History Main / DeniedParody

* ''Theatre/TheCrucible'' is commonly interpreted as an {{anvilicious}} commentary on a contemporary legal scare. In the case of ''The Crucible'', that was [=McCarthyism=], though Arthur Miller denied it at the time.

-->Yes. [Laughs.] Certainly True Detective was one of the things on our mind as we were working on the season. But I would say that reading is very generous to a lot of other shows that I would put in that same category. True Detective maybe announces itself the most and is the most flagrantly that, but there are a lot of shows that are invested in the trials of difficult men and the women who get in their way and/or sleep with them.

* The boss from ''Literature/TheDevilWearsPrada'' bears a striking similarity to Vogue's editor Anna Wintour, but the author maintains that she is a composite of fiction and various stories of her friends' first jobs.

* Creator/MerylStreep denied that her character in ''Film/TheManchurianCandidate'' was a parody of Hillary Clinton. Given that [[OlderThanTheyThink the original version of the film was released in the 1960s]], she probably has a point. (Although, they ''do'' have similar PowerHair...)

* The writer of ''Film/{{Scarface 1932}}'' denied any connection to Al Capone (whose EmbarrassingNickname was "Scarface") when confronted by some of Capone's men, insisting that it was just a work of fiction. The film was an adaptation of the novel ''Scarface'', which was somewhat influenced by Capone.

* Jennifer Saunders denied that her character, Eddie in ''Series/AbsolutelyFabulous'' was a parody of PR guru Lynne Franks; the character was actually derived from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfNKjINokAY this sketch]] that she did with Dawn French in ''Series/FrenchAndSaunders'', where the responsible daughter had to look after her flighty teenager-like mother. Of course, for ''Series/AbsolutelyFabulous'' both characters needed expanding, so it's still possible.

* It is often assumed that Tommy Carcetti in ''Series/TheWire'' is based on former mayor of Baltimore, Martin O'Malley. David Simon and the writers clarify that he's modeled after a number of obscure Baltimore politicians.

* Creator/StevenSoderbergh's ''Schizopolis'' features a self-help religion called Eventualism, based on a book by T. Azimuth Schwitters and featuring a volcano on its cover. But it's not a parody of Happyology.

** Ever since the mid-nineties ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' has had a Denied Parody disclaimer slapped on the character of Kamran Shah. He definitely isn't based on Osama Bin Laden at all, just a generic tall, bearded, Western-educated radical Islamist Afghan-insurgent who was funded by MI6 and CIA to fight the Soviets.

* Parodied in and of itself on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Bart denies his comicbook character "Angry Dad", an {{Expy}} of ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'', is based on Homer, claiming instead he is a composite character, based on his dad, Lisa's dad, and Maggie's dad.

See also [[IndecisiveDeconstruction Unintentional Deconstruction]], where a work that can be interpreted as a {{Deconstruction}} was not intended to be one, and AccidentalAesop, where the work is interpreted as presenting a specific message when the creators didn't intend that one or even none at all.

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': The StylisticSuck prestige drama Philbert was described by most reviewers as a parody of ''Series/TrueDetective'', particularly when we see the show's opening (which begins with the line 'Well, I went down to the girly club with a hot glue gun full of beans'), but [[https://www.vulture.com/2018/09/raphael-bob-waksberg-bojack-horseman-apology-tours.html the creator said]] that it was meant to be a parody of overly-serious, pretentious drama in general, and that seeing it as ''only'' about ''Series/TrueDetective'' would be to let a lot of other shows off the hook.

Also, this trope does not cover situations where the denials are plausible — for example, [=McBain=] on ''The Simpsons'' could easily be a parody of the character from the Creator/ChristopherWalken film ''Film/McBain'', if it weren't for the fact that the film was released 8 months after [=McBain=]'s first appearance on ''The Simpsons''. In this case, the denial is plausible.

* Arguably, Creator/MarkTwain's line at the beginning of ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'' was meant to veil the satire and parody that the book contained:
-->NOTICE: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR, per G.G., Chief of Ordnance.

* The ''Creator/MontyPython'' team have always denied that ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' was a parody of the UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} story - instead it's just a story about a guy called Brian living around the same time who is mistaken for the Messiah. The parody is about the various trappings of the religion - things like emphasis on symbols and extreme sectarianism and interpretations of Jesus's teachings that [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely miss the point]], while the teachings themselves are left intact. They never said they weren't making fun of religion, they just said they weren't making fun of ''Jesus''. And they weren't. At least, not more than a couple of times. ("Bloody do-gooder.") They rejected their initial concept of Brian as a forgotten disciple of Jesus because the laughs stopped dead whenever Jesus was around — none of them felt comfortable directly making jokes about Him because [[JesusWasWayCool there's nothing to really mock about the man Himself]].

Also, this trope does not cover situations where the denials are plausible — for example, [=McBain=] on ''The Simpsons'' could easily be a parody of the character from the Creator/ChristopherWalken film ''[=McBain=]'', if it weren't for the fact that the film was released 8 months after [=McBain=]'s first appearance on ''The Simpsons''. In this case, the denial is plausible.

* Parodied in and of itself on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Bart denies his comicbook character "Angry Dad", an {{Expy}} of ''TheIncredibleHulk'', is based on Homer, claiming instead he is a composite character, based on his dad, Lisa's dad, and Maggie's dad.

* ''Theater/TheCrucible'' is commonly interpreted as an {{anvilicious}} commentary on a contemporary legal scare. In the case of ''The Crucible'', that was [=McCarthyism=], though Arthur Miller denied it at the time.

* ''Film/TheCrucible'' is commonly interpreted as an {{anvilicious}} commentary on a contemporary legal scare. In the case of ''The Crucible'', that was [=McCarthyism=], though Arthur Miller denied it at the time.

Also, this trope does not cover situations where the denials are plausible--for example, [=McBain=] on ''The Simpsons'' could easily be a parody of the character from the Creator/ChristopherWalken film ''[=McBain=]'', if it weren't for the fact that the film was released 8 months after [=McBain=]'s first appearance on ''The Simpsons''. In this case, the denial is plausible.

Compare IndecisiveParody, where due to some reason it's not really certain whether the work is a parody at all.

* Creator/StevenSoderbergh's ''Schizopolis'' features a self-help religion called Eventualism, based on a book by T. Azimuth Schwitters and featuring a volcano on its cover. But it's not a parody of Scientology.

* The ''Creator/MontyPython'' team have always denied that ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' was a parody of the {{Jesus}} story - instead it's just a story about a guy called Brian living around the same time who is mistaken for the Messiah. The parody is about the various trappings of the religion - things like emphasis on symbols and extreme sectarianism and interpretations of Jesus's teachings that [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely miss the point]], while the teachings themselves are left intact. They never said they weren't making fun of religion, they just said they weren't making fun of ''Jesus''. And they weren't. At least, not more than a couple of times. ("Bloody do-gooder.") They rejected their initial concept of Brian as a forgotten disciple of Jesus because the laughs stopped dead whenever Jesus was around — none of them felt comfortable directly making jokes about Him because [[JesusWasWayCool there's nothing to really mock about the man Himself]].

* Creator/PaulMcCartney's song "Let me Roll It" sounds like Creator/JohnLennon, but Paul says it's just a coincidence.

* OrsonWelles denied that the lead character of ''Film/CitizenKane'' was based on William Randolph Hearst. It's unclear whether Welles was telling the truth, but Hearst certainly went out of his way to make sure everyone would think Kane was based off him. [[HypocriticalHumor How very Charles Foster Kane of him.]]

* It is often assumed that Tommy Carcetti in [[{{The Wire}} The Wire]] is based on former mayor of Baltimore, Martin O'Malley. David Simon and the writers clarify that he's modeled after a number of obscure Baltimore politicians.

* An InUniverse example on ''MurderSheWrote'' had a man cleared but largely suspected of murdering his wife attempting to sue Jessica over one of her novels which just happened to have similarities to the case, including the husband being the prime suspect. After finally reading the book himself and finding out the husband wasn't the killer in the book either he agreed to drop the lawsuit, but was killed before he could.

* While Elliot Carver from ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' looks at first glance like a thinly disguised version of Rupert Murdoch, the movie's main writer claims he was actually based on Robert Maxwell (this is supported by the cover story for Carver's death and the public's reaction to it mirroring Maxwell's fatal boat accident).

* Like ''Good Night and Good Luck'', ''Film/TheCrucible'' is commonly interpreted as an {{anvilicious}} commentary on a contemporary legal scare. In the case of ''The Crucible'', that was [=McCarthyism=], though Arthur Miller denied it at the time.

Also, this trope does not cover situations where the denials are plausible--for example, [=McBain=] on ''The Simpsons'' could easily be a parody of the character from the Creator/ChristopherWalken film [=McBain=], if it weren't for the fact that the film was released 8 months after [=McBain=]'s first appearance on ''The Simpsons''. In this case, the denial is plausible.