Pastiche

Pastiche as defined in our vocabulary list is an aspect of postmodern style —that of plagiarizing, quoting, and borrowing from previous styles with not reference to history or a sense of rules. 

We see pastiche in today’s media all of the time but we do not realize or acknowledge that it is a remaking of something from the past. The Simpsons is a cartoon television show that frequently takes popular culture and makes parodies in their episodes. In the example that I chose, The Simpsons is clearly a pastiche of the famous movie, The Shining. In the photo attached it is clear that the scenes were directly taken in the cartoon from the movie. The cartoon itself though is taking a seriously scary movie and making it into a humorous part of an episode.

This pastiche that I chose is one with parody. The Simpsons is a cartoon show that is known for making fun of popular culture and situations that are relevant and serious. In the past this show has made fun of celebrities with serious problems involving drugs or alcohol as we all political situations that would be considered quite serious by many adults. This show is definitely aimed at a lighter audience that is more ‘in touch’ with the issues but wouldn’t be offended by the humor found within it.

The Shining is seen as a seriously scary film that was created in 1980. The parody pastiche of The Simpsons on this movie questions the status of the original film because it takes the scenes out of context where one used to find it frightening and makes it humorous for the same group of people to laugh at. I find it interesting that the same scenes can draw different emotions just because of the context in which the scene is taking place.

The Graph Jam website is a pastiche because it is a place for people to compile information about popular culture and the history if it. The information itself is not necessarily clear and it takes an understanding of history of popular culture to completely understand the graphs. The whole website is about issues that are going on and giving a funny twist to how we look at these issues. It’s a funny website.

This is a pastiche with parody because there is a sense of humor behind the graphs. Although the issues that the graphs may represent are serious, there is a funny nature behind them that is understood by those who understand what the underlying issue is, that it is trying to represent.

These graphs lay out information from pop culture in a clearer and funny way. For instance, there may be a graph about how we put our money in a bank and we give them our money in fees. Although this is something we understand we are doing, we don’t think about how funny the concept is until it is laid out in a graph on this website. It’s a system that we abide by, but the graph questions the fact that we overlook the idiocy of the system.