Satire. Yes, that’s what the title is indicating here. By definition, satire is a medium of expression used to encourage moral improvement by weaponizing wit. It raises laughter via snark derision and exaggeration. The core motive of satire is to draw attention to humanity’s vices. The language and visual representation are cryptic enough to induce ambiguity and hence, the message conveyed is implied rather than overtly declared in clear terms. This helps the creator hide in plain sight without being liable to the consequences.
In today’s times, messages that were ignored or even punished in special circumstances are being satirized using obscure references to get across to a large scale audience. By exposing the existing state of hypocrisy and inadequacies in the human realm, satire has proven to be one the most powerful tools for critics to cause heated debates without coming off as ‘too preachy.’ Although not all types of satire are supposed to be funny, it is often said that satire is nothing but comedy and social activism acting as allies.
Existing in a world completely devoid of compassion and nuance, one might just need to turn to an animated satire at the end of the day to escape the constant ricocheting between extreme realities. Satirical premises like animated cartoons, sketch comedy shows and commercial sitcoms might be of some use to hope for something better, maybe even the presence of truth in the middle of a joke. The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live skits, BoJack Horseman and The Office are some of such critically acclaimed shows that use exaggeration and uncomfortable references for excavating the intensity of the problem that needs to be resolved.
Animated (adult) cartoons make for the best satires as the line between reality and idealism remains blurred throughout the whole premise. The bounds can be unshackled at any point in time as the scale of animation allows it to satirize anything while the story goes in whichever direction it wants. The creators try to push these boundaries and people continue to watch them as the background of the cartoons can come off as utopian or outlandish. They also see anti-authority entities like children as vehicles for satire because they seem to get a pass for being ignorant or politically incorrect. Their youthful ignorance allows them to refute the status quo, making them the targets of satirical messaging.
In addition to kids, teens and other demographic groups are targets of satire too, with Gen Z offering its humor that is derived from the concept of satire itself. Meme culture and its progressive catalyst – the internet, are a booming example of a satirized online culture where news is broadcasted via satirist central tools like exaggeration and irony. The tics and oddities of the digital discourse hit us with these harsh realities and bitter truths via online channels like Urban Dictionary, Creepypasta, etc.
For me, the language does the trick. To spell out the gravity of the situation with such irony, only to bring out the heartiest laughs seems like the criteria for the perfect comfort show. The book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is an ideal example of a warm and satirical read. The way in which the character of Eleanor is portrayed through metaphorical instances has a greater purposes than to understand the complex character arc and the morals she stood for. You can relate to the character even in the simplest of those fictional circumstances, and that’s what makes it my favorite book of all time.
Being a multifaceted phenomenon, it is difficult to capture satire in one conceptual definition; it is a hybrid genre as it typically blends the communicative goals of entertainment, information and opinion. However, the responses to the jocular humour may not necessarily be positive. Feelings of anger and fear may arise in response to the transgression of the acceptable boundary of ridicule. These negative emotions can also be motivated when the target of satire is inappropriate to the viewers. Critiquing the functioning of a particular group, individual or even a norm is the backbone of satirical performances but doing so can cause offense to some and therefore hurt the audience’s sentiments.
Message discounting and satire have a positive relation due to the latter’s humorous format. As regular news is more serious and less persuasive, it is far less engaging than satire. Quickly dismissed as a ‘joke’, satire targets the legitimate audience in a way where message discounting is particularly strong thus reducing the viewer’s motivation to critically evaluate the content of the message and see the piece of art as mainly humorous.
Person-focused in nature, satire can bring out diverse responses from the viewers by condensing the communication channels into one genre of smart representation.