OUGD501 PARODY AND PASTICHE

Both the texts given are discussing the difference between parody and pastiche in post modernism in the opinions of two individuals, Linda Hutcheon and Frederic Jameson. Hutcheon's simple definition of parody is that it is something that takes and views art only in jest "citing a convention only to make fun of it" (Hutcheon, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 1989.) On the other hand, Jameson's definition of parody states that it is more of a development of culture. "symptom of the age, one way in which we have lost our connection with the past and to effective political critique" (Hutcheon, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 1989.) These two definitions of parody clash rather greatly, as stated on one side, parody is something that is ironic and perhaps something to be taken less seriously. Where as on the other hand it is known to be a development of our ways, forgetting about the past and moving forward to better things. 

An example of pastiche is simply taking the aesthetic of a design, and completely copying it for solely visual pleasure reasons. There would be no really contextual reason behind why it has been selected as the chosen aesthetic, only because it looks nice. In some cases this could possibly work quite well without challenging the ethics of the original design too much. As you can see at this example below, the classic Jaws poster has been replicated almost entirely with it's aesthetic. These two have nothing in common of concept however, only aesthetic value.

An example of parody is using the exact same design and making something new of it in homage. This means that the ethics and concept of the original design are still there and there are no intentions of claiming this work as the designers own. As you can see with this example here, the north face logo has been mimicked here and changed only slightly but not enough to a point where it is unrecognisable. This still gives full credit to the original design and can be taken less seriously then something more pastiche.