To use parodies as tee designs, one needs to know exactly what a parody is as to avoid copyright infringement and other issues.
A parody (/ˈpærədi/; also called pastiche, spoof, send-up or lampoon), in current use, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon puts it, “parody … is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text.” Another critic, Simon Dentith, defines parody as “any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice.”[1] Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music (although “parody” in music has an earlier, somewhat different meaning than for other art forms), animation, gaming and film. The writer and critic John Gross observes in his Oxford Book of Parodies, that parody seems to flourish on territory somewhere between pastiche (“a composition in another artist’s manner, without satirical intent”) and burlesque (which “fools around with the material of high literature and adapts it to low ends”). ~Wikipedia
Parodies as defined above, open an almost endless universe of possibilities in art because everything can be made light of in one way or another. The Simpsons is a parody of Matt Groening’s own family modeled after his parents, and sisters. That would make him Bart. Looking around you can see images where famous paintings are parodied with pop culture references. For example, there is The Joker from Batman posing as Edvard Munch’s The Scream with a mash up of both styles.
Parodies As Tee Designs.
Political parodies and caricatures is a gold mine come election time. Tshirt designs and comic strips featuring mockeries of political figures and issues fly off the shelves almost as fast as they are produced. As well as “Topical” tee shirt designs which are based at what ever is generating a social buzz like Charlie Sheen’s “Winning” phrase a few years back. So when looking for inspiration just remember that parodies are everywhere.
