'Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing' - Salvador Dali
Parody pastiche and satire in design are often used as a way to achieve a message with humour, political commentary, critique and nostalgia. It gives a layered opportunity of engagement in a topic or idea without feeling the need to be as on guard.
Satire - A critique or attack, driven by a desire to make a social commentary or challenge the status quo. It often uses humour to do this. Often seen in political magazines the jokes are intentionally humorous while having unnerving qualities that force the viewer to think more deeply about the subject. This method was used heavily in war propaganda.
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Parody - Seen as a visual satire or pun where a style or appearance copies the conventions or style of a work or author. Sometimes used for recognition or to make joke at the work. For this style of art to work there has to be a cultural awareness to the original source of the image.
Marcel Duchanp, LHOOQ, 1919
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This image is clearly a parody of the famous painting 'The Mona Lisa' by Leonardo Da Vinci 1503. By changing the image Marcel Duchanp successfully gives the image a new concept. It makes fun of the original painting in a cheeky manner by using an eccentric and iconic moustache combined with the letters L.H.O.O.Q. The lettering is a pun as when pronounced in french it translates to "she has a hot ass". The fact that this painting is as timeless and iconic gives the parody more impact and a similar timeless effect correlating directly to the original.
Mooner Lisa, Banksy, c.2006
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Banksy created a further appropriation of this piece with a parody of a parody. This piece makes direct reference to the "she has a hot ass" phrase prevalent in the original parody piece. On the surface this image can be enjoyed but it is only hightened with the knowledge of the original parody by Duchanp.
Pastiche - A form of 'homage'. Similar to a parody as it mimics elements of another works style but more as an affectionate nod to the original idea with no strict comment on the work.
This short segment is a clear homage to Miyazaki's famous Ghibli animations.
A meme - is an idea that spreads among society in an unplanned and effortless way, according to Richard Dawkins. Memes initially would re-use images often with a funny quote either relating to the mood of the image and giving it an alternative context.
The content is often simple and easy to consume. It is only through the continuous propagation of memes and the advent of social media that they quickly evolved into a cultural outlet. Most memes start in the same way, appropriation of someone else's art or imagery and altering the image to suit a certain joke or stereotype. These memes can even be created off the back of an image that is in itself a parody/joke already. Memes soon became the standard form of post-modernist art. The jokes are often inorganic and mass produced with minor alterations. The idea soon being lost within amalgamation of alternatives to the same concept.
Memes are now a mass-marketing force comparable to traditional advertising techniques. The message board internet social group '4-Chan', grouped together in a protest act of anti-establishment and rebellion. The counter-culture was identified by wearing the Guy Fawkes mask featured in novel 'V for Vendetta', which became a meme within its community. This somewhat backfired as an in-group identifier however, as the masks soon popularity became mass produced and Warner Brothers sold $600,000 in merchandise sales to many people who are well outside of this counter-culture group.
As memes are created often using misappropriated pictures and material, it was only a matter of time before lawsuits and copyright laws started to befall the creators from corporate entities and mainstream media outlets.
The masses now control memes and the content that becomes popular. More recently there are more political and social commentary memes.
Often as a trend becomes more popular with political or social figures, the sooner the trend will die out and a new meme will come along. Corporations, companies and established political figures have attempted to use and create memes as a method of marketing, which can potentially be ridiculed, which in itself is capable of becoming its own meme, running counter to the interests and intent of the creator of its forebearer.
My lecture task was to create a meme based on Donald Trump. He is an easy subject to use as there is there is a lot of stigma around him at the moment due to his recent promotion to presidency. The task was to use the image provided and alter it to give it a new message. This is what i created:
The style is based on a well known preexisting art style of an 80's manga comic 'Jojo's Bizarre Adventure'. The characters are often dramatically chiselled and have effeminate features. Each character within the series has a power up character ( Stand ) one of the most popular ones being called The World (pronounced Za Warudo in it's original context in Japanese). Creating a pun from this I shortened 'za warudo' to 'za waru' as it would be pronounced "the wall."
The imagery is lightly mocking and playful from a general public standpoint, but it is only if you are a fan or familiar with the original work where the reference gains a even deeper meaning. The joke is therefore appreciable on multiple levels.
