Satire In The Acharnian

Satire is a form of writing that makes use of humor, irony, and exaggeration to criticize a group of people’s views about a certain topic that is going on in the world. Satire has been around for a long time, but it has kept the same general aspects throughout all of time. Even with the 2,000 year-gap and differences in writing techniques and technology between “The Acharnians” and Stephen Colbert’s “The Word: Armistice,” both works utilize satire and have a very similar way of presenting it to their respective audiences. “The Acharnians” is a play written by Athenian playwright Aristophanes, and it is set during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. In the play, Dicaeopolis is an Athenian farmer that is one of the very few people …show more content…
Colbert is on one side of the screen with a very serious face discussing serious matters that are going on in the US, but on the other side, there is a computer-generated comment box, that is only visible to the audience. Each time Colbert makes a statement about something, the little comment bar displays a funny, satirical response to Colbert’s statement. Towards the middle of the segment, Colbert says “For 51 years, Veterans Day has been the one day we honor our armed forces.” To which, the comment bar had a satirical response of “Other Than Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day” to point out that citizens do celebrate the US Armed Forces more than once a year even if they don’t have huge celebrations on those days, like citizens do when they celebrate other holidays. Colbert is trying to criticize how Americans hold big celebrations for many holidays that don’t include people going to different countries, fighting for our nation, and risking their lives, and during the holidays that do celebrate these people, citizens don’t seem to have big events in order to honor those who have served or have died serving like they would on other less important holidays. Immediately after this comment, Colbert says “We, civilians, do our part to serve our country…” Colbert is trying to make a serious point however the comment bar immediately responds with “Flag on Car and We go shopping” to make fun of the fact that many civilians do so little to actually serve our country, but they try to make it appear like they do so much work for our country. Many citizens believe that they are doing everything they can to help the nation. Colbert is criticizing them by showing how small their gestures and actions really are, and how these small actions aren’t helping the nation as a whole. Colbert keeps