Weeks+13-14+Satire+and+Spoof+(Parody)

APE Home, Q2 Home, Weeks 10-12, Weeks 15-16, Weeks 17-18

Question: So what do these texts want us to talk about? How do writers use satire, irony and parody to inform, argue or persuade (and sometimes entertain)?

"People say satire is dead. It's not dead; it's alive and living in the White House." Robin Williams

There are those who fret about whether news humor simply co-opts political life, acting as an escape valve that lets our civic energy dissipate. . . news satire like Saturday Night Live’s can serve as this kind of vent, ameliorating outrage with a laugh. But, Maddow’s wit—and more obviously, Olbermann’s—is too pointed to just act as a kind of political-anger-management regimen. . . . By calling attention to the malevolence and dishonesty around us, Maddow and the new ironic anchors [Stewart, Colbert] have come up with one way to shake us out of our exhausted acceptance of it all[|[18]].”

George Orwell (1943-1945) “Every joke is a tiny revolution [because…] it upsets the established order” and “…to be funny, indeed, you have got to be serious.”

Required Reading:
 * [|Satire Power Point]
 * [|America is a Joke: The Jon Stewart Decade]
 * [|Can These Guys Be Serious? Stewart and Colbert want to restore reason to public life]
 * //City Paper// [|memo on reporter conduct for rally]
 * [|The Colbert Report]
 * [|Conservatives think Colbert is one of them]--here's why
 * Social Media [|Control Self-Delete]
 * Gay Rights
 * The Word: [|Skeletons in the Closet]
 * Poverty
 * [|Jesus is a Liberal Democrat]
 * [|Ownership Society]
 * [|Value of Human Life]
 * [|The 1%]
 * Education
 * [|Learning is Fundamental]
 * [|Khaled Hosseini addresses Stephen Colbert] on The Kite Runner
 * [|The Daily Show]
 * [|Journalism, Satire, or Just Laughs?]
 * [|Stewart and Colbert]article
 * Newsweek [|Politics and Humor]
 * [|NYTimes Comedians In Chief]
 * [|Sarah Palin (Tina Fay) and Hillary Clinton (Amy Poehler) on SNL]
 * [|Fay and Poehler recreate the infmaous Palin/Couric Interview]
 * [|Palin/Fey Split Screen]
 * [|Gloria Steinem “If Men Menstruated”] (cause/effect)
 * [|The Onion]
 * Groucho Marx [|Letter to Warner Bros.]
 * Jonathan Swift "[|A Modest Proposal]" (persuasion/argument)
 * Printable Version [[file:A Modest Proposal Full Text.doc]]
 * The Word: [|Swift Payment]
 * Dave Barry "[|Guys vs. Men]" (definition)[[file:Dave_Barry_guys_vs._men_-_TEXT_QUESTIONS_AND_EXTENDED_WRITING.doc]]
 * Clemens “[|Advice to Youth]
 * The Parody Pages

Supplemental: Capitol Steps Current and former Congressional staffers use songs to provide a humorous look at political events and personalities. Doonesbury Find the daily Doonesbury comic strip online, as well as portraits and biographies of the characters featured in Doonesbury to assist new readers. NOW with Bill Moyers: Who's Laughing Now? American Political Satire > This feature details the history of satire in U.S. politics. Links to satire examples from the 1700's to the present are also provided. The Onion > Online newspaper featuring satirical articles related to the current events of the day and people in the news. Political Cartoons > A Web site containing political cartoons from well-known cartoonists around the world. Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" > This "fake news" broadcast segment delivers headlines with a humorous twist. The Web site includes transcripts from 1998 to the present. [|Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as a PowerPoint Presentation] > Marx Brothers on YouTube > [|Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey] > [|Dictionary of Jack Isn't it ironic? Now it is]. > [|NPR Interview and Excerpt from John Hodgman's "More Information Than You Need to Know]" > [|Dave Barry's homepage] > [|Steven Wright] > [|Something funny--a tribute to John Williams movie scores like Indiana Jones, Jaws, and Close Encounters using Star Wars related lyrics]. > [|Notable Examples of Satire] > [|AP Student Attacks Twilight]
 * [|explanation of Gettysburg Powerpoint satire]
 * [|famous Mirror scene]
 * [|Harpo speaks through his harp]
 * [|The Best of Groucho] Notice how long the takes are and how much dialogue Groucho is responsible for