SATIRE

1. ENGLISH 9 – Mr. Smith SATIRE

2. REVIEW – What is a PARODY? • Thoughts… • A parody is a humorous imitation of a (usually) serious piece of writing. • Often people call it a ‘takeoff’ because the writer borrows the form or the topic of a well-known work and copies it in a funny way. • Also commonly referred to as a ‘spoof.’ • The original work can be in any form; everything is an acceptable target for parody. • Something about the re-imagining of the original evokes a humorous response from the reader.

3. SATIRE • What is a satire? • The literary technique of ridiculing a human or government action or vice with biting wit, irony, or sarcasm in order to expose or correct it. • The object of satire – known as the butt of the satire – is usually some human frailty; people, institutions, ideas, obsessions, and things are all fair game for satirists.

4. SATIRE • The key is that a satire wants to EFFECT CHANGE in the world. • A PARODY simply wants to ‘borrow’ the fame of it’s source and/or make fun of it. • A satire usually achieves this effect by going to an extreme degree of exaggeration (or hyperbole). • If a satirist (one who writes satires) can elicit an emotional response from his or her reader, he can get them to listen to a more reasonable suggestion…

5. SATIRE – EXAMPLE: A Modest Proposal A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, 1729. • I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout. • …[children] at a year old, be offered in the sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom; […] A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.

6. SATIRE – EXAMPLE: The Simpsons • The Simpsons – Homer tries to buy a gun. • Butt of the Satire: • American gun registry laws. • Satire’s Comment: • That while some people feel that America’s gun registry laws are too strict, they are in fact ineffective.

7. SATIRE – EXAMPLE: An Inconvenient Truth • An Inconvenient Truth – “None Like It Hot!” • Butt of the Satire: • “America’s handsomest politicians…” • Satire’s Comment: • That a cheap, quick fix solution will not solve the problem of global warming.

8. SATIRE – EXAMPLE: An Inconvenient Truth • UCB Comedy – “BP Spills Coffee” • Butt of the Satire: • BP’s CEOs and whoever else is responsible for dealing with the Gulf Oil spill… • Satire’s Comment: • That REAL solutions are needed from REAL leaders. This is a major ecological disaster, requiring significant efforts to contain and clean; neither a ‘quick-fix’ nor serendipitous solution will work.

9. EXAMPLES of SATIRE Butt of the Satire: • We, the people of the western world, specifically those obsessed with popular media. Satire’s Comment: • That in order to make an issue known to the world, it must be presented in a weakly sensational, frivolous way, which is immoral and inhumane.

10. EXAMPLES of SATIRE Butt of the Satire: • People who are critical of video games and the video game industry. Satire’s Comment: • That it is ridiculous to assume that video games alone are responsible for corrupting youth. Parents play a significant role in the upbringing of a child, and if they are allowing their children to play video games without supervision, the fault is their own.

11. YOUR TURN Watch the following television show and answer the following questions: • Choose ONE person, place, product, societal convention (etc.) that is the target of satire in this episode. • In a MINIMUM of FIVE sentences discuss the comment being made about your selected target.