Analyzing Satire and Parody in Blazing Saddles

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Analyzing Satire and Parody in Blazing Saddles

"No one is born a racist bigot. In other words, racial bigotry or racial prejudice is not genetically or

biologically determined... Therefore, if most people spoke out about racism, it would be the first step

towards a revolutionary change." -Dr. Charles Quist-Adade

Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, sheds light to the cultural problems of the Western era through satire with elements of parody within. John Vogel describes Blazing Saddles as “The Ultimate Western Spoof.” The problem of racism is the main focus of this film. If one takes a closer look at the work of Mel Brooks, there is a noticeable trend of his films pointing fingers at racists. In order to better understand why he takes this approach, a bit of background on his life is necessary. Mel Brooks’ birth name was Melvin Kaminsky. He was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, NY. Brooks was the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants (Funk). Just that small bit of information begins to unravel a larger story. Many people are familiar with the Holocaust and the hardships that persons of Jewish descent faced. David Thompson describes Brooks in his book A Biographical Dictionary of Film, “Brooks is the product of live-audience TV, hired to write gags for Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows in 1950. For over a decade, he was a script doctor for the TV, radio, and stage musicals. … His first two features are his most personal and dangerous works.” (93)

Even from a brief summary such as this, one can tell that Mel Brooks associates himself with comedical films that would categorize as satire and/or parody. Seeing that Brooks was born Jewish and that he has elements of “Hitlerism” in his works, you can begin to see the connection with what may...

... middle of paper ...

...014.

Grant, Barry Keith. "Parody." Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film. Vol. 3. Detroit: Schirmer

Reference, 2007. 261+. Print.

Lowe, N. J. The Classical Plot And The Invention Of Western Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2000. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

"parody." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

"Satire - Definition and Examples | Literary Devices." Literary Devices. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar.

2014.

Thomson, David. "Mel Brooks." A Biographical Dictionary of Film. 3rd ed. New York: A.A.

Knopf, 1994. 93-94. Print

White, John. Westerns. New York: Routledge, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2

Apr. 2014.

Yasirfarabi. "Synopsis for Blazing Saddles." IMDb. IMDb.com, June 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

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