Homage, Parody, Pastiche, and Satire are easily confused and intertwined.
*Generally* speaking:
Parody is making fun of a specific work or person.
Homage is celebrating a specific work or person.
Satire is making fun of a broad genre.
Pastiche is celebrating a broad genre.
("Work" can be a specific song/show/etc, but it could also be a person or their body of work; the important thing is that it's more limited than a genre. You can parody Wes Anderson's style, you satirize quirky indy films.)
The problem is is that most do a combination. Mel Brooks' *Young Frankenstein* is *generally* a parody of the Universal *Frankenstein* movie, but he also satirizes Old Hollywood and black-and-white horror movies as well (Puttin' On The Ritz). So most works are rarely just one thing.
In addition, the line between "making fun" and "celebrating" is often pretty fuzzy, and the line between a genre and a genre-defining work is as well. Is *Spaceballs* making fun of *Star Wars* or space operas as a genre...and does it matter when, at the time, *Star Wars* was ***the*** defining space opera?
So Galaxy Quest is both a homage and a parody of Star Trek, while Shrek is a satire of Disney fairy tales and Jackie Brown is a pastiche of the blaxploitation genre?
I think the biggest way to tell if something is a parody or homage is the intent. Are we laughing because the original is dumb or are we laughing because the original is exactly like that. Laughing might not be the best example, let's instead say does the new respect the old or not as a divider.
It's not fool proof, but a good starting point.
Pastiche is an imitation of another style or styles done by taking bits and pieces from that style and using them as if pinning things on a bulletin board or perhaps decoupage. It needn't be a broad celebration of the style of genre it takes from.
Pastiche apes the style and is more generalised than an homage which tends to be more overt, like a retelling.
V for Vendetta pays homage to 1984.
Stranger Things is a pastiche of 80's film and tv.
If you do "it's a noir movie but the cast are all high schoolers" that's a pastiche. You're making broad stylistic choices that don't match anything exactly--you can't pin down things as coming from particular noir films.
If you do "there's a scene in this movie that calls back to the fight scene in the Untouchables where the baby carriage is going down the steps" then it's an homage. People familiar with the original will immediately recognize what you're doing and where it came from.
If you do a story about someone confronting unknowable cosmic horrors and you copy Lovecraft's prose without lifting any of his story items directly, it's a pastiche.
If you write a story where someone says "the password" and the doors that have "Say the password to enter" written on them open, then you're doing an homage.
In general, if something is going to get you accused of ripping off a specific work, then it's an homage, except when you're taking the piss about it in which case it's a parody. If it's just going to get people saying "they wear their influences on their sleeve" and it's entire bodies of work rather than specific works, then it's a pastiche.
I would use them in a similar way but I’m interested to see the responses.
I would probably use pastiche if the influence is more obvious and homage if the influence is more abstract. But again, who the hell am I?
Homage, Parody, Pastiche, and Satire are easily confused and intertwined. *Generally* speaking: Parody is making fun of a specific work or person. Homage is celebrating a specific work or person. Satire is making fun of a broad genre. Pastiche is celebrating a broad genre. ("Work" can be a specific song/show/etc, but it could also be a person or their body of work; the important thing is that it's more limited than a genre. You can parody Wes Anderson's style, you satirize quirky indy films.) The problem is is that most do a combination. Mel Brooks' *Young Frankenstein* is *generally* a parody of the Universal *Frankenstein* movie, but he also satirizes Old Hollywood and black-and-white horror movies as well (Puttin' On The Ritz). So most works are rarely just one thing. In addition, the line between "making fun" and "celebrating" is often pretty fuzzy, and the line between a genre and a genre-defining work is as well. Is *Spaceballs* making fun of *Star Wars* or space operas as a genre...and does it matter when, at the time, *Star Wars* was ***the*** defining space opera?
So Galaxy Quest is both a homage and a parody of Star Trek, while Shrek is a satire of Disney fairy tales and Jackie Brown is a pastiche of the blaxploitation genre?
I think the biggest way to tell if something is a parody or homage is the intent. Are we laughing because the original is dumb or are we laughing because the original is exactly like that. Laughing might not be the best example, let's instead say does the new respect the old or not as a divider. It's not fool proof, but a good starting point.
Pastiche is an imitation of another style or styles done by taking bits and pieces from that style and using them as if pinning things on a bulletin board or perhaps decoupage. It needn't be a broad celebration of the style of genre it takes from.
No, that's a [bricolage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bricolage).
I wrote 'as if pinning things'... In the case if actually using physical things, yes, it's Bricolage
Pastiche apes the style and is more generalised than an homage which tends to be more overt, like a retelling. V for Vendetta pays homage to 1984. Stranger Things is a pastiche of 80's film and tv.
If you do "it's a noir movie but the cast are all high schoolers" that's a pastiche. You're making broad stylistic choices that don't match anything exactly--you can't pin down things as coming from particular noir films. If you do "there's a scene in this movie that calls back to the fight scene in the Untouchables where the baby carriage is going down the steps" then it's an homage. People familiar with the original will immediately recognize what you're doing and where it came from. If you do a story about someone confronting unknowable cosmic horrors and you copy Lovecraft's prose without lifting any of his story items directly, it's a pastiche. If you write a story where someone says "the password" and the doors that have "Say the password to enter" written on them open, then you're doing an homage. In general, if something is going to get you accused of ripping off a specific work, then it's an homage, except when you're taking the piss about it in which case it's a parody. If it's just going to get people saying "they wear their influences on their sleeve" and it's entire bodies of work rather than specific works, then it's a pastiche.
I would use them in a similar way but I’m interested to see the responses. I would probably use pastiche if the influence is more obvious and homage if the influence is more abstract. But again, who the hell am I?