“We're at now, now”: Spaceballs as parodic tourism

• Brian L. Ott ^[1] ; Beth Bonnstetter ^[2]
  1. [1] Colorado State University

     Colorado State University

     Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] University of Minnesota

     University of Minnesota

     City of Minneapolis, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Southern communication journal, ISSN 1041-794X, Vol. 72, nº 4, 2007, págs. 309-327
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The shift from modernity to postmodernity reflects a fundamental restructuring of social and cultural life. At such dizzying and disorienting moments of social change, culture's inhabitants seek out new cultural art forms—forms that offer symbolic resources for negotiating the contours of the emerging social landscape. This essay contends that Mel Brooks's 1987 film Spaceballs constituted an innovative form of storytelling known as parodic tourism. As rhetorical analysis demonstrates, by drawing upon the cultural memory of viewers through intertextual allusions, the film fosters an interactive experience that offers viewers the mental equipment needed to navigate life in postmodernity.