What is the word or term for the item being parodied?

Question

I'm writing a paper about a book that is a parody of another work. Is there a word, similar to debtee to debtor, that will work in this situation?

Specifically, Lord of the Flies (Golding, 1954) as a parody of The Coral Island (Ballantyne, 1857).

The sentence is, "This is perhaps that reason that it has stood the test of over fifty years time, that it, unlike its (parodee?)..."

Answer 1

In wikipedia and freedictionary entries for parody I don't see any particular words in use for the work that is the source of inspiration for a parody. Instead, phrases like "the subject of the parody", "the original work", "the earlier work", and "the parodied text" are used.

Note that Lord of the Flies (Golding, 1954) is not a parody of The Coral Island (Ballantyne, 1857), nor, of course, vice versa. Wikipedia's article re Coral Island refers to Golding's novel as a "literary response" to the older book. Had The Coral Island been written after Lord of the Flies it probably would have been referred to as a bastardization or pastiche of Lord of the Flies, rather than as a parody of it or literary response to it.

Answer 2

I think, as long as the relationship has been well established, that "subject" might be an acceptable shorthand. It is the subject of the parody, so as long as you are clear what you are talkig about, and have introduced the parody/subject relationship well enough, this should provide enough of a cue.

Answer 3

I would use the word "target". However, to use it in your sentence, I think should to make it clearer that this is the target of a parody. That is, you could say

"This is perhaps the reason this parody has stood the test of over fifty years time; that it, unlike its target ..."

Answer 4

Perhaps "butt" as in "the butt of the joke".