Satire In The Media

Satire is used in all types of media. Examples can be seen in books, television shows, and even the comic strips in the morning paper. Most people don’t notice it though, because they don’t have an understanding of what satire is, and what purpose it serves. There are a few different types of satire, and several different techniques used to make it effective. These can be seen throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and in the television show Saturday Night Live.

Interestingly enough, another big alternative to print and television media sprouted up in the last decade or two of the 20th century. Radio had been a part of American culture for decades and offered mainstays like NPR and Howard Stern. However, one specific individual firmly ingrained radio as a relevant source of political news and commentary: Rush Limbaugh. He, through all of his appearances, championed a new breed of conservative. Contrary to the stereotypes of old, Limbaugh made a name for himself with humor, or his tendency to delve into rants flavored with jokes.

In 2017, comedian Jordan Peele released Get Out, a horror movie that follows Chris Washington, a young black man, meeting his girlfriend’s family for the first time. The conflict arises from the tension created due to the fact that Rose, his girlfriend, and her family, the Armitages, are white. They pride themselves on being liberals who “would’ve voted for Obama a third time” but support black stereotypes (Moiz). Peele writes them to represent white liberalism which is those who identify with the Democrat party but are hypocritical in their actions towards minority groups. Peele portrays the hypocrisy through satirical horror, but unlike traditional horror films “the terror isn’t some usual monster, ghost, or other menace, but it is actually white people and their racism” (Moiz).

Satire on Republicans: A plan to save America that our Founding Fathers envisioned should follow three steps 1) making the rich richer 2) helping voting registration and 3) controlling immigration. First and foremost we must cut deficit spending and taxes for the rich. This means we need to cut on welfare spending, Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid because the poor, sick, and elderly definitely do not need societies help, especially in times of recession when there are no jobs and prices keep rising.

"Wag the Dog" is a 1997 political satire film that centers around a political spin doctor, Conrad Brean, who is brought in to handle a presidential sex scandal. Brean teams up with Hollywood producer Stanley Motss, to create a fake war in order to distract the public from the scandal. The film is a comedic commentary on the manipulation of the media and the power of image in politics. In the film, the President of the United States is having an affair with a "Firefly girl" (a young girl involved in the Presidential-themed youth organization) and is facing a sex scandal as a result.

Satire in the Tortilla Curtain Satire is a literary technique exploited by writers to show the foolishness of humans, organizations, or governments by using humor, irony, or exaggeration. In the novel Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle, satire is used numerous times and effectively. T.C. Boyle uses satire to bring light to the foolishness and irony of the characters in the novel. This literary technique allows a book on a serious topic become more relatable and appealing to young adults in society.

Satire Oral Images are powerful; Frank R Barnard quoted “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Images have meanings and images convey many messages. Satirical images are the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vice by use of images. Satirical images typically ridicule political contexts. The political agenda changes depending on the country.

Australia became known as a workingman’s paradise at the turn of the twentieth century, however, for a large majority of the population Australia was far from a paradise. Due to their rejection of the British class system, and the instalment of the eight hour working day and a basic wage Australians believed themselves to be an egalitarian society with equal opportunities. And this much was true, for the working class, white male. For the rest of the population, the women, children and non-Europeans life was a different story. For them, Australia was not the workingman’s paradise it claimed to be.

Throughout the history, different medias-(Movies, tv shows, novels, songs) tackle the topic of teenage society.  Jerad Hess, the director of the film Napoleon Dynamite, used many satirical device such as Exaggeration, Parody, irony, to interpret the life of a teenager in Idaho . The representation of teenage society in Napoleon Dynamite express the ups and downs of teenage life and mock/ exaggerate the life of teenegers and other contemperoty problems and situations. The director's main objective is to exaggerate  and to reveal the covel changes of  the country through a point of view of a teenager and the impact of those changes in their life. The immigration of Latin Americans to America and from urban areas to more rural areas are portrayed through the character Pedro and his interactions with protagonist-Napoleon Dynamite and  other characters.

An Australian Republic is about us — not the Queen, not Prince Charles or the world economy. We should do it now, without delay. As Nelson Mandela once said, “ For to be free is not merely to cast off one 's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Until we break our last Constitutional links to the mother country, our nationhood is incomplete. Now after just over 115 years of Federation, Australia must finally join the world of nations as a full equal, unshackled to any other nation.

In the funniest publication, The Onion, the author uses satire to criticize people and expose them to their stupidity or vice, typically in politics or other recent and popular issue. Satire is used through the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule. In this mock press release from The Onion it is made to mock the release and the reasoning for the creating on MagnaSoles, which are shoe inserts. The author of this hilarious work of art writes this to criticize the concept of these shoe soles doing all the amazing things they are said to do, they are just basic shoe inserts. The author uses exaggeration and overstatements to achieve his goal of mocking the shoe soles and their release.

The definition of satire is a work that ridicules its subjects through the use of four techniques such as exaggeration, reversal, incongruity, and parody in order to make a comment or criticism about it. The book Cat’s Cradle is a great example of satire being portrayed. In Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, he creates his own religion “Bokononism” to satirize all of the other religions that are in the world. Bokononism is made from and built on lies (foma).

Saving the Modern World: One Satire at a Time There are so many problems that the world faces today, some more urgent than others. Some individuals choose to focus on the newest fashion style or celebrity breakup rather than focus on one that could bring about the doom of a nation. The use of satire in great literary works, television entertainment, and comics is an effective way to enlighten the world on the difficulties it faces.

Black Mirror is a presently airing television show that uses many devices as well as heavy social satire (especially in episode one of season three, “Nosedive”) to bring attention to the fact that heavy reliance on social media and technology could backfire immensely on humanity. In this particular episode of the series, a fictional dystopian society is presented, where every person rates one another from one to five on a social media app. This app is based off of a real world app called “Peeple,” where people can rate each other on social interaction. The main character presented is a strawberry haired woman named Lacie, who struggles to up her social-economic ranking by giving a speech at an old, high ranking friends wedding. This episode contains so many lessons that need to be heard by the people in today’s society; those who obsess over a screens opinion need to look within them self to find that everyone is

Using Satire to Convict Social Media Social media has inspired a stronger set of issues in the lives of the current youth, according to Shannon Purtle in “Why Social Media Should Be Left Alone”, specifically issues dealing with authenticity. In a time when social media is on the rise, Purtle addresses the lacking of real connections and endangerments surrounding magnified typical teenage issues caused by those programs within the lives of young Americans. As a teenager, or young adult, there is an immense amount of exposure to assimilation from one self-conscious teen to the next unsure teen. Through using satirical strategies such as an ironic tone, ridiculous and contradicting rhetoric, ironic questions and analogies to common phrases, Purtle