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As long as there are audiences willing to pay money to have shit shoveled down their throats, the Movie–movie machine will keep rolling out new models. Spy Movie, for example, is already slated for a 2009 release , to be followed, I’m guessing, by Psychological Thriller Movie, FatalDisease Domestic Drama Movie, Silent German Expressionism Movie, and, eventually, Spoof Movie, each more cynical and misanthropic than the last, and each a printer of dirty money. josh rosenblatt, review of disaster movie (2008) FILM CYCLE PARODIES This book opened with a brief look at some of the earliest examples of film cycles, kissing films and train films, and examined how those two subjects were soon combined as a way to extend the financial viability of each cycle. I conclude here with an examination of some of the more recent manifestations of the film cycle, along with the cycle ’s place in contemporary film production. The quotation opening this chapter is from a particularly negative review of Disaster Movie (2008, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer), a film that parodies the cycle of disaster films that were released throughout the 2000s, including The Day After Tomorrow (2004, Roland Emmerich), War of the Worlds (2005, Steven Spielberg), Poseidon (2006, Wolfgang Petersen), Cloverfield (2008, Matt Reeves), and 2012 (2009, Roland Emmerich). However, Disaster Film is itself an entry in a larger, intergeneric cycle of films that parody other, recently successful film cycles. These parodies, which I have labeled the “cycle-parody cycle,” have their roots in films like I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988, Keenen Ivory Wayans ), a parody of the 1970s blaxploitation cycle, and Don’t Be a MenCONCLUSION LOVE, DISDAIN, AND THE FUTURE OF CYCLE STUDIES 176 AMERICAN FILM CYCLES ace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, a parody of the 1990s ghetto action cycle.¹ However, the cycle-parody cycle did not pick up steam until after the release and consequent box-office success of Scary Movie (2000, Keenen Ivory Wayans), a parody of the self-reflexive teen-slasher-movie cycle of the 1990s.² The success of Scary Movie, which was made for $19 million and grossed more than $157 million worldwide, prompted the release of a series of cycle parodies , including Not Another Teen Movie (2001, Joel Gallen), Date Movie (2006, Aaron Seltzer), Epic Movie (2007, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer), Dance Flick (2009, Damien Dante Wayans), and Vampires Suck (2010, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer).³ As their generic titles indicate, entries in the cycle-parody cycle are released to capitalize on the recent success of another film cycle, lampooning its familiar characters, images, and plots. For example, Dance Flick parodies the dance film cycle of Save the Last Dance (2001, Thomas Carter), You Got Served (2004, Chris Stokes), and Step Up (2006, Ann Fletcher), as well as the recent teen-targeted musical cycle of High School Musical (2006, Kenny Ortega) and Hairspray! (2007, Adam Shankman).⁴ While many critics have argued that the appearance of a parody signals that a group of films has reached a point of creative exhaustion and is no longer able to satisfy the needs of its audience , I agree more with Dan Harries’s claim that parody both “situates and subverts the viewing experience,” facilitating the perpetuation of a film genre or film cycle in a revised form (Harries, “Film Parody,” 282). In other words, a parody has the capacity to “weed out” clichéd conventions “in order to allow for the canon’s continued healthy growth,” thereby forcing a cycle or genre to use its familiar images in new ways (287). This last point is significant. Parodies do not “kill” a cycle; rather, their presence indicates that there is yet something compelling in the text being lampooned. Thus, a film like Vampires Suck, released as a parody of Stephanie Meyer’s wildly popular Twilight series and its filmic adaptations, is not the last word on the subject of vampires. Rather, its release encourages the films and television series that follow it to avoid reusing certain overused tropes, such as the moody vampire hero and a pair of star-crossed human and vampire lovers. One central characteristic of cycle-parody films is their reliance on stock characters lifted directly from the films being parodied. Many of the actors in these films are cast because of their resemblance to other, iconic stars. Thus, in the credits for Epic Movie, several characters are not given names and are instead listed...

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