A common episode approach for television fiction is the self-spoof. It usually occurs in Season 3 or later. By this point, the audience knows the characters so well that the writers can mock them (hopefully gently). Stargate did self-spoofs quite successfully on multiple occasions (here's one). So did Leverage. So did Buffy and Angel though with Buffy and Angel, a problem crept in.
The self-spoof should spoof the characters, not the audience.
In one Murdoch Mysteries episode, Crabtree meets Lucy Maud Montgomery. He gives her writing advice and tells her a little about himself. When the novel Anne of Green Gables comes out, Crabtree declares, "She used parts of my life! Anne is me!"
The episode ends on that note, which is legitimately funny and cute since Crabtree is a clever, creative young man who likes to float several dozen different ideas by his superiors. He is entirely lovable.
Okay, it's still funny and cute in a Goldman pretending to edit The Princess Bride way.
But the writers added, "(He's not real.)"
And the self-spoof becomes irritating rather than funny.
The difference?
In the first case, the audience is invited to chuckle alongside the writers. The fans especially are invited to be amused--they are, after all, the ones who know the show backwards and forwards. (I'm not a fan since I watch Murdoch Mysteries the same way I watched The Mentalist--about one episode/disc. However, I still got both parts of the joke, being a fan of Sullivan's Anne of Green Gables series.)
The addition of the parentheses immediately changes the self-spoof from a self-spoof into a rebuke: Silly audience members. Don't you know this is fiction?! What a bunch of dopes!
Stargate SG-1's self-spoofs work because the writers/producers/directors seem to be as amused by themselves as they are proud of their achievements. As the below video indicates, they may have encouraged Amanda Tappan to spoof her co-star, but they are also THRILLED to have Macgyver on set. (Hey, we got him.)
No comments:
Post a Comment