The Importance Of Political Satire

Satire reflects in different ways on our society today. While satire was all over back then today we mainly see it in political cartoons and on television. On television there are show such as the Colbert Report and John Oliver who relay "news reports" to viewers. They are poking fun at the news going in the world today. One of the biggest shows of Satire is SNL. Most recently they have had "Trump" on and have been making fun of presidential career thus far. In today's society the big butt and boobs are the goal for many up and coming stars. For television hosts this gives a chance for them to make parody's of them. For example, Ellen DeGeneres has dressed up as a fictional cousin of the Kardashians. In this costume she has the big hair, big

Humorists are often seen as insignificant contributors of society. People consider humorists no more than just “entertainers”, willing to make fun of anything in order to make a crowd laugh, however, has the audience ever contemplated why humorists are the some of the only people who are allowed to critique anything that crosses their mind without consequences? Alain de Botton, claims the vital role of humorist is, “to convey with impunity messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly.” I agree with Alain de Botton’s claims, that humorists do hold an important role in society, which is far more than to entertain. They break the ice on delicate topics, communicating the messages to society. Political cartoons and the Colbert

America is a culture that enjoys having some time away from the reality of political issues within society. Comedic entertainment has found ways to also inform its audience about important political statements that is used to “refer to any act or nonverbal form of communication that is intended to influence a decision to be made for or by a political party”( Wikipedia), or ideas through a comedic point of view. Comical news is what brings our attention with ease because listening to straight political debates can lead a person to not want to sit and become informed on latest political topics. The culture that society has developed into became accustomed to finding it better to have a laugh about serious news because through humor an audience

Cass' blog provokes "Generation Whatever" to take out their anger on the golf courses and she is soon

The viewpoint of the political cartoon is that no one takes Al Gore seriously. The word serious is in the cartoon and AL Gore is dressed as a penguin, which is funny. The cartoon is horatian because Al Gore dressed in a penguin suit is humorous. The content creator used sarcasm and caricature in the cartoon. The sarcastic part of the cartoon is Obama asking us to take global warming seriously. Caricature is used by Al Gore dressed as a penguin.

Sophia McClennen, a professor of international affairs and comparative literature and director of Penn State’s Center for Global Studies once stated, “We see satire emerge when political discourse is in crisis and when it becomes important to use satirical comedy to put political pressure on misinformation, folly, and the abuse of power”. Satire is presumed to be work that confides upon humor to expose both human and institutional

In 1954 the Comics Code Authority was born, controlling and regulating the content of every comic book sold in stores in the United States, by requiring a seal of approval for those who wanted to sell their books without any limitations. Those who didn’t have the seal were prone to get their work rejected by stores, to avoid any inconvenience with the Comics Code Authority (Cowan, “Comics Code”). If the government or any other power entity decides to prohibit or limit the use of satire against the president, the same that happened with the comic books will happen to the use of satire. People would be afraid to post or publish anything in regards to their opinion or point of view in a political subject that could compromise their freedom or financial status by being charged for not following the rules.

When Jon Stewart announced his retirement from The Daily Show in 2015, headlines lamented the end of reason in the news. A New Yorker article declared that “The last hope for bringing some rationality to the 2016 Presidential field died” (Sorkin). In other instances, Jon Stewart has been compared to Walter Cronkite and Edward Murrow, who are famed for not only their voices that reached out to the nation but also their journalism that changed the tide of the politics of their time. One may ask how a professional comedian ended up in the ranks of such well-respected names in reporting, or how he came to be the “most trusted man in America” in the first place.

Political cartoons and satire are a prevalent way to depict the current viewpoints in the political system. In some cases, the cartoons can polarize people when they push the envelope too far. However, in many cases, Democrats and Republicans alike can join in laughing at the humor intended by the illustrators and writers. For my cartoon, I chose to draw a picture of an elephant crushing Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate. The meaning behind my cartoon is that even Republicans are trying to keep Trump from saying all the highly opinionated, offensive, and negative things in his political campaign.

The piece of satire that I will talk about in this paper is the Democratic debate sketch from the Saturday Night Live episode that aired on October 17, 2015. The main message of this sketch was that the only Democratic Candidates that receive attention and matter are Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. This program was successful because they only asked the two of them questions and at the beginning they were called the “real candidates” (October).

Political satire is what keeps the political world from getting too serious and everyone should be able to take a

Political cartoons are written for sarcastic and satirical purposes; however, most political cartoons actually represent the real thoughts of people and society on a certain issue. A cartoon can represent ideas about a public figure such as a president, a traitor, or a war hero. It can also represent an idea such as slavery or taxation. Political cartoons can represent different movements and acts as well such as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Stamp Act. While sometimes hurtful to the idea or person displayed, political cartoons unite the people with one central idea that most of them agree on. Along with the informative format of the political cartoon, most are usually funny as well and give a good laugh to those who see them. Many political cartoons are addressed throughout this essay: some funny, some serious, and some that helped educate people on what was happening in the world and what they needed to worry about in the present time they were living in.

Today, comedy news shows are becoming progressively more popular, and in so, becoming a new source of information – which may, or may not, be a positive consequence. Most comedians twist the truth in order to connect to people and make them laugh. The article “A Serious Business: What Can Comedy Do?” suggests some comedians “use logic to make painful things make sense” (O’Hara 108). Satirical comedy acts as a relief mechanism in that it comforts people that may be wary about a certain subject, especially in the realm of politics. Similarly, Peter McGraw and Joel Warner discuss how comedy can act as a coping mechanism. The authors conclude that “activists all over the world have been using comedy as a form of political protest” (McGraw & Warner 147). Iain Ellis writes about how political satirists do more than just deliver jokes, they use satire “to expose, ridicule, and–implicitly–call for action and change” (Ellis 152). Ellis contends that comedy can make a difference by its constant presence in our daily lives. Socrates, Plato, and even shows like South Park believe that humor is a way to persuade others. One of the most effective expressions of humor to affect social change has been the inclusion of satire. Although humor often provides people a welcome escape from the burdens of their daily lives, the satirical comedy deconstructs social issues in various ways as a means to persuade the

Cartoons feature serious purposes such as politics to balance their ridiculous plot with something serious like satire. For example, the show American Dad represents the political parties as over-stereotyped as a way to shed light on serious topics. Also, Futurama features political debates about serious issues in a funny way in order to do the same. In the real world,

I’m tired of people saying there scared, really! Am I the only person that could see through all the lies, scams, media hype, and fake articles mixed in with real information? We used Facebook of all places for our informational sources for our candidates instead of doing real research double checking, triple checking our resources. Finding articles on Facebook and reading the first few sentences which looked OK and then we post it not really checking the validity of the source. My appreciation for the ones who did their homework.