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Satire

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The World According To Ronald Reagan, a satirical map by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist David Horsey

Satire is a technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. The humor of satire tends to be subtle, using irony and deadpan humor liberally.

Types of satire

There are two fundamental types of satire: Horatian satire, which is gentle and urbane; and Juvenalian satire, which is biting, bitter invective. The burlesque form of satire can also be segregated into two distinct categories: High burlesque, or taking subject matter which is crude in nature and treating it in a lofty style, or low burlesque, taking subject matter traditionally dealt with in an epic or poetic fashion and degrading it.

Most satire has specific, readily identifiable targets; however there is also a less focused, formless genre known as Menippean satire.

Satire, The Established Order and Reason

The following commentary on satire is illuminating:

Satire is a mode of challenging accepted notions by making them seem ridiculous. It usually occurs only in an age of when there exists no absolute uniformity but rather two sets of beliefs. Of the two sets of beliefs, one holds sufficient power to suppress open attacks on the established order, but not enough to suppress a veiled attack.
Further, satire is intimately connected with urbanity and cosmopolitanism, and assumes a civilized opponent who is sufficiently sensitive to feel the barbs of wit leveled at him. To hold something up to ridicule presupposes a certain respect for reason, on both sides, to which one can appeal. An Age of Reason, in which everyone accepts the notion that conduct must be reasonable, is, therefore, a general prerequisite for satire. (Bronowski & Mazlish)

History of satire

In western European literature, satire has been an accepted form of social commentary since the 5th century B.C., principally in the form of plays and poetry. Aristophanes, a Greek playwright, is one of the best known early satirists. Other prominent satirists from antiquity include Horace and Juvenal, who were active during the early days of the Roman Empire and are the two most influential Latin satirists. In Celtic societies, it was thought a bard's satire could have physical effects, similar to a curse.

There are few examples of satire from the Early Middle Ages; with the advent of the High Middle Ages and the birth of modern vernacular literature in the 12th century, it began to make a comeback. However, direct satire of public figures was rare and heavy use was made of allegories; literary figures were occasionally satirized, but rarely actual people or institutions.

More direct social commentary via satire did not return until the 16th century, when farcical texts such as the works of François Rabelais tackled more serious issues (and incurred the wrath of the crown as a result). But the greatest satirists emerged with the Age of Enlightenment, an intellectual movement in the 17th and 18th century advocating rationality. Here, astute and biting satire of institutions and individuals became a popular weapon. Foremost among these is Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), arguably the greatest prose satirist in the English language. John Dryden also wrote an influential essay on satire that helped fix its definition in the literary world. Ebenezer Cooke, author of "The Sot-Weed Factor," is thought by some to be the first American satirist to write in English; Benjamin Franklin and others followed, using satire to shape an emerging nation's culture through shaping its sense of the ridiculous.

In the 19th century, Mark Twain became the best-known American satirist, publishing satires in a variety of forms, including news satire and full-length books.In Britain at roughly the same time W.S. Gilbert created seemingly harmless and unobjectionable comic operas that often tore apart the customs and institutions held so dear by the British public.

In the 20th century, satire has been used by authors such as Aldous Huxley and George Orwell to make serious and even frightening commentaries on the dangers of the sweeping social changes taking place throughout Europe. The film, The Great Dictator (1940) by Charlie Chaplin is a satire on Adolf Hitler and his Nazi army. A more humorous brand of satire enjoyed a renaissance in the UK in the early 1960s with the Satire Boom, led by such luminaries as Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, David Frost, Eleanor Bron and Dudley Moore and the television programme That Was The Week That Was. It continues to be a popular form of social commentary and expression today, although there is an increasing perception that satire must be explicitly humorous, which has not always been the case.

Satire in pop culture and public media

Some works of satire are subtle enough in their exaggeration that they still seem believable to many people. The satiric nature of these works may be lost on the public at large, and there have been instances where the author or producers of a satirical work have been harshly criticized as a result. In 2001 the British television network Channel 4 aired a special edition of the spoof current affairs series Brass Eye, which was intended to mock and satirize the fascination of modern journalism with child molesters and pedophiles. The TV network received an enormous number of complaints from members of the public, who were outraged that the show would mock a subject considered by many to be too "serious" to be the subject of humor. The movie This is Spinal Tap, a spoof of rockumentaries, about a fictitious hard rock band was mistaken for non-fiction by some critics.

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Animated comedies such as South Park are notorious for satire.

On occasion, satire can cause social change when used to make a political or social point (although simply revealing absurdities to the public, as opposed to the quality of the satire, may be the actual cause of any consequences). For instance, the comic strip Doonesbury satirized a Florida county that had a racist law that minorities had to have a passcard in the area; the law was soon repealed with an act nicknamed the Doonesbury Act.[citation needed] In the 2000 Canadian federal election campaign, a Canadian Alliance proposal for a mechanism to require a referendum in response to a petition of sufficient size was satirized by the television show This Hour Has 22 Minutes so effectively that it was discredited and soon dropped.

Many modern comedy TV shows use satire to some extent, especially animated comedies such as The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy which can easily use images of public figures and generally have greater latitude than conventional shows using actors. Series 7: The Contenders satirized what might happen if reality TV shows got out of hand and ended up in people getting killed for entertainment. Another source of satire on TV comes from the popular shows The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, two fake news programs which satirize not only modern news media, but also Washington politics.

Satire and parody are also popular forms of expression on the internet; one of the most prominent examples is the news satire site The Onion. Individuals are picking up the idea and exploiting the genre through their blogs, such as The Swift Report. Also, satirical shows like Have I Got News For You and They Think It's All Over are very popular on British television.

Censorship of satire

In 1599, the Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift and the Bishop of London George Abbott, whose offices had the function of licensing books for publication in England, issued a decree banning verse satire. The decree ordered the burning of certain volumes of satire by John Marston, Thomas Middleton, Joseph Hall, and others; it also required history plays to be specially approved by a member of the Queen's Privy Council, and it prohibited the future printing of satire in verse. The motives for the ban are obscure, particularly since some of the books banned had been licensed by the same authorities less than a year earlier. Various scholars have argued that the target was obscenity, libel, or sedition. It seems likely that lingering anxiety about the Martin Marprelate controversy, in which the bishops themselves had employed satirists, played a role; both Thomas Nashe and Gabriel Harvey, two of the key figures in that controversy, suffered a complete ban on all their works. In the event, though, the ban was little enforced, even by the licensing authority itself.

In Italy the media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi used censorship by stopping RAI Television's satirical series, Raiot, Daniele Luttazzi's Satyricon, Enzo Biagi, Michele Santoro's Sciuscià, even a special Blob series on Berlusconi himself, by arguing that they were vulgar and full of disrespect to the government. He claimed that he would sue the RAI for 21,000,000 Euros if the show went on. RAI stopped the show. Sabina Guzzanti, creator of the show, went to court to proceed with the show and won the case. However, the government and the RAI refused to follow the court order and the show never went on air again.[citation needed]

Notable satires and satirists

References

  • Jacob Bronowski & Bruce Mazlish, The Western Intellectual Tradition From Leonardo to Hegel, p. 252 (1960; as repub. in 1993 Barnes & Noble ed.).
  • Theorizing Satire: A Bibliography [1], by Brian A. Connery, Oakland University
  • Bloom, Edward A. . "Sacramentum Militiae: The Dynamics of Religious Satire." Studies in the Literary Imagination 5 (1972): 119-42.
  • The Modern Satiric Grotesque. Lexington: U of Kentucky P, 1991.

Theories/Critical approaches to satire as a genre:

  • Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. (See in particular the discussion of the 4 "myths").
  • Hammer, Stephanie. Satirizing the Satirist.
  • Highet, Gilbert. Satire.
  • Kernan, Alvin. The Cankered Muse

The Plot of Satire.

  • Seidel, Michael. Satiric Inheritance.

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