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Parodies are sometimes joke-heavy above all else. Many of essentially the most well-known ones in fashionable tradition depend on simple references to poke enjoyable at a well-known storyline, however there’s one thing distinctive about how some Harry Potter parodies discover a option to be extra than simply jokes at their supply materials’s expense. The finest Potter parodies do not simply touch upon the unique collection, however in addition they show to be surprisingly additive to the collection, creating new riffs on the unique tales that increase the Wizarding World in new, efficient and sometimes subversive methods.
By its very nature, parody is commonly outlined as a foolish method to a severe tone. Some — just like the movies descended creatively from the likes of Airplane and The Naked Gun — take a dramatic style and provides it a cartoonish edge. Others — like a lot of Mel Brooks’ works like Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles — method beloved movie kinds with a pointed and sardonic edge. Meanwhile, a few of the finest fashionable parodies — like Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy or the Lonely Island’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping — work as comical variations of their supply materials whereas nonetheless being good examples of these genres.
As with any well-liked franchise, there are many parodies poking enjoyable on the Harry Potter collection, which has turn out to be a popular culture establishment throughout the globe, however essentially the most memorable — on high being a few of the funniest — are those that do not simply subvert the supply materials, changing into additive in their very own means. A Very Harry Potter Musical by the theatre group StarKid Productions — presently out there on their YouTube web page — was a school present that compressed your entire collection right into a single two-act musical.
While it took this chance to poke enjoyable on the sprawling parts of the unique story, it additionally delivered a larger quantity of depth to many characters. Hermione and Ron’s romance turned a real plot strains as an alternative of a protracted stewing subplot, and Ginny’s largely out-of-focus character development occurred on the middle of the play as an alternative of on the sidelines. Most notably, the villainous Voldermort and the one-note Professor Quirrell got a proper friendship that fleshed them out significantly.
Meanwhile, Wizard People, Dear Reader by Brad Neely (a veteran of South Park and the principle artistic on China, IL) can be discovered on YouTube, and it’s nominally an “audiobook” for the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. In Neely’s retelling, nonetheless, magic was way more harmful and virtually an etheral aspect, and the forged have been tweaked to be extra ridiculous and expert. The story turned Harry right into a powerhouse in contrast even to different wizards, and Ron was the extra combative and assured “Ronnie the Bear,” resolving some criticism afforded to the canon characters by enjoying up the magical journey parts of the collection.
Then there may be Puffs, or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, one other theatrical parody of the Harry Potter collection (which was filmed stay and is accessible on Amazon Prime and iTunes). It was a reinvention of the canon plot however solely from the attitude of the Hufflepuff college students. The forged reacted to the more and more darkish tone of the collection with a harsher edge, with a number of central characters being killed off by the top of the story. Puffs delved into the realities of being one of many random college students in a college usually outlined by the actions of a “Chosen One.” The story additionally overtly tackled a personality grappling with their household legacy and higher impulses, with a extra succinct plot line for Megan Jones than what Draco Malfoy ever received.
Dimension 20’s Misfits & Magic role-playing marketing campaign — which is now out there by means of the Dropout streaming platform — additionally centered on a Harry Potter-inspired wizarding world, the place a “pilot program” of American international trade college students may decide if non-magical beings have been launched to the supernatural world. On high of approaching the wizarding world with a good quantity of skepticism and logic, the 4 foremost characters drew consideration to the inherent flaws in ideas just like the Sorting Hat, even introducing ideas like common train to the varsity. It was an fascinating exploration of what may occur when the magical and non-magical worlds work together, to the purpose the place younger witches and wizards mastered fashionable applied sciences.
Each of those riffs on the unique Harry Potter imagery and storylines supplied recent approaches the ideas that not solely poked holes in these tales however discovered methods to think about extra advanced instructions. Each of them grew past their easy standing as parodies, subverting tropes whereas additionally elevating new edges and contours of questioning to the unique storylines.
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