What is it about?
The Czech humorous parodies resonated with the cultural flow of so-called Americanism and thus presented positive image of America, designed to amuse the reader. The article examines three works: Tarzan´s Grandmother (1926) by Zdeněk Matěj Kuděj, who parodies the "cultural icon" Tarzan of the Apes; From the Memoirs of the Celebrated Female Detective Leontina Clifton (1927) by an author using the pseudonym Mefisto, who spoofs the clichés of the detective story; Softdrink Joe (1940) by Jiří Brdečka, who parodies the Western.
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Why is it important?
What is of particular importance, the foreign world was shown entertainingly exaggarated in humour and presented to wide nonelite audience. Thus it could implicitly oppose the Czech anti-American Communist propaganda in the 1960s. However, laughing may influence and increase positive approaches to the foreigners generally, especially in the times of migration waves or crisis.
Perspectives
Writing this article was a great pleasure as I had followed and remembered the wonderful experience of my attending the "2011 Joint Conference PCA/ACA Popular Culture" in San Antonio (in 2011), in the section "Humour, Comedy, Satire in Popular Culture". I hope you find my article entertaining as well. And more than anything else I hope it inspires you to research to humour and comedy and satire.
Blanka Hemelikova
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: American Elements in Czech Parody, The Journal of Popular Culture, February 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/jpcu.12236.
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