Humor and Satire

SATIRE

Satire defined: A writing designed to make readers criticize themselves, society, human foolishness and weakness, human vices and crimes, or anything the writer is dissatisfied about in general.

1. Satires do not necessarily offer suggestions, they point out what is wrong with society and people.

2. Satires expose errors and conditions society no longer notices because we have grown to accept them or ignore them.

ELEMENTS OF SATIRE

ELEMENTS OF SATIRE

SATIRE IS PERSUASIVE WRITING AND USES THE FOLLOWING APPEALS:

1. Logical Appeals – Supporting a position with evidence, facts or statistics.

2. Emotional Appeals – Using words that create strong feelings in the reader.

3. Ethical Appeals – A text that establishes the writer as sincere and qualified to make such remarks.

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:

1. EXAGGERATION – To make a person’s

vices or beliefs seem ridiculous and

unattractive, satirists will exaggerate, often to the point of hyperbole.

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:

2. UNDERSTATEMENT – Making shockingStatements seem casual to emphasize howcommon the practice has become.

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:

3. IRONY – Satirists use four types:a. VERBAL IRONY – Sarcasmb. SITUATIONAL IRONY – A contrast between what is expected and what actually happens.c. DRAMATIC IRONY – Contrast between what a character and what the reader knows.D. Cosmic irony - it seems that God or fate is manipulating events so as to inspire false hopes, which are inevitably dashed.

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:

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SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:

4. INVECTIVE: describes very abusive, usually non ironical language aimed at a particular target (e.g., a string of curses or name calling). Invective can often be quite funny, but it is the least inventive of the satirist's tools. A lengthy invective is sometimes called a diatribe. The danger of pure invective is that one can quickly get tired of it, since it offers limited opportunity for inventive wit.

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:

4. INVECTIVE:

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:5. Caricature: Exaggerating for comic and satiric effect one particular feature of the target, to achieve a grotesque or ridiculous effect. Refers more to drawing than it does to writing (e.g., the political cartoon).

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:

6. Burlesque: Ridiculous exaggeration in language which makes the discrepancy between the words and the situation or the character silly. For example, to have a king speak like an idiot or a workman speak like a king.

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:7.Parody: A style which

deliberately seeks to ridicule another style. This may involve, in less talented parody, simply offering up a very silly version of the original. In more skilful parodies, the writer imitates the original very well, pushing it beyond its limits and making it ridiculous.

SATIRICAL TECHNIQUES:8. Reductio ad absurdum: A popular satiric technique (especially in Swift), whereby the persona/speaker agrees enthusiastically with the basic attitudes or assumptions he wishes to satirize and, by pushing them to a logicallyridiculous extreme, exposesthe foolishness of the original attitudes and assumptions.

Political Cartoons

“A cartoonist is a writer and artist, philosopher, and punster, cynic and community conscience. He seldom tells a joke, and often tells the truth, which is funnier. In addition, the cartoonist is more than a social critic who tries to amuse, infuriate, or educate. He is also, unconsciously, a reporter and historian. Cartoons of the past leave records of their times that reveal how people lived, what they thought, how they dressed and acted, what their amusements and prejudices were, and what the issues of the day were.”

Consider

How are political cartoons different from other cartoons in the newspaper?

How are these cartoons different from news articles?

Based on what you have learned, why might it be important to be able to evaluate these cartoons?

Types of cartoons:

• Political (or editorial) cartoons• Gag (or pocket) cartoons• Caricatures• Comic strips

Political (editorial) cartoons Represent a commentary on

social change (broadly defined) and, in many instances, seek to provoke a reassessment of existing social attitudes and values.

For the most part, political cartoons highlight and comment on what the cartoonist believes to be the significant news of the day.

The aim of the cartoonist is to encourage the reader to adopt a particular point of view and predispose him or her to a particular course of action.

Stylistically diverse

Gag (pocket) cartoonsGag (or pocket) cartoons generally take the form of a relatively small drawing accompanying a specific article or report.

Caricatures Artworks that exaggerate or distort the features and

characteristics (or the basic essence) of a person or a group of persons to create a readily identifiable visual likeness.

Most editorial cartoons, and many gag cartoons and comic strips, make extensive use of the caricatures of noted public figures.

Some caricatures are drawn in a manner that lampoons the person being portrayed and in some instances seeks to provoke ridicule.

Standalone caricatures differ from editorial cartoons in at least one important respect. In editorial cartoons, the idea comes first and the artwork emerges from it. The caricature, on the other hand, is a portrayal of personality.

Strip cartoonsCartoons that incorporate a series of separate pictures to illustrate a story. These may be for mere enjoyment or they may have a role similar to political and editorial cartoons.

Elements of Cartoons

Editorial and gag cartoons

Symbolism Stereotyping Caricatures

Exaggeration and distortion

CaptionsPerspectives

Visual metaphors

Humor

Context

The cartoonist’s message

Context

Symbolism Symbols have the ability to communicate often

complex, emotionally rich ideas in a concise manner. The use of symbolism involves the inclusion of

representational forms or images that have meaning beyond what is obvious and immediate. In other words, a sign or object used by the cartoonist to stand for something other than itself.

The effectiveness of such references depend on the presumption that its meaning can be understood by the reader.

Visual metaphors

Artistic devices used to help our minds come to grips with complex ideas by relating them to something more familiar and readily understood.

Used by the cartoonist to trigger, in an observer, a metaphoric rather then literal thought.

Refaie (2003) argues that the meaning an observer attaches to a visual metaphor ultimately depends on the nature of his or her engagement with the socio-political context. The viewer is likely to bring his or her own life experiences to the interpretation process.

Caricatures Illustrations that exaggerate or distort the prominent

physical features and/or idiosyncrasies of a subject to create an easily identifiable visual likeness.

Humor

• Irony (an expression in which the true meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning) and Satire (the use of ridicule or scorn, often in a humorous or exaggerated way, to expose vices and follies) are often employed to give a cartoon a humorous edge.

Captions

Perspective & tone

• Perspective: The position, stance or point of view adopted by the cartoonist.

• Tone: The mood created by a cartoon provides important insights to the cartoonist’s attitude towards the subject and his/her audience.

• Text-based statements (or captions) are used to reinforce and contextualise a cartoon’s non-verbal elements. In other words, they complement, rather than render obsolete, the other elements of a cartoon.

Symbols and visual metaphors are amongst the cartoonist’s most powerful tool.

Use of caricature: President George W Bush. Note the exaggeration of distinctive facial features.

Use of caption: Reinforces and helps contextualise the cartoon’s non-verbal elements.

Use of a visual metaphor: Stark, arid landscape used to further emphasise the plight and suffering of those living in the poverty stricken nations of the developing world.

Use of Symbolism: Uncle Sam – A symbol used to represent the United

States of America. Use of a visual metaphor and exaggeration: An obese Uncle Sam used here to emphasise the affluence of the United States of America and the nations of the Western world more

generally.

Use of symbolism: Aid begging bowl. A symbol/visual metaphor used to emphasis the plight of many of those living in developing countries. Also, represents the developing world’s dependence on aid.

Cartoonist’s perspective: Sympathetic to the plight of those living in the developing world.

Context: The cartoon was drawn as a response to the campaign mounted by Bob Geldof, Bono and Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to address poverty in Africa. It involved cancelling the debt of world’s 18 poorest nations, pledging universal access to AIDS treatment and a commitment to double the aid given to African nations.

Use of symbolism: Staring African child – representative of the suffering of people in the world’s poorest

countries.

Cartoon by Sean Leahy of Brisbane’s Courier-Mail

Sample mindmap analysis of a Nicholson cartoon

Large family home – used to symbilise the high standard of living enjoyed by those living in developed countries relative to those in developing countries.

House full of domestic appliances. Powered by electricity generated via the burning of fossil fuels which add to carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

Climate change, rising sea levels, glacial retreat and an increase in extreme weather events.

Two motor vehicles powered by petrol, a fossil fuel. The burning of fossil fuels is linked to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

Issue: Do those living in developing countries have a right to enjoy the same material standard of living as people living in developed countries? What are the implications of this for global warming?

Issue: Global inequality and access to natural resources.

Caption used to reinforce the point being made by the cartoonist. Used to emphasise existing inequalities and the possible impact of rising material standards of living in developing countries. Simple dwelling symbolic of the low living standards experienced by many of those living in developing countries.

Few material possessions (especially electrical appliances and motor vehicles) – Low levels of

energy consumption.

Symbolic of the gulf between the living standards of people in developing countries and those living in developed countries.

Jonathan Swift: “Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own, which is the chief reason so few are offended by it.”

Create your own skit, news article, or cartoon.