Happy Tuesday!

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Happy Tuesday!

• Please read through this power point and take
  notes in the packet you were given at the
  beginning of class. If you dont finish this, it
  is homework. Power Point is on the website OR
  upload this presentation to your Google Docs. You
  will need to understand this information for the
  work we are doing this week.
• You will have a test on this information Monday,
  April 14 so ask questions if you are confused.
• You will need to be in Slide Show mode to view
  any links and might want to use your headphones
  if you have some with you. Otherwise, just play
  it on low volume.
• We will begin reading The Importance of Being
  Earnest tomorrow. You will have homework every
  night. If you are going to be gone, see me for
  the play and your homework. Otherwise check the
  website for more information.
• Have fun and get to work!

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Satire

• The Mace and Rapier

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What is Satire?

• Satire is a weapon used
• to ridicule
• to attack the vices and follies they see in human
  behavior.
• Usually states or implies some idea of what
  should be the correct behavior or thought.
• Goal of satire self-examination and change
  foolish ways.
• In written satire, the pen can be a mace
  hacking and bashing the victims to smithereens
  or a rapier delicately piercing the target.

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DEFINITION OF SATIRE

• The word satire comes from the Latin satura
  meaning a dish filled with mixed fruits.
• This was the usual dessert tray after a banquet,
  and an early meaning for the word was to be well
  fed as seen in such cognates as sated,
  saturated, and satisfied.

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Questions for Satire

• What does the satire ridicule? What are its
  targets?
• What does the satire suggest is preferable to
  whatever is criticized?
• What techniques does the satirist use to convey
  his or her ridicule?
• To what extent is the satirist justified in
  attacking his target?
• How successful is the satire?

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Distance from Satirical Target

• To be effective, writers or performers must have
  a detachment from their target.
• Henry Rule confessed, In truth I dont ever seem
  to be in a good enough humor with anything to
  satirize it no, I want to stand up before it and
  curse it, and foam at the mouthor take a club
  and pound it to rags and pulp (Nilsen Nilsen
  259).

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Satire vs. Gallows Humor

• Satirists may use their humor to inspire reform
  and change, or they may use it to promote the
  status quo.
• Satire MUST HAVE A TARGET
• If the creators of satire dont have a reform or
  a solution in mind but are simply holding up an
  aspect of the world as ridiculous, then they are
  creating irony or gallows humor rather than
  satire.
• Gallows Humor? Humor from stressful situations,
  i.e., death at the gallows.

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Horatian VS. Juvenalian Satire

• Gentle and humorous satire is called Horatian
  Satire after the writing style of the Roman
  poet Horace.
• Heavy or biting satire called Juvenalian Satire
  after the Roman poet Juvenal.

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For Example

• One of the characteristics of Horatian satire is
  that it includes a higher percentage of humor.
• Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels is a Horatian
  Satire. It contains humorous adventures often
  read by children.
• A Modest Proposal is Juvenalian Satire with its
  scathing criticism of overpopulation and
  persecution of the Irish.

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Satire Techniques

• Naïve speaker doesnt understand the
  implications of his narration
• Praise but mean the opposite (criticize) this
  is an example of irony
• Say one thing but means the opposite (sarcasm)
• Uses rhetorical questions The question seems to
  suggest one answer, but the reader is supposed to
  disagree with the implication
• Understate minimize the issue to make people
  realize its importance treat a serious concern
  as unimportant or trivial
• Exaggerate/Hyperbole blow the issue out of
  proportion to make people focus on it take a
  trivial concern or situation seriously

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Types of Satire

• Cartoons and art
• Exaggeration and caricature
• Irony
• Symbolism
• Speaker
• Parody
• Reversal

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Cartoons and Art

• Lampoon or parody aspects of society or practices
  
• Example In the
• example to the right,
• what is being
• criticized? How
• does the cartoon
• help make a point?

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Cartoons and Art
Is this just funny? Or is it making a
statement? What techniques does the satirist use?
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Exaggeration

• Focuses on one or two elements of a situation
• Extends them beyond reality or out of proportion
  to everything else

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Consider the followingwhat is being exaggerated?
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Caricature

• Distorts one or two elements of appearance,
  usually for humorous effect.
• Gentle form of exaggeration (usually)
• Why is caricature 1 NOT satirical and caricature
  2 is?

Caricature 1
Caricature 2
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Burlesque

• Ridiculous exaggeration of language.
• Used for comic effect the language used in a
  situation is so absurd as to make it funny.
• Example In the following clip, how do we expect
  the characters to sound? What does the change do?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v1CDcjHVG2Kg

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Irony

• Do I really need to explain this?
• Incongruity presents things that are out of
  place or are absurd in relation to its
  surroundings
• Example But
• why is this satire?
• What does it
• target?

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• Why is this song ironic? Listen to the lyrics
  and then compare it to the music played along
  with it.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vta_iKeH4tsgsafeac
  tive
• Who is the target?
• Why is this satire?

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Symbolism

• Use concrete symbols to represent abstract
  characteristics and conditions
• Sometimes context-specific
• Example What is the effect of symbolism for
  this satire?

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The Speaker in Satire

• the use of a speaker as a stand-in for the
  writer/satirist to offer criticism
• Sometimes very angry voices making direct
  attacks.
• Sometimes evil men and women confessing their own
  sins proudly.
• Sometimes reveal their own folly without
  intending to.
• Diatribe direct, angry attack in the hope of
  eliminating what the satirist regards as
  undesirable conditions, attitudes, and behavior.

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Parody

• Imitates the style of a particular work or writer
  
• Style is crucial HOW the satire is done
• Examples Airplane! or The Key of Awesome on
  youtube. What is being parodied and why?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vEyBwZeoxISk

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Parody of Fine Art
Is this offensive? If so, why?
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Reversal

• Presents the opposite of the normal order
• Order of events or Expectation
• Dessert first, then main course.
• The princess saving Prince Charming
• Hierarchal order
• When a child runs the household and the parent is
  treated like a child.