SNL's Ivanka Spoof: The End of Parody?

SNL's fake ad for "Complicit" last night nailed Ivanka Trump to the wall for sure. But two months into our national nightmare, spoofs like this have me wondering: Just as Graydon Carter famously declared "The End of Irony" after 9/11, might we not be experiencing the dawn of "The End of Parody"? The definition of the word makes the point that it is imitation "with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect." And again, while Scarlett Johansson's sendup does an able job skewering the elder Trump daughter's impassioned enabling of her deranged dad, it's a little too real to be considered a comic exaggeration, no? How exactly would it be possible to "exaggerate" the president's already over-the-top words and actions—and by extension, the acquiescence of his fawning (or terrified) family members and other dutiful sycophants? If the subject of a takedown would not only be unbothered by it but unlikely to get the joke, did it really do its job? Why, Ivanka is probably calling up Coty right now to pitch a new fragrance to take advantage of "Complicit" having become a Twitter trending topic overnight. Remember, this is a little girl whose first concern upon being told her parents were divorcing was whether she would still be a "Trump." This lady sold her soul a long, long time ago—if she ever really had one. Your barbs bounce off her like inconvenient little things like honor, compassion and simple human decency do.