Anything Can Be Taken in More Than One Way: Why and How Spoofs Work

In my alternate fanfiction Lorry & Clark (based on Lois & Clark), I used most of the original characters, plots, and even (when I could) characterizations. I did change some things: Lorry is somewhat more sarcastic (although Terri Hatcher's Lois is more sarcastic than she seems) plus a tad more defensive with stronger reasons to distrust the people around him (not just because he is gay but because he has been burned somewhat more than Terri Hatcher's Lois who was a popular girl in high school).

What fascinated me, though, was how often I didn't have to change any lines or scenes. Here are a few examples:

• "You like to be on top," Clark says in the Pilot.
• "Girlfriend? [Pause.] Boyfriend?" Clark's prospective landlord asks him.
• Clark's embarrassed reaction to Cat's interest.
• Everything to do with closets. For example, from "The Pilot," Perry asks Clark, "When are you coming out of the closet?" And in "I've Got a Crush On You," when Lois states, "You could have pretended we were sharing a moment of passion," Clark does in fact respond, "I'll remember that the next time we're in a closet."
• Clark's parents (now and again): "Well, Clark, is there anything you'd like to tell us?" hint hint.

Ad from Sayers' agency.

Not having to change lines brought to mind a quote from Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers. At the beginning of Chapter 3, Sayers--who worked at an advertising agency--reflects on what makes an ad "work":

[T]the most convincing copy was always written with the tongue in the cheek, a genuine conviction of the commodity's worth producing--for some reason--poverty and flatness of style. [And if] by the most far-fetched stretch of ingenuity, an indecent meaning could be read into a headline, that's the meaning that the great British Public would infallibly read into it. (my emphasis)

Anything can be read into anything. Spoofs work because we are always ready to see the other side. It's actually a pleasant shock when the writer means exactly what the writer says--but come on, how often does that happen? (All the time, but we think it doesn't.)

More Superman to follow . . .