Ironic Parody

A few years ago, Alanis Morissette wrote a song called Ironic, which was criticized for lacking irony, even though, there is some in the song.

She recently did a video based on the Black Eye Peas song My Humps, which isn't likely to win any awards for its lyrics. The song, as far as I can tell, is about a woman who has abundant physical traits, and uses it to her advantage, getting guys to waste their money and time on her.

Alanis's video was a parody, or so she says. Alanis has picked another word that's hard to grasp. When I saw parody, I expected it to be funny. Wikipedia says parodies don't have to be funny. They can ridicule as well.

To be honest, I didn't find Alanis's video all that funny. And that was because I set myself up thinking it would be funny. Now, she is poking fun at someone, which is herself. She's rewritten the song as if she had written it, and made a song which is crass, into one that is a bit about pathos, as if she's trying to win men's affections, but at the same time, can't deal with it either. Where as Fergie (as I gather is the name of the female singer in Black Eye Peas) is trying to be crass, Alanis is an angsty woman. She wants love. She doesn't want it. And in a sense, she pokes fun at herself, while wringing how pathetic the character is.

But just to show she's not taking it that seriously, she laughs at the end, realizing that maybe people don't really want to see a downbeat performer telling you how awful their life is, and maybe it is all a show.

It's pretty heady stuff for something termed a parody, and really, makes more fun of herself, while bringing a level of enlightenment that the song originally didn't have.

It's perhaps no surprise the video has been seen by many. And I'm beginning to see some of its appeal.

But was she really on You Can't Do That on Television?