Satire and Dissent

Satire and Dissent PDF

Author: Amber Day

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2011-02-16

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0253005140

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In an age when Jon Stewart frequently tops lists of most-trusted newscasters, the films of Michael Moore become a dominant topic of political campaign analysis, and activists adopt ironic, fake personas to attract attention—the satiric register has attained renewed and urgent prominence in political discourse. Amber Day focuses on the parodist news show, the satiric documentary, and ironic activism to examine the techniques of performance across media, highlighting their shared objective of bypassing standard media outlets and the highly choreographed nature of current political debate.

Satiric TV in the Americas

Satiric TV in the Americas PDF

Author: Paul Alonso

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-05-04

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0190636513

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In a time of global infotainment, the crisis of modern journalism, the omnipresence of celebrity culture and reality TV, and the colonization of public discourse by media spectacle and entertainment, postmodern satiric media have emerged as prominent critical voices playing an unprecedented role at the heart of public debate. Indeed, satiric media has filled gaps left not only by traditional media but also by weak social institutions and discredited political elites. In Satiric TV in the Americas, Paul Alonso analyzes the most influential satiric TV shows in the Americas--focusing on shows in Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile and the United States--in order to understand their critical role in challenging the status quo, traditional journalism, and the prevalent local media culture. Alonso illuminates the phenomenon of satire as resistance and negotiation in public discourse, the role of entertainment media as a site where socio-political tensions are played out, and the changing notions of journalism in today's democratic societies. Introducing the notion of "critical metatainment" -- a transgressive, self-referential reaction to the process of tabloidization and the cult of celebrity in the media spectacle era -- Satiric TV in the Americas is the first book to map, contextualize, and analyze relevant cases to understand the relation between political information, social and cultural dissent, critical humor, and entertainment in the region. Evaluating contemporary satiric media as a consequence of the collapse of modernity and its arbitrary dichotomies, Satiric TV in the Americas also shows that, as satiric formats travel to a particular national context, they are appropriated in different ways and adapted to local circumstances, with distinct consequences.

Revel with a Cause

Revel with a Cause PDF

Author: Stephen E. Kercher

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2010-06-15

Total Pages: 590

ISBN-13: 0226431657

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We live in a time much like the postwar era. A time of arch political conservatism and vast social conformity. A time in which our nation’s leaders question and challenge the patriotism of those who oppose their policies. But before there was Jon Stewart, Al Franken, or Bill Maher, there were Mort Sahl, Stan Freberg, and Lenny Bruce—liberal satirists who, through their wry and scabrous comedic routines, waged war against the political ironies, contradictions, and hypocrisies of their times. Revel with a Cause is their story. Stephen Kercher here provides the first comprehensive look at the satiric humor that flourished in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. Focusing on an impressive range of comedy—not just standup comedians of the day but also satirical publications like MAD magazine, improvisational theater groups such asSecond City, the motion picture Dr. Strangelove, and TV shows like That Was the Week That Was—Kercher reminds us that the postwar era saw varieties of comic expression that were more challenging and nonconformist than we commonly remember. His history of these comedic luminaries shows that for a sizeable audience of educated, middle-class Americans who shared such liberal views, the period’s satire was a crucial mode of cultural dissent. For such individuals, satire was a vehicle through which concerns over the suppression of civil liberties, Cold War foreign policies, blind social conformity, and our heated racial crisis could be productively addressed. A vibrant and probing look at some of the most influential comedy of mid-twentieth-century America, Revel with a Cause belongs on the short list of essential books for anyone interested in the relationship between American politics and popular culture.

Going There

Going There PDF

Author: Richard J. Powell

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020-10-02

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0300245742

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A kaleidoscopic survey of black satire in 20th- and 21st-century American art In this groundbreaking study, Richard J. Powell investigates the visual forms of satire produced by black artists in 20th- and 21st-century America. Underscoring the historical use of visual satire as antiracist dissent and introspective critique, Powell argues that it has a distinctly African American lineage. Taking on some of the most controversial works of the past century—in all their complexity, humor, and provocation—Powell raises important questions about the social power of art. Expansive in both historical reach and breadth of media presented, Going There interweaves discussions of such works as the midcentury cartoons of Ollie Harrington, the installations of Kara Walker, the paintings of Robert Colescott, and the movies of Spike Lee. Other artists featured in the book include David Hammons, Arthur Jafa, Beverly McIver, Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, and Carrie Mae Weems. Thoroughly researched and rich in context, Going There is essential reading in the history of satire, racial politics, and contemporary art.

The Sanity of Satire

The Sanity of Satire PDF

Author: Al Gini

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-10-07

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1538129728

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Political humor and satire are, perhaps, as old as comedy itself, and they are crucial to our society and our collective sense of self. Satire is confrontational. It’s about pushback, dissent, discord, disappointment, and demonstrating the absurdity of the status quo. This book is an attempt to explore how these aspects of satire help secure our sanity. Aristotle famously said that humans are naturally political animals. We need political community to flourish and live good lives. But politics also entails unpopular decisions, oppression, and power struggles. Satire is a vehicle through which we reflect on and challenge the irrational, incomprehensible, and intolerable nature of our lives without becoming totally despondent or depressed. In a poignant, pithy, but not ponderous manner, Al Gini and Abraham Singer delve into the history of satire to rejoice in its triumphs and watch its development from ancient graffiti to the latest late-night TV talk show.

Homer Simpson Marches on Washington

Homer Simpson Marches on Washington PDF

Author: Timothy M. Dale

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2010-03-19

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0813173752

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The Simpsons questions what is culturally acceptable, showcasing controversial issues like homosexuality, animal rights, the war on terror, and religion. This subtle form of political analysis is effective in changing opinions and attitudes on a large scale. Homer Simpson Marches on Washington explores the transformative power that enables popular culture to influence political agendas, frame the consciousness of audiences, and create profound shifts in values and ideals. To investigate the full spectrum of popular culture in a democratic society, editors Timothy M. Dale and Joseph J. Foy gather a top-notch team of scholars who use television shows such as Star Trek, The X-Files, All in the Family, The View, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report, as well as movies and popular music, to investigate contemporary issues in American popular culture.

Laughter, Outrage and Resistance

Laughter, Outrage and Resistance PDF

Author: Lori A. Henson

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781433176500

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"The rise of candidate, then president, Donald Trump coincided with a near-total turnover of late-night hosts, as well as the additions of late-night shows in new formats. The result has changed the paradigm of late-night talk show hosting, in which each host or segment must weigh the political leanings of their audiences and their personal convictions as they choose how to poke fun at or pontificate on the issues of the day. The ways each host has navigated this new terrain of outrage and resistance in their comedy offers fascinating insights into hosts' abilities to use new techniques to continue to inform, inflame, entertain, and satirize, all while shaping their audience's knowledge about their world. This volume examines the communication strategies, informed and influenced by their individual experiences, employed by the hosts as they seek to handle Trump and the fast-moving news cycle that trails in his wake. Examining topics as varied as politics as the carnivalesque, race and gender privilege, satire as education, and the blurring lines between satire and journalism, this volume provides a starting examination of the rhetoric, humor, and political chops these hosts have employed while they use their platforms to inform, entertain, or resist"--

A Decade of Dark Humor

A Decade of Dark Humor PDF

Author: Ted Gournelos

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2011-08-01

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1617030074

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A Decade of Dark Humor analyzes ways in which popular and visual culture used humor-in a variety of forms-to confront the attacks of September 11, 2001 and, more specifically, the aftermath. This interdisciplinary volume brings together scholars from four countries to discuss the impact of humor and irony on both media discourse and tangible political reality. Furthermore, it demonstrates that laughter is simultaneously an avenue through which social issues are deferred or obfuscated, a way in which neoliberal or neoconservative rhetoric is challenged, and a means of forming alternative political ideologies. The volume's contributors cover a broad range of media productions, including news parodies (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, The Onion), TV roundtable shows (Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher), comic strips and cartoons (Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks, Jeff Danzinger’s editorial cartoons), television drama (Rescue Me), animated satire (South Park), graphic novels (Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers), documentary (Fahrenheit 9/11), and other productions. Along with examining the rhetorical methods and aesthetic techniques of these productions, the essays place each in specific political and journalistic contexts, showing how corporations, news outlets, and political institutions responded to-and sometimes co-opted-these forms of humor.

No Billionaire Left Behind

No Billionaire Left Behind PDF

Author: Angelique Haugerud

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2013-04-17

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0804786313

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Growing economic inequality, corporate influence in politics, an eroding middle class. Many Americans leave it to politicians and the media to debate these topics in the public sphere. Yet other seemingly ordinary Americans have decided to enter the conversation of wealth in America by donning ball gowns, tiaras, tuxedos, and top hats and taking on the imagined roles of wealthy, powerful, and completely fictional characters. Why? In No Billionaire Left Behind, Angelique Haugerud, who embedded herself within the "Billionaires" and was granted the name "Ivana Itall," explores the inner workings of these faux billionaires and mines the depths of democracy's relationship to political humor, satire, and irony. No Billionaire Left Behind is a compelling investigation into how satirical activists tackle two of the most contentious topics in contemporary American political culture: the increasingly profound division of wealth in America, and the role of big money in electoral politics. Anthropologist and author Angelique Haugerud deftly charts the evolution of a group named the Billionaires—a prominent network of satirists and activists who make a mockery of wealth in America—along with other satirical groups and figures to puzzle out their impact on politics and public opinion. In the spirit of popular programs like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, the Billionaires demonstrate a sophisticated knowledge of economics and public affairs through the lens of satire and humor. Through participant observation, interviews, and archival research, Haugerud provides the first ethnographic study of the power and limitations of this evolving form of political organizing in this witty exploration of one group's efforts to raise hope and inspire action in America's current political climate.

The Verso Book of Dissent

The Verso Book of Dissent PDF

Author: Andrew Hsiao

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2015-03-03

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 1784783080

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Fully updated compendium of revolt and resistance Throughout the ages and across every continent, people have struggled against those in power and raised their voices in protest-rallying others around them or, sometimes, inspiring uprisings many years later. Their echoes reverberate from Ancient Greece, China and Egypt, via the dissident poets and philosophers of Islam and Judaism, through to the Arab slave revolts and anti-Ottoman rebellions of the Middle Ages. These sources were tapped during the Dutch and English revolutions at the outset of the Modern world, and in turn flowed into the French, Haitian, American, Russian and Chinese revolutions. More recently, resistance to war and economic oppression has flared up on battlefields and in public spaces from Beijing and Cairo to Moscow and New York City. This anthology, global in scope, presents voices of dissent from every era of human history: speeches and pamphlets, poems and songs, plays and manifestos. Every age has its iconoclasts, and yet the greatest among them build on the words and actions of their forerunners. The Verso Book of Dissent should be in the arsenal of every rebel who understands that words and ideas are the ultimate weapons.