Satire in "Scary Movie 3"

     The first scary movie I saw as a child seemed scary at the time, but I now realize it wasn't meant to be scary at all!  Rather, it was a parody to other scary movies that really frighten people.  This movie is Scary Movie 3.  The writers Craig Mazin and Pat Proft incorporated a lot of satire in the film by creating a parody of The Ring, Signs, and 8 Mile (not a scary movie).  This provides a sense of comic relief and humor by making fun of some of the events in other movies that are unsettling to people.  The writers also incorporated irony in some of the scenes to make the film more humorous.  Needless to say, Mazin and Profit had many similar ideas to Mark Twain in his novel Huckleberry Finn, which is full of satire as well.
     The Ring is a movie in which everyone who watches a videotape is killed by a dead little girl named Samara seven days later.  Scary Movie 3 makes fun of this in so many ways!  Her name is changed to Tabatha, who communicates with the characters by phone and is quite humorous.  When the main character, Cindy, won't let her talk to her son, the second time she pretends to be a caller from "Reader's Digest with a spectacular offer for Cody."  She also has to explain to Cindy that she is wrong in counting the number of days she has to live because she is only counting the business days, and have an argument over whether Martin Luther King day counts as a day.  You can watch that scene here.  She is also made fun of in the big fight with Cindy's best friend Brenda, whose seven days are up.  Brenda is a pretty good match for Tabatha, and actually gets some punches in, holding her by the head saying, "Is that all you got?" which can be seen here.  She is almost made fun of in another scene when a woman who is trying to help Cindy reaches her hand into the television where Tabatha comes from, and rips a chunk of her hair out saying, "Whatchu gonna brush now?" in this scene.  You can't help but laugh!
     Signs is another scary movie in which a family who lives on a farm discovers crop circles in their fields, suggesting an alien invasion.  You guessed it, Mazin and Proft had fun with this one!  This family is two brothers, one who's wife had recently died and the other who falls in love with Cindy.  The one who falls for Cindy's name is George. He lives on a farm with his brother, but has a dream to become a rapper. As all of this is happening, Cindy is struggling as a news reporting covering the story of the crop circles and trying to tell everyone about the killer video tape before she is cut off.  After preparing for an evil alien invasion, the aliens turn out to be quite friendly!  They are quite different though, and this is where the satire comes in where they are made fun of.  They choke each other to say hello, kick each other in the groin to say goodbye, and urinate out of their pointer fingers.  Also, their only motive for coming to Earth was to stop Tabatha, who was wreaking havoc on their race as well.  They watched it when their satellite picked it up when it was supposed to pick of the movie "Poodie Tang," which is how the tape got mixed in on Earth in the first place.  Click here to view the alien scene, but start the video 25 seconds after it begins.
     A third movie that Scary Movie 3 parodies is 8 Mile, which is about a young rapper going through many struggles through his life.  This is done through the character of George who lives on his brother's farm, but has a dream to be a wrapper.  The only problem lies in his identity:  he's a farmer!  He struggles to blend in with the black community, one time mindlessly wearing white hood and getting thrown out of a rap battle.  You can watch the rap battle (note some vulgar language) here or watch it from 1:30 to 2:00 to see the short part when George flips his white hood on.
     Mark Twain uses the family feud between the Sherperdsons and the Grangerfords to parody the real family feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys in the nineteenth century.  The Hatfields and McCoys' fight all started over a woman, which is exactly how the the big fight between the Sherperdsons and the Grangerfords broke out.  Mark Twain's purpose in using this satire (parody) to show the flaws in humans and how we sometimes fight for reasons that may not be just.  It also brings out the inhumanity and darkness of man, which we often don't like to think about.  Twain is trying to open our eyes to reveal our past, so we learn a lesson and it is not repeated.  Twain also uses satire in the form of exaggeration in the camp meeting.  The people in the meeting willingly give up all their money to an "ex-pirate" (the King) so he can help other pirates.  They are totally gullible in thinking that he was a pirate and also in thinking that he was an newly honest man.  Twain uses this exaggeration to point out out how humans can be very naive and foolish.
     Craig Mazin, Pat Profit, and Mark Twain certainly had the same skill of adding satire to writing.  Scary Movie 3 parodies many movies including The Ring, Signs, and 8 Mile.  This is to create humor and comic relief to the film.  Mark Twain uses satire in his feud between the Sherperdsons and the Grangerfords and the camp meeting.  The feud, a parody of the fight between the Hatfields and McCoys is supposed to teach us a lesson.  The camp meeting exaggerates the real camp meetings that took place during the Second Great Awakening.  So next time you read a book or watch a movie (especially one of the Scary Movies), pay closer attention, and keep your brain peeled for some satire.  You're sure to be in for a long-lasting lesson or a good laugh!