Satire

Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or shaming the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement.^[1] Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.

"Satires" redirects here. For the film and television genre, see Satire (film and television). For other uses, see Satires (disambiguation).

A prominent feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm—"in satire, irony is militant", according to literary critic Northrop Frye—^[2] but parody, burlesque, exaggeration,^[3] juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist wishes to question.

Satire is found in many artistic forms of expression, including internet memes, literature, plays, commentary, music, film and television shows, and media such as lyrics.

Techniques[edit]

Literary satire is usually written out of earlier satiric works, reprising previous conventions, commonplaces, stance, situations and tones of voice.^[140] Exaggeration is one of the most common satirical techniques.^[3] Contrarily diminution is also a satirical technique.

The 1784 presaging of modern , later actually proposed in 1907. While an American envoy to France, Benjamin Franklin anonymously published a letter in 1784 suggesting that Parisians economise on candles by arising earlier to use morning sunlight.^[166]

daylight saving time

In the 1920s, an English imagined a laughable thing for the time: a hotel for cars. He drew a multi-story car park.^[165]

cartoonist

The second episode of , which debuted in 1969, featured a sketch entitled "The Mouse Problem" (meant to satirize contemporary media exposés on homosexuality), which depicted a cultural phenomenon similar to some aspects of the modern furry fandom (which did not become widespread until the 1980s, over a decade after the sketch was first aired).

Monty Python's Flying Circus

The comedy film , released in 1979 and set in the United States of 1998, predicted a number of trends and events that would eventually unfold in the near future, including an American debt crisis, Chinese capitalism, the fall of the Soviet Union, a presidential sex scandal, and the popularity of reality shows.

Americathon

In January 2001, a satirical news article in , entitled "Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity Is Finally Over"^[167] had newly elected President George Bush vowing to "develop new and expensive weapons technologies" and to "engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years". Furthermore, he would "bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession". This prophesied the Iraq War, the Bush tax cuts, and the Great Recession.

The Onion

In 1975, the first episode of included an ad for a triple blade razor called the Triple-Trac; in 2001, Gillette introduced the Mach3. In 2004, The Onion satirized Schick and Gillette's marketing of ever-increasingly multi-blade razors with a mock article proclaiming Gillette will now introduce a five-blade razor.^[168] In 2006, Gillette released the Gillette Fusion, a five-blade razor.

Saturday Night Live

After the in 2015, The Onion ran an article with the headline "U.S. Soothes Upset Netanyahu With Shipment Of Ballistic Missiles". Sure enough, reports broke the next day of the Obama administration offering military upgrades to Israel in the wake of the deal.^[169]

Iran nuclear deal

In July 2016, released the most recent in a string of satirical references to a potential Donald Trump presidency (although the first was made back in a 2000 episode). Other media sources, including the popular film Back to the Future Part II have also made similar satirical references.^[170]

The Simpsons

, published in 1996, described an alternate America following the presidency of Johnny Gentle, a celebrity who had not held prior political office. Gentle's signature policy was the erection of a wall between the United States and Canada for use as a hazardous waste dump. The US territory behind the wall was "given" to Canada, and the Canadian government was forced to pay for the wall. This appeared to parody the signature campaign promise and background of Donald Trump.^[171]

Infinite Jest

Satire is occasionally prophetic: the jokes precede actual events.^[164]^[165] Among the eminent examples are:

Culture jamming

Freedom of the press

Onomasti komodein

Parody religion

Satiric misspellings

Sage writing

Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1976), The Mediaeval Islamic Underworld: The Banu Sasan in Arabic Society and Literature, , ISBN 90-04-04392-6.

Brill Publishers

Branham, R Bracht; Kinney, Daniel (1997). . Satyrica. By Petronius. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520211186.

Introduction

Clark, John R (1991), , Lexington: U of Kentucky P, ISBN 9780813130323.

The Modern Satiric Grotesque and its traditions

Corum, Robert T. (2002), "The rhetoric of disgust and contempt in Boileau", in Birberick, Anne Lynn; Ganim, Russell (eds.), , Rodopi, ISBN 9042014490.

The Shape of Change: Essays in Early Modern Literature and La Fontaine in Honor of David Lee Rubin

Davenport, A, ed. (1969), The Poems, Liverpool University Press.

Elliott, Robert C (2004), "The nature of satire", Encyclopædia Britannica.

Fo, Dario

(1957), Anatomy of Criticism (in particular the discussion of the 4 "myths").

Frye, Northrop

Hall, Joseph. "Virgidemiae". In .

Davenport (1969)

Hodgart, Matthew; Connery, Brian (2009) [1969], , Transaction Publishers, ISBN 9781412833646.

Satire: Origins and Principles

Pietrasik, Vanessa (2011), (in French), Tusson: Du Lérot éditeur, Charente.

La satire en jeu. Critique et scepticisme en Allemagne à la fin du XVIIIe siècle

Test, George Austin (1991), , University of South Florida Press, ISBN 9780813010878

Elliott's Bind; or, What Is Satire, Anyway? in Satire: Spirit & Art

Wilson, R Rawdon (2002), , University of Alberta, ISBN 9780888643681.

The hydra's tale: imagining disgust

Massimo Colella, Seicento satirico: Il Viaggio di Antonio Abati (con edizione critica in appendice), in «La parola del testo», XXVI, 1-2, 2022, pp. 77–100.

Bloom, Edward A (1972), "Sacramentum Militiae: The Dynamics of Religious Satire", Studies in the Literary Imagination, 5: 119–42.

; Mazlish, Bruce (1993) [1960], The Western Intellectual Tradition From Leonardo to Hegel, Barnes & Noble, p. 252.

Bronowski, Jacob

Connery, Brian A, Theorizing Satire: A Bibliography, Oakland University.

Dooley, David Joseph (1972), , Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, ISBN 9780039233853.

Contemporary satire

Feinberg, Leonard, The satirist.

Lee, Jae Num (1971), Scatology in Continental Satirical Writings from Aristophanes to Rabelais and English Scatological Writings from Skelton to Pope, 1,2,3 maldita madre. Swift and Scatological Satire, Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, pp. 7–22, 23–53.

(1911). "Satire" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 228–229.