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Satire, Parody, & Carnivalesque. “Cancelled” (2003). Another self-reflexive episode (supposed to be 100th) Parody of first episode (“Cartman Gets and Anal Probe”) Written with Normal Lear of All in the Family Intertextuality: Dukes of Hazzard chase parody Contact (1997), alien film
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“Cancelled”(2003) • Another self-reflexive episode (supposed to be 100th) • Parody of first episode (“Cartman Gets and Anal Probe”) • Written with Normal Lear of All in the Family • Intertextuality: • Dukes of Hazzardchase parody • Contact (1997), alien film • Independence Day (1996) • Don King, Missy Elliot, Michael Jordan, Fantasy Island (Mr. Roarke and Tattoo), George Burns, Frank Sinatra, George Burns, Jimmie Walker
“Cancelled” cont'd • Nerzod Productions reality show: Earth • Low ratings, Earth gets cancelled • Boys speak to the heads of the Fognl Network, who control all the universe's media: the Joozians • Carnival? Satire? Parody?
Humor Doesn't reproduce or mimic subject directly (it is more subtle in its critique) social/political change (may mock) Critical thought through humor Parody vs. Satire • Humor • Mimics a concept, idea, person, text (relies on that subject for effect) • Pure mocking or mimicking • Laughing only
Can stand alone Uses euphemism, exaggeration, irony Humor meets anger Uses parody as a tool Challenge to status quo or dominant “discourses” Parody vs. Satire cont'd • Relies on borrowing • Intertextual or dialogic
Mikhail Bakhtin “Carnivalesque” • Analysis of Rabelais's scatological satire, Gargantua and Pantagruel • Examines folk or popular culture • Ritual spectacle: collapse of hierarchy...inversions of power structures • Comic verbal compositions: Parodies • Genres of billingsgate: vernacular or playground language • Scatological humor/bodily excess • Beggars become kings and vice versa
Bakhtin Cont'd • Satirical humor and “festive laughter” (scatological humor)...grotesque body • “Low body stratum” humor= fucking, pissing, shitting, farting, drinking, eating, wieners • Upper body= wit, the brain, dominant discourses and ideologies • Body and carnival are political; hierarchy and control are subverted, parody of authority • South Park performs carnivalesque on TV
Images of the Grotesque Body • Of transformation, growing and becoming • pregnancy, birth, growth, old age, disintegration, dismemberment • Openness of body: mouth, nose, anus, ears, vagina • Protrusion of body: pot belly, penis, breast, nose • Carnival is about exposure of the body and sexual fantasy
“The Hobbit” (2013) • Satire of the impact of media on body image, esp. with young girls and boys • How consumers view themselves and the distortion of that view via the media • Self image is not only in our heads but on a computer for mass consumption. Our bodies are consumed this way (as selfies?)
South Park's mode of representation • “Carnivalesque mode of representation...” • Treats socio-political issues that cross political and ideological boundaries (in the middle) • Success in the 18-34 demographic • Appeals to liberals and conservatives • Mocks the lesson learned of sitcoms • South Park is not an “end” synthesis but is dialogic • Paradox of cutout animation and serious topics • Carnivalesque/Scat challenges dominant discourses
Archie Bunker • Norman Lear's All in the Family • Conservative, bigot, racist • Laugh AT Archie for his views as he's the victim of his own conservatism • “Equal Time” (less gun control)
As Carnivalesque • “Low” language of the marketplace • Drink, dance, curse • The inversion of power structure and its traditions • Parody of official language • Participatory or “folk” culture (of the people) • Carnival offers a new outlook on life • TV as heteroglossia: multiple discourses (dialogic) and not singular meaning
In South Park • Bodies are grotesque (i.e. Cartman) • Mocking of authority figures • Scatological humor applied to dominant discourse, ideas, and views • And, applied to “serious” issues • Boys presented with situation that adults make worse through excess of some sort • Recaptures the “public sphere” • Issues are translated into a “disturbance of the South Park narrative equilibrium” (p.223)
Thompson • “Rather than articulating a consistently conservative or liberal voice, South Park's carnivalesque mode creates a space for viewers to engage multiple social discourses from a variety of political subjectivities, while underminding the supposed legitimacy of those discourses.” (p. 226) • South Park is in the middle, it's apolitical in this sense, shows the ridiculousness of extremism