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Julie Benson Muses on If Celebrities Were Toys ...

Click on the icon to see a larger version of each image.

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Parody is a work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or to ridicule. Literature, music, art and public figures are frequently parodied by artists and writers to poke fun or point out absurdities in our society or personal habits. Parody can have important educational value as it can be an effective means of shaking us out of our habitual way of seeing things and of pointing out ironies or dangerous trends in human culture with an eye to examining and correcting our future choices and activities.

Here Julie Benson looks at the 'marketing' parallels between celebrity images and popular toys and combines them not just for humorous effect but to provoke us into thinking about what 'image' really means and how it effects the way we react to cultural icons. Below, in another type of parody, she offers a slightly off-beat look at a popular TV space show.

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Star Trek: Voyager Parody

Copyright 1999 by Julie Benson
(Sung to the Theme of Gilligan's Island)

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from a great space port
aboard a Starfleet ship  (aboard a Starfleet ship).
The mates were Federation crew,
the captain brave and sure.
A hundred plus left dock that day
for a three ye-ar tour (a three ye-ar tour).
The aliens started getting rough
the Borgs stirred up a fuss;
If not for the cleavage of the fearless crew
Their ratings would be lost (Voyager would be lost).
The script is now adrift in this uncharted realm of space
with Seven of Nine
Captain Janeway too
The holo-Doc
Ensign Kim
the Klingon ma'am
and the rest
                            (Chakotay
                             and Neelix too)
Here on Voyager's aisles!

So this is the tale of our cast-a-ways
They've warped for a long, long time;
They're having such an easy ride
Who cares if they make it alive (so what if they make it alive).

They hide away in the holodeck,
They hardly ever land.
They're always having fights and scrapes
With aliens close at hand (the aliens close at hand).

The writers ditched their best ideas,
They paid their Hollywood dues;
And brought out a Borg in a bunny suit
To titillate the viewers (she titillates the viewers).

So join them every week, my friend,
Communicate your zeal,
If nothing else, the show still has
Its prurient appeal (its prurient appeal)!
                  -- Julie Benson

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All contents of this pages copyright © 1999 onward by the author.
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