PARODY FILMS THROUGH THE DECADES SERIES — the 1900s

‘Sherlock Holmes Baffled’ Over the Children’s Little Train Robbery

The dawn of a genre

A screenshot from Sherlock Holmes Baffled. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Movie theaters feel shallow without comedies. It’s been a few years without a comedy appearing in the theater, and I miss them. Right now, everyone could use a hearty laugh, but not a joke from a superhero affair or a quip to break the tension in a horror film.

It doesn’t matter if the comedy is snarky or childish; it must captivate cinephiles and the general audience.

In today’s social climate, any joke in a comedy would frustrate and offend, ending anyone’s idea of making a comedic film.

Recently, comedy movies have surfaced on streaming services. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, for example, made me laugh so hard that I couldn’t breathe. I reacted similarly to the new adult animated film Beavis and Butt-Head Do The Universe. The comedy was crude, but I had a few good laughs. Nicolas Cage’s recent flick, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent with an overabundance of cageisms, takes a crack at comedy films, and perhaps its experimental take can revive the genre.

Those comedy films are a pleasure to watch, but none like the parody: the sub-genre of comedy that satirizes any film genre.

Growing up in the aughts, I watched a fair share of parody films regarded in infamy.

I wasn’t the brightest kid.

Forgive me.

Years later, I recall how those parody films shaped a part of my childhood. They made me think every parody film wasn’t worth my time, but I was wrong. A movie such as Airplane! is an excellent film mocking Zero Hour! and ’70s disaster films and Spaceballs is a great movie satirizing Star Wars.

So, recouping for lost time, I wanted to catalog the parody films I didn’t acknowledge growing up.

Parody films don’t have a separate sub-genre, given they’re a part of the comedy genre. Since they have no sub-genres, I’m discussing every parody film from the rise of cinema in the 20th century to the present.

I wanted to make this series into a book, but novels are dying. So instead, I found it wise to…