S A T I R E

1. S A T I R E

2. Satire is a literary and dramatic genre • Satirists ridicule human behavior or parts of our society they want us to recognize as unacceptable.

3. Satire is often funny! • The satirist chooses to use humor to make readers or the audience aware of a serious--and usually harmful--issue in society or with human behavior. • They could write a serious speech or piece of nonfiction or report to accomplish the same goal.

4. The Cole Vucurevich Definition • With satire, “a writer is trying to tell humans how not to act.”

5. What’s Tricky About Satire • Because satire often combines anger and humor, it can be profoundly disturbing.

7. What’s Tricky About Satire • Because its TONE is often ironic or sarcastic, it is often misunderstood.

8. In 2008 this satirical New Yorker cover caused great controversy. Do you think the article inside was critical or sympathetic of then-presidential-candidate Barack Obama?

9. What’s Tricky About Satire • We must remember there is a difference between WHAT an author writes and WHY they choose to write it.

10. All in the Family was a sitcom that premiered in 1971. Its main character, Archie Bunker, was a very outspoken bigot, making prejudiced statements about African-Americans, women, Jews, and others. Many found the show offensive, not realizing it was satire--that the intent was to expose and condemn the intolerant attitudes so many Americans held.

11. Satire always has a TARGET • At the heart of satire is the writer’s concern, frustration, or rage about something in society or with human behavior that he or she considers to be wrong or unfair.

12. Look at the following cartoons and try to determine the target of the writer’s satire. • Think: What is the issue or wrong or injustice the cartoonist is trying to bring to light? • It’s a lot like figuring out theme: 1) What’s the subject? 2) What’s the writer specifically trying to show us about that subject?

13. A note about this unit: • Some of the cartoons, stories, or articles we will look at involve issues that are controversial that you may have strong feelings about. • Remember, our goal is to identify and explore the writer’s or artist’sintent. You do not have to agree with the opinions expressed.

18. These two satirical cartoons address similar subjects, but have different targets. Try to identify each cartoon’s TARGET.

19. THREE Techniques Writers and Artists Use to Create Satire

20. 1. Exaggeration • Writers and artists will typically exaggerate and distort the target in certain ways in order to emphasize the characteristics he or she wishes to attack.

21. 1. Exaggeration With satirical cartoons, people are often drawn as caricatures—portrayed with visual exaggerations.

22. 1859 satirical cartoon lampooning Charles Darwin in a caricature.

23. 1. Exaggeration • In these next slides, look for what is being exaggerated. • Use this to help you find the target of the satire.

27. Editorial cartoon from the 1960s--years after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court Decision

28. Exaggeration in “The War Prayer” • Mark Twain really exaggerates the party-like atmosphere of the opening paragraph as the town prepares to send their soldiers off to war, so that we, as readers, will question their behavior. • “bands playing” • “toy pistols” • “wilderness of flags” • “happy emotion” • “cyclones of applause”

29. Exaggeration in “The War Prayer” • Where else does Twain use Exaggeration in “The War Prayer”? • Think about the messenger that shows up. • Think about the words of the “unspoken” prayer.

30. 2. Irony • Writers and artists will often use humorous situational irony to attack their target—often to point out hypocrisy in human behavior.

31. Irony in “The War Prayer” • Mark Twain uses irony when the messenger says the “unspoken prayer”. It’s filled with requests that are not what we logically expect to hear in a prayer. • “help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds” • “help us to lay waste to their humble homes” • “help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended…in rags and hunger and thirst?

33. These satirical cartoons address the subject of whether or not a Muslim group had the right to build a mosque—a place for worship and meeting—near the site of the 9/11 attacks in NYC. How do the satirists use IRONY to express their messages?

35. What’s exaggerated in this cartoon? What’s ironic? Now…what’s the target?

36. 3. Reductio ad absurdum (Reduction to the Absurd) • The writer/artist agrees enthusiastically with the basic attitudes or assumptions he or she wishes to satirize and, by pushing them to a logically ridiculous extreme, exposes the foolishness of the original attitudes and ideas.

37. 3. Reductio ad absurdum (Reduction to the Absurd) • In other words, the writer, or the character created by the writer, argues FOR the idea or behavior he or she is actually against. • The holes or ignorance of the argument makes us see the stupidity of the original idea.

38. Stephen Colbert plays a character who continually makes and defends particular arguments and ideas. However, in truth, Colbert is satirizing these ideas. The character he plays was inspired by real life political commentator, Billy O’Reilly of Fox News.

43. Review of the three techniques • All of the following satirical cartoons have the same target. • Identify the target and then the technique being used. Some cartoons may use more than one. • Exaggeration • Irony • Reduction to the Absurd

44. DADT is an abbreviation for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell—a policy created in the 1990s. Gays were permitted to serve in the military as long as they didn’t reveal or discuss their sexual orientation. It was repealed in 2010. These satirical cartoons all appeared before the repeal—during years of debate.