VLVL TV Parody or a Satire

[Terrance]

A parody is a literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic
style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.



Lot of TV in VL. In nearly every instance, according to Brian McHale,
TV's primary function in VL (though not its only one) is to complicate,
diversify, and destablize the ontological structure of the fictional
world. 


TV models, for example, flood and saturate the characters language and
consciousness, TV is kind of ghost reality shadowing all of their real
life interactions. The TV ideal or model or reel (for example, when
Prairie and Takeshi and DL are escaping from the Sisterhood, Prairie
can't help wishing that they are a TV family out for a ride to a beach
or some place) is there along side everything they say and do in the
"real" world. And the real world of VL, the outside real world existing
independently of any particular character's consciousness of it, is
itself modeled on TV. 

McHale says that different "regions" of this world seem to be modeled on
the norms of different TV genres. But I think he is mistaken. He also
says that regions are matched to characters, sitcom for Zoyd, cop show
for Brock, and so on. And again, I think he is wrong. 

McHale says that the Genres mingle producing something like an effect
analogous to the casual juxtapositions of genre-worlds produced by the
TV flow itself--or, better, to the heightened incongruities produced by
zapping. 

Better, yes indeed. 

What the hell is zapping?  McHale call his essay Zapping on Vineland. 

What has Zapping to do with parody? A little bit, but VL isn't a parody.
Pynchon novels are all loaded with parodies, but to argue that the
entire novel is a parody of how TV has represented a chunk of US history
is ridiculous. 

I'm interested in Vato & Blood. These Brothers are in it for the money,
but as we all know by now, they will take Brock Vond for a ride into
Hell, so we shouldn't waste too much time discussing Hair and Nails and
ignore these brothers.  Should we? 

Cartoons. Vato & Blood are in the car business in Vietnam, motor pool.
They sell information to the North Vietnamese and to their friends and
business partners. Their fellow Americans die and they are directly
responsible. We can't be sure if they are directly responsible for Ortho
Bob's death, but it is clear that know something about it because when
they find out about Takeshi's KA scam they go to him and spill their
guts, providing testimony, not only about Vietnam, but about Ortho Bob
in particular. These boys, owing to some sort of luck, or serendipity,
tell The Specter when to take off his currency arbitrage. He makes a ton
of money. The Specter, one story is that he barbecued the girl's family
and is atoning for his sins, is the benefactor of a Vietnamese girl with
great expectations. The Specter dies in Vietnam and the girl is
bequeathed to Vato & Blood. 

Don't summarize the story, we've read it, get to the analysis. 

OK, Vato & Blood are in the motor pool, but they also go out and kill.
One day they go out and kill and see a lot of death. They come back,
wander into a base camp and plop down looking like they've been to Hell
and kicked the devil's ass. The army has been sending in Disney. They
sit and watch and model themselves after Chip & Dale. 

More to come ...