Satire and Parody

1. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HBJaKhkvNsA/TS92tfKVI-I/AAAAAAAAAEE/_20G12QJ9Iw/s1600/mona_ad.jpghttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HBJaKhkvNsA/TS92tfKVI-I/AAAAAAAAAEE/_20G12QJ9Iw/s1600/mona_ad.jpg Satire and Parody The Serious Business of Making Fun

2. Parody • Also known as: • A spoof • A send up • The point is to make fun of a person or situation • Examples: • Saturday Night Live sketches • Weird Al songs • Tone is usually “tongue-in-cheek” or humorous

3. Example of Parody • http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w9XO9zBePXE/SueFgHSw_qI/AAAAAAAAB3M/X9JzL3-ZQtc/s400/oscars_cartoon.jpg

4. Satire • May be humorous or serious in tone • Targets a specific person or situation • Unlike parody, satire has one of three main aims: • to make people aware of a problem • to warn against a situation or problem • to promote reform of a situation • Examples: • The Daily Show with Jon Stewart • The Daily Onion • http://www.mediaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Jon-Stewart.jpeg

5. Satire Example http://patriotupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/truth-oscars-cartoon.jpg

6. Four key elements • Every satire or parody has three main elements: • A purpose: • To make fun or light of a situation • To call for reform • To warn • To raise awareness • A target: a specific person, issue or situation • A tone: a specific attitude on the part of the author • An audience: a set of people towards whom the text is directed

7. What’s the big deal about satire? • Where it started…18th Century/Restoration Period • Why it started…The culture began to emphasize reason and intellect over so-called emotional arguments • Who it started with…Dydren, Swift, Pope, Defoe, Johnson, Lord Byron • Forms of satire…novels, short stories, poems, skits, cartoons, videos, films, blogs, websites

8. How do we recognize satire? • has a clear target. • exaggerates and distorts the target • provides recurring, unrelenting sources of humor. • sets up a certain distance between the character and the audience. • does not consider the inner feelings or motives of the target. • confronts the audience with the difference between what the characters say and do and what we fully understand by their actions. • Pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable, touches a nerve.

9. Final words on satire • Satire is by natureunfair and the target is only life-like, not a true copy. • A satire fails if the audience thinks it is unclear, stupid or offensive--or chooses, instead, to embrace the trait or person being satirized as admirable. • If they say, “That offends me,” or “Life’s not like that so I don’t get the point,” or “Hey…maybe we should all be more like that,” then the satire is not very effective. • Remember as well…If it is to be funny, then that sense of shared moral meaning must exist in the audience as well—it can’t be just something that enrages you…it must enrage your audience as well.

10. Cute but so what? • It may seem easy to put together a satire or parody. • However, satirists have a wide range of tools at their disposal • One of the most powerful tools is irony • We’ll look more at these next time.