Satire Take it or Leave it
As an art form, satire has existed since Antiquity. Several Greek playwrights wrote works mocking the conventions of their time. Quintilian famously said that satura, that is a satire in hexameter verses, was a literary genre of wholly Roman origin (satura tota nostra est) (Wikipedia). Satire has endured throughout western history as a form of cultural critique. Today, thanks to television and the internet, there are endless sources of satirical pleasure. My question is this: is satire necessary? Or beyond that, is it even relevant to everyday life? When one writes about the uses of satire in our world, one has to look at what the reason the art form is going to be used for. Satire is a very powerful …show more content…
Our modern word “satire” is derived from this genre. Roman satura is quite different than what we envision satire to be today. For example, the saturate of Horace and Juvenal read more like a mild lecture. One can compare a more modern satire of “A Modest Proposal” which reads more like a story (LaBeouf). Could the plight of the Irish be brought to light in a different way? Yes, I think that the way that Johnathan Swift made light and used such a disgusting story about how to solve the problem could have been a little more tactful. But, would everyone remember his story if he …show more content…
As in the story “A Modest Proposal,” the problem of the famines, overpopulation, and poverty in Ireland was being brought to light. One of the fundamental flaws of satire is that most often the only people who understand its meaning are the ones who already agree with the satire’s criticism. To the rest, it comes across as crude or irrelevant. There have been multiple comic strips that have explored political controversies. Take for instance the comic strips and the individual comic scenes about our upcoming election. These comics use exaggeration and irony to bring the point of the individual cartoonist, thus fitting into the category of satire. Batman comics are always looking into the corruption in the police forces or fighting crime in the stories within their pages. For example, “The strongest blow against police corruption came when an increasing amount of conspiracy charges against Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb forced him to resign his position, replaced by Peter Grogan” (Wikipedia).
In television, you might see satire used to show many different opinions. One of the best and most popular examples of political satire is the Colbert report. We often watch shows like the Colbert Report or Saturday Night Live as entertainment but they also use satire to convey messages to the public. I can think of many skits where the Saturday Night Live actors have made
As an art form, satire has existed since Antiquity. Several Greek playwrights wrote works mocking the conventions of their time. Quintilian famously said that satura, that is a satire in hexameter verses, was a literary genre of wholly Roman origin (satura tota nostra est) (Wikipedia). Satire has endured throughout western history as a form of cultural critique. Today, thanks to television and the internet, there are endless sources of satirical pleasure. My question is this: is satire necessary? Or beyond that, is it even relevant to everyday life? When one writes about the uses of satire in our world, one has to look at what the reason the art form is going to be used for. Satire is a very powerful …show more content…
Our modern word “satire” is derived from this genre. Roman satura is quite different than what we envision satire to be today. For example, the saturate of Horace and Juvenal read more like a mild lecture. One can compare a more modern satire of “A Modest Proposal” which reads more like a story (LaBeouf). Could the plight of the Irish be brought to light in a different way? Yes, I think that the way that Johnathan Swift made light and used such a disgusting story about how to solve the problem could have been a little more tactful. But, would everyone remember his story if he …show more content…
As in the story “A Modest Proposal,” the problem of the famines, overpopulation, and poverty in Ireland was being brought to light. One of the fundamental flaws of satire is that most often the only people who understand its meaning are the ones who already agree with the satire’s criticism. To the rest, it comes across as crude or irrelevant. There have been multiple comic strips that have explored political controversies. Take for instance the comic strips and the individual comic scenes about our upcoming election. These comics use exaggeration and irony to bring the point of the individual cartoonist, thus fitting into the category of satire. Batman comics are always looking into the corruption in the police forces or fighting crime in the stories within their pages. For example, “The strongest blow against police corruption came when an increasing amount of conspiracy charges against Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb forced him to resign his position, replaced by Peter Grogan” (Wikipedia).
In television, you might see satire used to show many different opinions. One of the best and most popular examples of political satire is the Colbert report. We often watch shows like the Colbert Report or Saturday Night Live as entertainment but they also use satire to convey messages to the public. I can think of many skits where the Saturday Night Live actors have made