Satire And The Colbert Report

The comic by Jim Sizenmore provokes comedy. The comic is used to flip the gender roles in the workplace and make men the joke instead of women. “the phrase girl talk- uttered here by a female executive- gets transformed into a sly joke” (434). Women are usually made a joke in the workplace because many assume they cannot do the job a man can, but this comic made the woman the executive in a meeting, and turned it into her making a joke about the men. “…gets transformed into a sly joke, one that inverts conventional gender hierarchies by making men the object of humor.”

Making the subject manageable lets the comedians restrict what they say about it, which will affect the response of the audience. In support of freedom of speech, comedians boost the mood of the subject from a dark place to a wittier

The satire reflects today's society in a way that we still place a deal of opinion on beauty, and vanity. People in today's society contain a quality of being vain and self-obsessed with their opinions towards beauty and political views. Satire is now used to make fun of politics and situations in society with the hopes of creating humor. Television shows such as "Saturday Night Live" use humor to poke at present day issues in the world. The satire exaggerates events to create a dramatic effect on these problems.

Satire is the use of humor or ridicule to express the stupidity of an individual, government, or company. Through the use of this literary technique Enlightenment thinkers, or philosophers, composed arts to mock several ideals of the time period. Several philosophers at the time were using satire to write novels, the most famous of which was a thinker named François-Marie Arouet or more commonly known by his nom de plume Voltaire. Voltaire wrote a fictional novel called Candide which follows the main character, Candide, through a difficult journey from nobility to farmer. In this writing, François-Marie Arouet used satire to ridicule several beliefs of his time period including the military and social inequality of women.

The article “South Park and the Carnivalesque” written by Alison Halsall delves into both parody and satire within the context of the program. South Park’s Carnivalesque humor, or carnival laughter “is a method by which popular culture in general, and South Park in particular, provides liberation from constraint” (Halsall 24). South Park makes it a point to use humor that provokes the inherent “dirtiness” that we contain, in an attempt to expose cultural aspects that generally go undiscussed (Halsall 34). Through profanity, South Park brings carnival humor down to the basic grotesque humor that serves to “critique linguistic sanitation” (Halsall 34).

Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. A literary work in which human foolishness or vice is attacked through irony, derision, or wit. Mockery is teasing and contemptuous language or behavior directed at a particular person or thing. Also the behavior or speech that makes fun of someone or something in a hurtful way. “The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope and “My Satirical Self” by Wyatt Mason from The New York times are both about satire and mockery. Therefore, after reading the above sources, one can infer that the satire reflects today’s society in many ways.

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. This unexpectedly struck a cord with a large target audience who still all follow Limbaugh religiously to this day (Streitmatter 225).

An example of this racism and stereotyping in TV shows made as humor is the ever long lasting show, The Simpsons. A long running joke on this show is the use Hindus only working in grocery stores and giving their owners very stereotypical name for being Hindu. These subtle but racist on going joking, but the public think it is okay to have these racist mindsets. Using stereotypes are also happens frequently in movies.

Introduction As defined by Merriam Webster, satire is a way of using humor, irony, sarcasm, and exaggeration to ridicule and criticize something or someone (“Satire”, n.d.). The overall purpose of satire is to draw attention and to criticize issues to create a moral change in society. In 2005 Stephen Colbert debuted in “The Colbert Report”, which is a parody of pundits on Comedy Central’s channel. He is now currently a comedian and talk show host on CBS “Late Show”. Stephen Colbert's testimony on Capitol Hill in front of the House Judiciary Committee demonstrates an exaggerated conservative news pundit and uses his television persona to take on a bias foolishly favoring government.

How could a story be humorous without using satirical elements? Satire is a technique used to expose and criticize something by using humor, irony, or exaggeration. Most people think of satire as a work of literature making a ridicule of something, however literature is not the only type of satire in society today. Political cartoons are a popular example of satire seen in everyday life. Political cartoons criticize the recent actions of political figures in a comical way, allowing individuals to see the situation with a different mindset.

Out of all the genre of writing, Satire is the one that speaks the most to people because it is humorous. Satire is making fun of some aspect of culture, society or human nature, human voice through the use of ridicule, mockery, irony, humor, or other methods to hopefully improve it or inspire some sort change. Satire often uses laughter as a weapon against something that exists outside the world itself. One of the most leading satire website that we have today is The Onion. One of the leading articles that the Onion had published is the best example of satire. The untitled article from the Onion uses many satirical strategies like hyperbole, irony, as well as unfamiliar diction to the consumer, to satirize people’s willingness to believe in well-marketed products even if they are ineffective.

Satire reflects today’s society and democracy. Satire in modern day shows how people are constantly engaged in finding something or someone new, but don’t discover new things about themselves. Next, in television and radio broadcasts, parodies of the government, and of democracy occur. Society is searching for a person of importance to ridicule and criticize important issues, explaining why satire is present in everyday life. But, some satire is harming democracy, although famous people or things will continue to lampoon important occurrences until people stop enjoying it. On the other hand, satire can bring awareness to a current event, corresponding to it being completely put down. Satire is bringing awareness to racism and politics, even

Professor and philosopher, Jason Zinser, in “The Good, the Bad and The Daily Show” addresses the topic of “fake” news, and tries to decide if shows such as The Daily Show are good resources for people to use. Are these shows a suitable replacement for "real" news? In the article he states that “fake” news shows have their “virtues and vices”. At the end of the article, Zinser believes that as a whole the shows helps the viewers learn about current events. Zinser uses ethical appeal, logical appeal, and emotional appeal to help get his point across to the readers.

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.

One of the all-time, greatest shows to ever grace my television screen is, none other than, The Office. Michael Scott, played by Steve Carrell, is every embodiment of how one should NOT talk and act in American society. His language and communicative style completely opposes that which is acceptable. Consequently, I thought what better for me to use in this assignment then a scene from The Office that makes me burst out into laughter time and time again – Season 3, episode 1: “Gay Witch Hunt” (17:00 – 19:45).