A parody (also called a spoof, caricature, or joke) is a work created to imitate an original work. They are usually meant to make fun of, or comment on these original works. It can range from the subject, author, or style through the use of satire or irony. The thing about parodies is that they can be found or integrated into various forms. Forms such as art, literature, film, music, and even gaming. Any kind of creative work is fair game, really. One of the earliest forms of parody was used during the time of ancient Greece. Hegemon of Thasos, a Greek writer of the Old Comedy, basically invented it. He would take popular and well-known poems and he would slightly change the wording in them. This resulted in something that turned sophisticated into the absurd and humorous.

The term first appeared in the English language back in 1598, in which it was described as "A Parodie, a parodie! to make it absurder than it was". By the turn of the 20th century, parody has been elevated from a means of entertainment to a medium of artistic creation and innovation. Some have theorized that parodies are the natural development in the life cycle of any genre. The world of film is a great example of this. Classics like Frankenstein and Robin Hood have had various spoof movies made from them. If you want to explore this genre a bit more, check out our list below. We mention a few good ones, including some of the best spoof movies of all time that you should definitely see.