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

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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 Lives 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

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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.

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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, CAOnly 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
  touchscreen smartphone'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.

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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."

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Factual Error Found On InternetMay 22, 2002

• LONGMONT, COThe 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.

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• 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.

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• "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."

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Pair Share

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

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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?