Transcript Satire Unit Nov. 15/Nov. 18 - Katy Independent School District

Satire Unit
English IV
What is satire?
 An art form (literary, dramatic, visual) that uses humor, irony,
exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize vices, follies,
abuses, and shortcomings with the intent of shaming individuals,
corporations, and/or society itself into improvement or reform.
 What does this mean? Put it in your own words.
 What is a vice? What is a folly?
 Although satire is usually humorous, its greater purpose is often
constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon and as a tool to
draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.
 Tina Fey as Sarah Palin—as you watch, consider what it is that Tina
Fey is satirizing.
 Teenage Affluenza—as you watch, consider what it is that is being
satirized.
Satire and the Law
 The relations of satirists to the law have always been delicate
and complex.
 In the United States, satirists attack individuals only at the risk
of severe financial loss to himself and his publisher.
 In totalitarian countries he risks imprisonment or death.
 Under extreme conditions satire against the reigning order is
out of the question.
 Such was the case in the Soviet Union and most other communist
countries. For example, a poet was sent to a concentration camp
and his death for composing a satirical poem on Stalin.
 Why would the law care about satire?
Main types of satire
 Juvenalian: any bitter and ironic criticism
with personal attacks, angry and moral
indignation, and pessimism
 Horatian: meant to delight and humor
using laughter and ridicule in a nonaccusatory manner to highlight vice and
folly
Satirical Techniques
 Exaggeration/hyperbole
 Distortion/reversal
 Understatement
 Invective/diatribe
 Pun/malapropism
 Incongruity
 Parody/allegory
 Sarcasm
Exaggeration/hyperbole
 Exaggeration is a statement that represents something as
better or worse than it really is.
 Hyperbole is exaggeration to a degree of being impossible.
South Park Clip
Distortion/reversal
 Distortion changes the perspective of a condition or event by
isolation or by stressing some aspects and deemphasizing
others.
Bush Clip
 Reversal – to present the opposite of normal order. Ex. A
baby makes the decision in the family.
Ex. The Affluenza clip
Understatement
 The opposite of exaggeration. Something is given far less
concern, weight, or importance than is required/expected.
 Jonathan Swift: "Last Week I saw a Woman flay'd, and you
will hardly believe, how much it altered her Person for the
worse“
Monty Python Example
Invective/Diatribe
 A direct, angry attack in the hope of eliminating what the
satirist regards as undesirable conditions, attitudes, and
behavior
Pun
 Pun – a word employed in two or more senses, or a word
used in a context that suggests a second term sounding like
it.
Malapropism

Malapropism – a deliberate mispronunciation of a term with the intent of poking fun.

"The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder." - Richard Daley,
former mayor of Chicago

"He was a man of great statue." - Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston

"Texas has a lot of electrical votes." (electoral votes) -Yogi Berra

"Well, that was a cliff-dweller." (cliff-hanger) - Wes Westrum

"Be sure and put some of those neutrons on it." (croutons) - Mike Smith

"It's got lots of installation." (insulation) - Mike Smith speaking about a new coat

"Create a little dysentery among the ranks." (dissension) - Christopher Moltisanti from "The
Sopranos"

"This is unparalyzed in the state's history." (unparelled) - Gib Lewis, Texas Speaker of the House
Incongruity
 To present things that are out of place or absurd in relation to
its surroundings.
Ex. The incongruity in Shrek is that a donkey named Donkey
lived with an ogre. This is incongruity because ogres are typically
gruesome and mean and the donkey thinks he's a friend
Parody/allegory
 To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place,
or thing in order to ridicule the original. For parody/allegory
to be successful, the reader must know the original text that
is being ridiculed.
This is Spinal Tap Clip
Sarcasm
 The use of irony to mock or convey contempt
Ex. The South Park Clip