Mark Haldor’s The Trial of the Marvel(ous) 7, a spoof on The Trial of the Chicago 7, puts a comic twist on genre convention by blending the Bafta nominated film with films from the DC/Marvel universe. The Trail of the Chicago 7 itself can be claimed to be spoofing serious legal dramas through its light tone and lack of grit. Mark Haldor’s The Trial of the Marvel(lous) 7 exaggerates the levity of this legal drama and subverts its polished feel through superhero-themed farce and moments of improvised imperfection. One such moment involves the comically bushy eyebrow of the lawyer of the defendants sticking to his glasses as he dramatically pulls them off in court. Laughter can be heard off camera. Mark himself calls this moment ‘tongue in cheek’ and wanted to make explicit to his audience that ‘we’re having a laugh, it’s a bit of fun.’ By doing so Mark and his team manage to subvert the serious tone inherent to legal dramas while exaggerating the (perhaps overly) light tone of The Chicago 7 for ironic effect.
What is particularly interesting about 2022 film draw is that it features a film which is already a spoof. This must beg the question: how do you spoof a spoof? Don’t Look Up is a satire with a clear political message on climate change but it attempts this through spoofing the disaster film genre. Disaster films typically start with the government ignoring a scientist and Don’t Look Up certainly leans heavily into this trope. I am very interested to see how this year’s contestants will tackle spoofing a film which is already an exaggerated version of a genre.
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Words by Katie Hyatt
