Satire

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Satire

• A literary manner that seeks to criticize and
  correct some aspect of human behavior by means of
  ridicule and wit.

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Satire

• Satire is often funny, but it doesnt have to be
  sometimes the effect is simply grotesque or
  horrifying (Swifts Modest Proposal).
• Satire is often bitter, since it points out the
  discrepancy between what is and what should be.

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The necessary ingredients

• Irony (particularly verbal)
• Criticism, either general criticism of humanity
  or human nature or specific criticism of an
  individual or group.
• Some kind of moral voice simply mocking or
  criticism is not satire.

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Some tools of the satirist

• Direct satire
• Indirect Satire

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Direct Satire stating a direct criticism
humorously. This is the oldest and, historically,
most common form of satiric writing.
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• Direct Satire stating a direct criticism
  humorously. This is the oldest and, historically,
  most common form of satiric writing.
• Comedians Rick Mercer and Dennis Miller
  demonstrate an excellent modern examples of
  direct satire.

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The Death of Common Sense

• You can't get in your car and not run into
  another idiot who pulls into the gas station with
  his fuel tank on the wrong side and then has to
  get instructions from a NASA team at Houston
  Control to figure out how to maneuver his car so
  that the tank is on the correct side. And you
  can't open a paper without reading about a mondo
  idiot who gets hurt or killed at a railroad
  crossing because they had to try and beat the
  train to get home in time to watch The Home
  Shopping Channels salute to porcelain clowns.

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Some tools of the satirist

• Direct satire
• Indirect Satire

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Some tools of the satirist

• Indirect Satire
• Parody
• Caricature
• Exaggeration/Diminutization
• Utopianism
• Dystopianism

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Parody a work of literature that mimics
another work of literature, usually as a way of
criticizing it.

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Austin Powers
• Scary Movie/Epic Movie
• Gullivers Travels
• Shrek

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Caricature An exaggerated portrayal of the
weaknesses, frailties, or humorous aspects of an
individual or group.
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• Caricatures of the presidential candidates by
  Saturday Night Live cast members in 03 year
  actually changed the way that the candidates
  performed in public.

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Exaggeration The portrayal of something
trivial or unimportant as very important, usually
to emphasize its triviality. Diminutization
the portrayal of something perceived as important
as something trivial/unimportant to show its
unimportance. Zoolander and the fashion
world Weird Als Amish Paradise The Rape
of the Lock (A. Pope)
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Utopianism A criticism of the status quo
through comparison with a superior kind of
society that highlights the weaknesses of ones
own.

• Utopia, by Sir Thomas Moore
• Gullivers Travels, Book II
• The Bible

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Dystopianism A criticism of certain aspects of
society through comparison to an inferior society
that adopts some of these aspects.

• George Orwells 1984
• Aldous Huxleys Brave New World
• Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451
• Kurt Vonneguts Harrison Bergeron
• Wall-E
• V for Vendetta
• Both Dystopianism and Utopianism use contrast
  to make point.
• http//snarkerati.com/movie-news/the-top-50-dystop
  ian-movies-of-all-time/

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• Satire is a type of writing that serves to
  ridicule and denounce folly, evil and stupidity
  as these characteristics manifest themselves in
  persons, groups of persons, ideas, institutions,
  customs and beliefs. The satirist focuses on
  what is wrong with the world.
• What separates satire from more direct types of
  social criticism is the subtlety with which an
  issue is criticized. Satirists are social
  critics who paint bleak pictures and create bleak
  situations and outcomes to mirror the misery of
  man and to exact change. The satirist instead
  uses humour and irony to point out the ills of
  man.

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Informal Journal Assignment

• Now that you have an understanding of the
  purpose and characteristics of satire, what I
  would like you to do now is sift through the
  humour and the irony and explain what Kurt
  Vonnegut, Jr. was trying to do.
• Then tell me if you agree with him and why.