“a joke is a very serious thing.”
-Winston Churchill
Many say that humor is the way to a nation’s heart, by making people laugh you spark interest and good feelings. Satire, is a perfect example of how humor can turn even the most stomach churning controversies into something humorous and easily talked about.
Satire is a form of persuasion, through out history it has been used to ridicule and shame individuals, society or government into change or viewing matters. However, Satire uses a lighter air and does not attack with venom but humor making the writer more likeable and agreeable and even adds logic to their demeanor. By using humor in a inventive and useful way satire has proven to be a great tool in literature.
Satire today is still in motion, and modern satire is used in a variety of ways and purposes. A perfect example includes, comedy shows such as Saturday night live and the Colbert show err whatever it’s called, also animations like family guy, south park and American dad. This is very important satire because as these shows are funny and entertaining they also bring about important issues and follies in major things such as politics. This is great because these shows have millions of viewers and these satire ‘skits’ and jokes actually inform people about what’s going on.
Coming about satire and recognizing it’s presence in modern shows, writing and visuals. It is very easy to spot satire, usually it is making fun of a well known people, place or event/idea. Satire uses irony, parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, and analogy. It is so effective because it is funny but also very logical. Satire only just a joke if there is no logic behind what is being said, no call to action or wronged to right.
**(distracting side note: there is a band called Modern Day Satire, check em out they’re not bad at all, actually quite good(: haha they are meant to be one of those funny-good bands like on get him to the greek)
Here is an effective use of modern satire:
Zero-Tolerance for Sober Driving
If you are depressed, and no medicines are working for you, alcohol just might be the way out. If you need something to do, getting drunk just might be the solution. Bored? I heard being drunk makes everything just a little more flashy. How about a challenge? The way alcohol really blurs your vision when driving can really spice up your driving life. If at first you don’t succeed –try, try, and try again. After all, practice makes perfect! Recently, more and more drivers have discovered the joys of drunk driving. However, research indicates that consumption of alcohol while driving can lead to the victimization of these innocent drivers. Sober drivers who can think clearly and make logical decisions are the leading cause of death for America’s drunk drivers. Thus, sober driving should be made illegal and drunk driving mandatory.
One of the leading causes of concern for moms today is teen car crashes. Everyday, the news is filled with drunken teens that are killed in vicious encounters with sober drivers, light posts and even trees! However, there are groups of people who are apparently trying to convince people that it was the drunk drivers who were at fault! But let’s take a look at the facts: approximately 40% of all motor-vehicle fatalities are alcohol-related. This means 60% of motor-vehicle fatalities are sober-related! As if this is not enough, about 1/3 of the drunkards hospitalized are repeat victims (the feds call them offenders). Clearly, if more of those sober idiots were under the influence, maybe so many innocent drunk drivers would not be killed.
Sober driving is not only a critical blow to families of the innocent; it also costs the public $114.3 billion a year in damages. That means the taxpayers have to provide the very money that is used to build poles and plant trees in various traps to ensnare drunk drivers! Obviously, we need to raise public awareness about the dangers of the sober driver. Almost nothing is being currently done to inform teens of the bonuses of drinking and driving. The dangers of sober driving will deter any of them from taking unnecessary risks that could compromise not only their own lives, but also of the drunk drivers they might hit. After all, today’s teenagers are very mature and responsible. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I value my life so I’m making sure I don’t leave home without a six-pack –just in case
I lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve this essay! It is a PERFECT example of good satire. It’s sooo funny! And it uses facts data and research to prove a totally ridiculous point! And makes the clause look so stupid it’s genius. And personally satire is so much more fun to read then just plain old persuasion.
Satire is timeless. When we read Swift’s “Modern Proposal,” in class the other day it cracked me up, and that was written in the 1800’s! The idea of eating children is simply too much haha but it he has very good facts figures and logical explanations for everything. I really do think satire is my all time favorite form of writing, it is so fun to read and not so painful to write.
We also looked into a more modern piece in class, I believe it was a response to a letter a land-owner got for ‘construction’ on state property without permit, which ironically enough was beavers. The author of this letter was very comical indeed, addressing the letter with the upmost false seriousness ever. Referring to everything as ‘dam’ haha it’s funny because it was about a beaver dam(: The best part was definitely at the end when he mentioned that the real problem was those ‘dam’ bears that are leaving their ‘waste’ in the forest therefore littering. Haha it was priceless. The was probably very effective because A) the whole point of citation was dumb in the first place and the response CLEARLY shows that and B) it was so dam funny!
No comments:
Post a Comment