Study Task 2 - Parody and pastiche

Postmodernism is a modern use of styles (e.g. art styles) from the past.

Pastiche (Parody) is an art style which is imitated from an artist or art from a period of time.

According to an excerpt of Fredric Jameson pastiche is parody, an imitation of a "particular or unique" style (Postmodernism, pg 17) but is "devoid of laughter". Parody imitates the style of a writer, artist or genre in an overemphasised way in order to produce a comedic effect. However, Jameson used parody to describe pastiche to have less of a comedic effect and just imitates an existing style, or what he calls "blank parody".

Parody and Pastiche within animation:

Gon from Hunter X Hunter (Left 1998) and Goku from Dragon Ball (right 1984)

The anime series 'Hunter X Hunter' is an example of pastiche as it takes some inspiration from the anime series 'Dragon Ball'. As shown in the above image Gon shows similar characteristics as Goku, such as the ridiculous spiky hair style. Gon even follows a similar story to Goku of progressing to become stronger in order to overcome their opponents, usually to protect their friends.
Personally, I think Hunter X Hunter (2011 anime version) is the better series with a more interesting story instead of focusing on making them over powered and "cool" and would appreciate Dragon Ball's inspiration to Hunter X Hunter.

Cell from Dragon Ball Z (1989)

Meruem from Hunter X Hunter (2011)

The above characters are also other examples of how Dragon Ball inspires Hunter X Hunter. The character Meruem from Hunter X Hunter shows similar characteristics of the character Cell from Dragon Ball 'Z'. Again, personally I feel Meruem is the more interesting character considering his character development is unique and very inspiring to me which, again, I "appreciate Dragon Ball's inspiration on Hunter X Hunter".
For me I see that Hunter X Hunter manages to escape the "blank parody" as Fredric Jameson used to describe pastiche. While there is various imitations that Hunter X Hunter takes from the Dragon Ball series it holds some unique qualities to make Hunter X Hunter it's own (even another series called Naruto then that's inspiration from Hunter X Hunter's characters and concepts).

One Punch Man (anime 2015), Saitama

Saitama from the anime 'One Punch Man' is a good example of parody. Just like most action superhero cartoons/anime it takes the concept of an all powerful hero who can defeat all evil in a more comedic way (easily defeats them in one punch). His outfit even imitates that of Superman but as if to show how absurd it looks (despite being every popular amongst fans of the series). Another aspect of Saitama is his dull face and bald head. With most heroes they have handsome facial features with great stylish hairstyles, especially anime heroes who have big spikey hair, that allow them easily give serious expressions. Saitama goes against this stereotype to be presented as a dull ordinary looking person as not everyone can look as handsomely chiselled as Superman or Captain America making Saitama more relatable. Being a comedic style and an animation it can drastically change his facial features to show that any ordinary looking person can look "cool" like a superhero.
This creates a parody, while dependent on the tropes of heroes and typical anime characters in order to make sense, that is still unique in it's story and creates meaningful lessons that teaches you what really makes someone a hero. As the author intended, a hero is defined by their actions and not how they look. It's more like a partial parody.