Satire
Satire is a
literary 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. In
Celtic societies, it was thought a
bard's satire could have physical effects, similar to a
curse. The humor of such a satire tends to be subtle, using
irony and
deadpan humour liberally. Most satire has specific, readily identifiable targets; however there is also a less focused, formless genre known as
Menippean satire. Example: The film,
The Great Dictator (1940) by
Charlie Chaplin is a satire on Adolf Hitler and his Nazi army.
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.
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.
--
Jacob Bronowski &
Bruce Mazlish,
The Western Intellectual Tradition From Leonardo to Hegel, p. 252 (1960; as repub. in 1993 Barnes & Noble ed.).
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.
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.
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 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. 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.
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. 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 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. Also, in
American TV, series like
Seinfeld have made impacts on the humor world.
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.
*
Aesop (c. 620-560 BC) -
Fables*
Aristophanes (c.448-380 BC) -
Lysistrata, The Frogs*
Ennius (239 - 169 BC)
*
Lucilius (c.180-103 BC)
*
Horace (65-8 BC)
*
Ovid (43 BC - AD 17) -
The Art of Love*
Petronius (c. AD 27-66) -
The Satyricon*
Juvenal (c. 55-140) -
16 Satires*
Apuleius (c. AD 123-180 ) -
The Golden Ass*
The Thousand and One Nights - (9th century)
*
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) -
The Decameron*
Erasmus (1466-1536) -
The Praise of Folly*
François Rabelais (c. 1493-1553)
*
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) -
Don Quixote*
John Dryden (1631-1700)
*
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647-1680)
*
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) -
Gulliver's Travels,
A Modest Proposal *
John Gay (1685-1732) -
The Beggar's Opera*
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
*
Voltaire (1694-1778) -
Candide*
Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) -
Tristram Shandy*
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) â€" ‘'
Hard Times
*Mark Twain (1835-1910)
*Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
*Radoje Domanovic (1873-1908)
*H.H. Munro aka *Saki (1870-1916)
*Will Rogers (1879-1935)
*Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) - Point Counter Point, Brave New World
*Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966)
*George Orwell (1903-1950) - Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four
*Kurt Vonnegut (1922-) - Breakfast of Champions
*Joseph Heller (1923-1999) - Catch-22
*Günter Grass (1927-) - The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse
*Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) - Dr. Strangelove*
Carl Hiaasen (1953-) -
Tourist Season,
Double Whammy,
Basket Case,
Skinny Dip*
Christopher Buckley -
Thank You For Smoking,
The White House Mess*
Tom Wolfe -
The Bonfire of the Vanities*
Terry Pratchett - The
Discworld books and others
*
Le Canard enchaîné (weekly French satirical newspaper)
*
Saturday Night Live (US TV show)
*
This Hour Has 22 Minutes (Canadian TV show)
*
The Daily Show (US TV show)
*
The Colbert Report (US TV show)
*
This Modern World - (Political satire by
Tom Tomorrow)
*
David Sedaris (satirist author)
*
Uncyclopedia (Parody of Wikipedia)
*
The Onion (US Magazine)
*"
Mercedes-Benz" a McClure-Joplin song sung by
Janis Joplin *
Private Eye (United Kingdom magazine)
*
The Chaser (Australian newspaper and TV shows)
*
Chris Morris (English Satirist)
*
No Quarter (United Kingdom Magazine)
*
Facelift (New Zealand Political show)
*
Maddox (Author of satrical website and book)
*
South Park (US TV show)
