Summer Heights High Analysis

Summer Heights High is an Australian TV mockumentary mini-series; created in 2007, focusing on the 3 main characters: Jonah, Mr G and Ja’mie, all three are played by the creator of the show, Chris Lilley. Each characters are depicted through the use of satirical elements, such: stereotypes, hyperbole, irony, juxtaposition and sarcasm. Chris Lilley, uses satirical devices to poke fun at the modern stereotypes of the education system to create comedy and show how these stereotypes are unnecessary as most of the time, they are incorrect.

Jonah Takalua, a destructive and disobedient Tongan year 8 student, challenges the stereotypes of islanders behaviours and their attitudes with hyperbole and sarcasm. Jonah’s character was written with Hyperbole

Mr G is a narcissistic, discriminative and very hostile character who never looks as if he care about others feelings, or take them into consideration. Mr G was written with Hyperbole, Irony and Juxtaposition. He would call children from the Special Education centre “specials” and compare them to the “normal kids” which establishes Juxtaposition. He shows his narcissism when a year 11 student overdosed on ecstasy, the night before, causing Mr G to create a new musical based on the student; Annabel Dickson since he had already cancelled the current musical they were rehearsing: “Anything Goes”, earlier. However, he didn 't actually know the student and only went off by rumours and whispers about the girl. It’s clear that he has no feelings of sorrow for this family as he says things like: “ *About her death* Will be on the news tonight, I reckon. That 'll be good. No, that 's not good.” and: “She 's what the kids would call a slut, which is a terrible thing to say about someone who 's just died, but apparently there 's no denying she was one.” He is portrayed in a feminine and over-dramatic with endless amounts of hyperbole. He likes to brags about on how good he is at the arts. "“I always say to Margaret "You 've got yourself an entertainment industry professional for the price of a teacher, so where 's my pay raise?”" He mentions that at a young age

To conclude the essay: Chris Lilley uses satirical devices such as: irony, sarcasm, stereotypes, hyperbole and juxtaposition to portray the characters correctly in the context of the show for entertainment. Although the show is to only to really make fun of the ridiculous stereotypes, it does arise some serious topics in todays society. His 3 main characters: Jonah, Ja’mie and Mr G were written with certain satirical elements to help him bring across an indirect point that it doesn 't matter what education system you are in, because it doesn 't necessarily shape the