Hyperbole, a gross exaggeration, takes an aspect of a work and draws attention to it by drawing it out. If a writer uses a particular symbol throughout a novel, a parody of that novel will focus on the symbol and use it in even the most absurd situations. A celebrity with a particular habit or shortcoming may see it become the focus of a parody. For example, a presidential candidate with a slight country accent may be portrayed in a parody as a straw-hat wearing country bumpkin with a thick country accent.
Language is full of idioms and other figurative language. Literalization takes the figurative language of a work and portrays it literally. For example, a character described as being “light as a feather” may be portrayed in a cartoon as a feather or sitting on a scale next to a feather to show the comparison. A editorial cartoonist may illustrate a metaphor used by a politician to mock that politician. For example, a senator comparing the fixing of the economy to a doctor performing surgery may find that metaphor depicted in a cartoon as money being stitched up in an operating room.
Incongruity contains elements that are out of place in a setting. A parody may take a particular literary character or movie character and place him in an alternate setting, such as putting the three little pigs in the middle of New York City or placing a person who speaks Ebonics in the middle of nowhere. With songs, incongruity may involve modifying songs to put them in a different genre, such as changing a country song into a humorous hip-hop piece or setting a pop song to opera-style music.
Burlesque takes a serious work and makes fun of it or changes it so it becomes humorous. For example, a video maker might recreate the popular “Star Wars” series using kittens or change the title to “Car Wars” and adapt the plot of the movie to fit race car drivers. Burlesque may also used in a work to critique an entire genre, exaggerating stereotypical characters or plot lines from that genre to make a point about its ridiculousness. For example, the movies “Date Movie,” “Scary Movie,” and “Superhero Movie” parody common elements of specific genres of those types of movies.
Reversal involves causing humor by changing the expected outcome or expected situation. For example, a mouse may try to catch a cat in a cartoon or instead of winning the girl at the end of a movie, the love-struck character may lose her in an unexpected turn of events. Reversal may also involve changing a character in a video. For example, a singer with a notoriously deep voice may have a high-pitched voice or a supposedly strong singer may turn out to have an awful voice.