Title

"We're at Now, Now'': Spaceballs as Parodic Tourism

Abstract

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.

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/10417940701667498

Publication Date

10-26-2007

Journal Title

Southern Communication Journal

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