The Elements of Satire

1. The Elements of Satire Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen. -Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

2. What is satire? • Comes from the latin word satura, meaning “dish of mixed ingredients”. • A technique in which a writer ridicules or criticizes a person, group, institution or event using certain literary devices. • Usually witty. • Almost always sarcastic or ironic. • Usually has a tone of “mock-approval” – sarcastically supporting the very thing it is criticizing. How does the definition of satire relate to its latin root?

3. Forms of Satire • Drama (Tartuffe – Moliere, The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde ) • Journalism (The Onion) • Fiction (A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift, The Lowest Animal – Mark Twain) • Poetry (The Rape of the Locke – Alexander Pope) • Graphic Arts (editorial cartoons) • Television programs (Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report) • Music (With God on Our Side – Bob Dylan, Weird Al)

4. Examples of Satire in Pop Culture • Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update • The Daily Show • Scary Movie • Austin Powers • Political cartoons • This is Spinal Tap • Songs by Weird Al Yankovich (White and Nerdy) • The Simpsons

5. Satirical Techniques • Sarcasm • Irony • Parody • Burlesque • Elevated word choice • Puns • Hyperbole/exaggeration

6. Methods of Satire • Pun: play on words • Hyperbole: overstatement often used to show how ridiculous a situation is. • Burlesque is an imitation of a person or subject by exaggeration or distortion. • a frivolous subject may be treated with mock dignity • a weighty subject might be handled in a trivial style • character who should use formal, intelligent language speaks like a fool or a character who is portrayed as uneducated uses highly sophisticated, intelligent language. Ex: Princess Bride – “Marriage, marriage”, giant who rhymes • Parody mocks not a person or subject, but a specific literary work or style, by imitating features and applying them to trivial or incongruous materials. Weird Al song, Beat it ---Eat it.

7. Pair Share • By definition, satire is _____________. One technique utilized to create satire is _______________. One example of satire I have seen, read or heard is _______________________________.

8. Apple Hard At Work Making iPhone ObsoleteFEBRUARY 12, 2007 CUPERTINO, CA—Only a month after the much-heralded announcement of the iPhone, Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed that his engineers were already working around-the-clock on the touchscreensmartphone's far-superior replacement. "We looked at [the iPhone's] innovative user interface, the paradigm-shifting voicemail, the best-in-class mobile browser, and we realized we could make all that seem ridiculously outdated by the time the product becomes available to customers in June," said Jobs, who described the project as "Apple reinventing the iPhone." "When the second-generation iPhone comes out this fall, we want iPhone users to feel not just jealous, but downright foolish for owning such laughably primitive technology." Jobs also hinted that the second iPhone device would not be compatible with existing Mac computers, third-party peripherals, or any future Apple products.

9. Sample Response • In order to mock/ ridicule technology companies, this article utilizes sarcasm and irony. For example, Jobs supposedly states that apple wants “users to feel not just jealous, but downright foolish for owning such laughably primitive technology."

10. Factual Error Found On InternetMay 22, 2002 | LONGMONT, CO—The Information Age was dealt a stunning blow Monday, when a factual error was discovered on the Internet. The error was found on TedsUltimateBradyBunch.com, a Brady Bunch fan site that incorrectly listed the show's debut year as 1968, not 1969. Caryn Wisniewski, a Pueblo, CO, legal secretary and diehard Brady Bunch fan, came across the mistake while searching for information about the show's first-season cast.

11. Attempts to contact the webmaster of "Ted's Ultimate Brady Bunch Site," identified as Ted Crewes of Naugatuck, CT, were unsuccessful. The page has been taken offline by its host, Cheaphost.net, which released a statement Tuesday. "We at Cheaphost were deeply saddened and disturbed to learn that one of the millions of pages we host contained a factual discrepancy," the web-posted statement read. "Please be assured that we are doing everything within our power to ensure that nothing of the sort happens again. We will not rest until the Internet's once-sterling reputation as the world's leading source for 100 percent reliable information is restored." Paul Boutin, senior editor of Wired, said the error is likely to have a profound effect on how the Internet is perceived.

12. "Will we ever fully trust the Web again?" Boutin asked. "We may well be witnessing the dawn of a new era of skepticism in which we no longer accept everything we read online at face value. But regardless of what the future holds, one thing is clear: The Internet's status as the world's definitive repository of incontrovertible fact has been jeopardized."

13. Pair Share • In order to mock/ ridicule __________, this article utilizes ____________. For example, _________________________.

14. Why Satire? Now that you know the elements of satire, what do you think makes satire effective? Why do writers use satire instead of criticizing the person, group or institution directly?

15. Your Turn Read the letter to Puff Daddy and find examples of satirical devices. What group or type of people is the writer of the letter comically criticizing?