Tomayto, tomahto
Sometimes distinctions make no sense to me. Even though I may understand the distinction perfectly, my response is often “who the hell cares?”
So it is for me on the legal issue of parody versus satire. I normally defend inordinately picky legal distinctions, even when I disagree with the policy behind them. This one, though, really bugs me.
Parody is a recognized form of expression that pokes fun at something by reworking it. Weird Al Yankovic has made a career of parodying hit songs. Weird Al actually gets permission from the authors for all the songs he parodies, but the Supreme Court has clearly said that parody falls under fair use (Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. (1994)
Satire, on the other hand, is distinguished from parody in that it alters a work to poke fun at something else. In other words, if you want to make fun of the song “You’re Beautiful,” by James Blount, and you rewrite it to be “You’re Pitiful,” that’s a parody (it’s actually one of Weird Al’s parodies.) But if you want to make fun of President George Bush, and you did so by rewriting the “The Iliad” and “The Odessy” into “The Bushiad” and “The Idiossey”, that would be satire. Satire is not given the broad fair use exemption the way parody is. (The Iliad and the Odessy are not protected by copyright, by the way). Although some usage of a work for satirical purposes would fall under fair use, it would have to pass the ordinary inquiry into the four factors used by courts to determine fair use versus infringement (1 character of the use, 2. nature of the work, 3. how much of the work is used, and 4 effect of the use on the market for the original). With a parody, the factors are much more loosely applied.
Now, it does not make sense to me to apply different standards to parody and satire. Many of Weird Al’s songs are actually satire, but he can do that because he has permission to use the works in the first place. For the rest of us, we’d better know what we’re making fun of when we rewrite our favorite songs and post them on YouTube.
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