What is satire? Can you find an example? What are the elements of an effective satire? Can you find a contemporary example of a satire? How effective is this example? Why?
A Satire is the use of humor or sarcasm to criticize the particular subject.
In the book of The Adventures Huckleberry Finn I think there are many examples satires, the book it's self is a satire simply because of the so called humor that is presented before us....but is was based on a time where there was a lot of slavery and who knows if this would of actually happened but the fact is that Mark Twain wanted this story to be known for a reason.....maybe for the humor to make people to be more accepting and aware of the race it's self or to turn people the other way and say okay yeah it's okay to be racist. I do know that Mark Twain based some of these situations on stuff that he experienced when he was a little boy. The way they portray Jim in the book is kind of a mo chary and a satire to the black man because of how he is portrayed;example, grammar is completely non-understandable and the kinds of things that he speaks about not everybody might think this way but because he is stereotyped I guess they are all supposed to think a like. The fact that he is dumb witted, illiterate, black, and poor is a complete satire of the Black working man and that is exactly what they state in this book. Pap is also a satire, pap's threats are humorous because of the obvious irony; how could a father not want his son to learn or 2 not proud of him. Pap exudes bigotry and hate, his ludicrous tirade against the government and blacks is pathetically comical because of his obvious arrogance and ignorance. The irony, however is more painful than it is humorous because it symbolizes a common racist attitude built on ignorance and insecurity. Also I noticed other satires referring to Shakespeare, the parody of Shakespeare is another staple of frontier humor that Twain uses for comic effect. Twain also uses the families to underscore his subtle satire on religion, as the two families attend the same church, leaning their guns against the walls during the sermon about "Brotherly Love."Go figure...!
A perfect example of a contemporary satire I would have to say would be scary movies; the movie Scary Movie is a contemporary satire in the pop culture...it simply exaggerates the use of violence in movies that is used to scare audiences ...or even T.V shows like Saturday night live...they are constantly making fun of every actor/actress, Career, family and so on...These both are really effective because they are portrayed throughout the media...everyone loves to laugh and many use that to relate to others when they want to make fun of something they get you to laugh with them and not at them...without hurting any one's feelings. Also T.V shows like South park and Weird Al Yankovich are also great examples of a contemporary satire, they are always finding ways to mo ch everybody and everything...
Interesting about the scary movies. I steer clear of them because I assume them to be fare that is "beneath" me (a joke in and of itself, if you consider some of the other trash that that I expose myself to). I'll have to give that one some thought before I can respond to it.
ReplyDeleteRe: your comments about Huck Finn, I really like all of the examples that you cite. The book, as you so clearly point out, is filled with satirical comments of all sorts. Pap is particularly scary to me, and if his ilk was intended audience of the book, I doubt that it did much to convince them of the errors of their ways. Yet, selfish behavior such as Pap exhibits is something that I need to take a look at, in my own life.
Perhaps a self-serving (and easily parodied) statement would be to say that people who are most willing to examine and perhaps modify their behavior in light of criticism levied in whatever form, satire included, are few. I would like to think that I can change when I recognize my own flaws, and that I am open to criticism. The politicos and news-makers are not the only ones who need adjustments in their behavior, this is for sure. Good post, Michele. I liked that you recounted so many good examples from the book.
I agree that AHF is satire, but I don’t know how much. If Jim really were a black slave he would be uneducated and poor and combined with his southern dialect I think he might talk like that. I don’t know where the satire and reality ends and were the other begins.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I can't really tell why Twain is writing this book. Sometime I think that Jim is a satire of a black man in the South. Twain is saying black men are not really ignorant or superstitious. But other times I think he is making fun of Jim and black men. I liked what you said and some of the modern examples you sited.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an example of satire. Although I am not really understand some words in this book, especially the words of Jims, I think it is similar to the book I talked in my blog. Both of Jim and Ah Q want to get out of the limited in their life, but the things they did were showing that they have deeply believing in their life. I think Mark Twain wrote this book because he wanted to tell the people that now it’s time to break the old rules and built up a new structure for their life. When the world needs to be changed, it always need someone to step out and tell the others.
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