a basic overview of some media studies terms and ideas related to the key concept of 'genre'.

1. A Parody is a work that mimics in an absurd or ridiculous way the conventions and style of another work - in order to derive ridicule, ironic comment or affectionate fun.

3. Duchamp's parody of the Mona Lisa adds a goatee and moustache. Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Original painting from circa 1503 – 1507.

5. Some genre theorists see parody as a natural development in the life cycle of any genre. Such theorists note that Western movies, for example, after the classic stage defined the conventions of the genre, underwent a parody stage, in which those same conventions were ridiculed and critiqued. Because audiences had seen these classic Westerns, they had expectations for new Westerns, and when these expectations were subverted, the audience laughed. Parody

6. Most of the humour in recent parodies of film genres is based on our familiarity with formula plots, conventions and characters. Films like Scary Movie , Not Another Teen Movie and Team America: World Police first build on our habitual expectations of their genre and then violate them. Because each of these films incorporates the plot, characters & conventions of dozens of films, they can be helpful in studying the genres they parody. Parody

7. Self-Parody A subset of parody is self-parody in which artists satirize themselves (such as in Ricky Gervais' Extras ) or their work (e.g. Antonio Banderas' Puss in Boots in Shrek 2 ),or an artist or genre repeats elements of earlier works to the point that originality is lost (e.g. Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa ).

8. Intertextuality Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another.

10. A pastiche is “ a medley of various ingredients; a hotchpotch, farrago, jumble .” The term denotes a technique employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-cheek imitation of another's style; although jocular, it is usually respectful (as opposed to parody, which is not).

11. Pastiche Pastiche is prominent in popular culture. Many genre pieces, particularly in fantasy, are essentially pastiches. George Lucas’ Star Wars series is often considered to be a pastiche of traditional science fiction television serials or radio shows.

12. The films of Quentin Tarantino are often described as pastiches, with their mixing and blurring of generic conventions and boundaries. Kill Bill (2003) pays tribute to (or perhaps imitates) numerous genres; pulp novels, blaxploitation, grindhouse, kung fu and western films - though some say his films are more of a homage .

13. Homage Homage is generally used to mean any public show of respect to someone to whom you feel indebted. In this sense, a reference within a creative work to someone who greatly influenced the artist would be a homage (for example, Johnathan Glazer’s music video for Blur’s The Universal payed homage to Stanley Kubrick’s film Clockwork Orange ).

14. Satire is a technique in which a target is held up for merciless ridicule. Because satire often combines anger and humour it can be profoundly disturbing - because it is essentially ironic & sarcastic - it is often misunderstood. Although satire is usually witty, and often very funny, the primary purpose of satire is not primarily humour but criticism of an individual or a group in a witty manner. Satire