Genre Parody is pastiche (an imitation that announces itself as such and involves combining elements from other sources – Richard Dyer)  that fits into the many forms of rhetoric, social and cultural forms of media entertainment, and self expression. It is most recognizable in the visual mediums of film and television, though is also prominent in music as well (The Lonely Island). In cinema, genre parody deliberately makes fun of the conventions and commonalities that the audience associates with a specific genre such as Action or Sci-Fi. And according to the Postmodernism reading, parodies are working in two levels, participating in the codes of a genre as the same time they are parodying these same codes.

Unfortunately, our era has to experience the self-absorbed materialistic trash that Western culture has a deep love/hate relationship with. Reality television. Personally, I detest reality television but still find myself staring at the mass of pixels for much longer than expected when I flip through channels. 

Although Comedy Central’s Kroll Show isn’t something to rave about, and is not wholly a genre parody, some of Nick Kroll’s characters are sadly accurate representations of other television shows and real people that fill some of your cable provider’s time slots. The Kroll show is comprised of immature comedy skits with the full intention of parodying television shows and celebrities of the 21st century, and the weirdly accurate delivery of dialogue and personality traits we assume a specific type of person would have. Specifically noting the referee character and dudes with ponytails. Unlike other sketch comedy shows such as Key and Peele, Kroll Show falls under the cheesy and ridiculous camp levels of comedy.

For instance, his series of skits known as Bobby Bottleservice is parodying several reality television genre codes, as well as cultural and fashion norms. Some of the genre codes include breaking the fourth wall in those famous one on one camera sessions, the handheld moving camera shots and of course crying on camera. The series’ style and character is parodying a mix of Cheaters, Jersey Shore, Punk’d, and that gym rat who wears Gucci sunglasses, the extensively ripped jeans, and Affliction.

Bobby Bottleservice is a recurring character on Nick Kroll’s Kroll Show. 

Another parody skit is my personal favorite, Rich Dicks. The series is a blend of the Kardashians meets the Real Housewives of wherever. In the skits, the characters display a wealthy and ignorant dynamic whose focuses are on current trends, unusual investments and of course their drug supply. A recurring theme demonstrates a perception of how celebrities live their lives and to exaggerate what wealthy people seem to be concerned with.

The Kroll Show being the ridiculous skit comedy show that it is, has its moments. It serves as a genre parody not only to reality TV, but to American cultural and social norms as well. Although I wouldn’t recommend sitting and watching a whole episode of the show unless you’re a fan of Nick Kroll, but killing some time on the short Youtube clips would definitely make a bad day a wee bit better.

1. Said argued that the concept of the Orient as other serves to establish Europe and the West as the norm.

   1. In regards to the quote above, can the same be said in reverse? Who establishes what the “norm” is?

It can be said that the West as the norm serves to establish the the orient as the other, since Western culture in a way subconsciously established itself as the norm through various aspects. This idea of binary opposition where we identify as something being a certain way therefore we must be this, or the opposite of that concerning this particular topic traces back to the era of colonialism. Instead of these countries traveling and identifying the West, the West went and “discovered” them. That already puts these lands and people which just so happens to be parts of the Middle East, Asia and Africa in a state of inferiority or being uncivilized, whether that be the case or not. Since these lands were subject to colonization and then became partners in trade with the West, we have looked to these areas as foreign and mysterious. Thus creating the cultural construction Orientalism that establishes the East as the Orient and the west as the Occident or the norm. This construction is then maintained by familiar cultural representations, especially stereotypes though culture and the arts. This reinforcement is made by artists painting seductive women which started movements such as the Neoclassical, or pictures that can reinforce common false assumptions of how Egypt is mostly made up of sand dunes and  camels. These examples support how many of these stereotypes are still prominent today and can be easily identified through visual media. Cinema is full of cultural stereotypes and can be traced back to binary opposition such as in the movie The Mummy Returns where the plot is based on an Egyptian curse. Or Aladdin where the antagonist is tall dark, mysterious, a sorcerer and wears a turban. Not all of the Middle East is Muslim speaks Arabic and wears hijabs or turbans, yet that is how Western culture tends to associate those people. For a more recent example, not all Hawaiian men have tribal tattoos, wear straw skirts, and participate in luaus, yet that is the first thing that comes to mind when people of Western civilized culture think when they see the word Hawaii . A land that we took over not too long ago.  Therefore, The West or the Occident has established the norm by the events and practices throughout history such as colonization and control of other countries that have identified foreign land as unfamiliar and the Orient which unfortunately makes it subject to discrimination.

It is difficult to say if the West would have some sort of cultural construction if colonization didn’t occur, I’m sure some sort of stereotype would still be present just based on the advancement of Western civilization at the height of the era of colonization even if control wasn’t in place, just maybe not the certain extent of how associate Orientalism to the East like we do today. There would still be some sort of feeling towards foreign land due to trade. It would be interesting to theorize what would’ve happened if the situation was flipped. Would the West be the Orient and subject to similar discrimination?

Depiction is a canon of visual rhetoric that is widely manipulated by the media. In the Giles excerpt of Mediating Hillary Rodham Clinton, Giles explains how the media uses images and clips to persuade the audience to perceive HRC in a certain way depending on what they are trying to achieve and the argument they are trying to make. In the article, Giles gives examples of HRC being depicted in a negative light by news organizations such as MSNBC and CNN. Examples include the CNN image of HRC at the Whitewater investigation and shows HRC laughing as if she isn’t taking the investigation seriously, even though the Whitewater investigation hearing was closed to the public. Visual recontextualization of images and clips are commonly used in political ad campaigns to inaccurately depict an opposing candidate. Another example would be the use of sequencing to show angry protesters picketing against Hillary, yet those protesters could have been filmed anywhere and at another time. HRC is one among almost all of the highly covered politicians and celebrity figures being manipulated by the media. It can even be inferred that this commonality is more of an issue among women. The media uses stereotypes and micro aggression to hone in on female popular figures waiting for them to make a “wrong move” and hype an event that wouldn’t be as popular if a man was the subject involved.

This leads to the problems with modern journalism where Giles covers contextualization and agenda setting in the media. When objective journalism is bypassed by a more favorable narrowcasting type of journalism that is one sided and looking to persuade a set audience ethical problems may arise. When journalists are agenda setting and they lose transparency and therefore credibility. To fulfill a one angled story, using images that may not be in the right context to depict a subject in a certain manner whether that be positive or negative can be considered unethical due the removal of objectivity and an unbiased viewpoint. Visual rhetoric plays a large role to support the media’s predetermined outlook and agenda when an organisation is covering an event or figure. To clarify, examples of narrowcasting or one sided journalism would be shows like the O’Reilly factor or the Rachel Maddow show that caters to a specific political audience. These shows use an arrange of visual manipulations to satisfy their consumers. Manipulations include image sequencing, camera angels, misinterpretation, and taking images, films, and audio snippets out of context.

The main problem with visual manipulation is the chance at a false public representation of a figure like HRC. In reality, politicians don’t have as much control over their public identity as we credit them to. They are mostly in the hands of the major news organizations with the largest amount of viewers. It’s important to realize this and give more attention to news organizations that are being the most objective as possible by staying within an ethical bounds. Knowing the association between the canons of visual rhetoric and how the media manipulates them is key to recognizing the bias in today’s media outlets.