Download The Elements of Satire

Satire should, like a polished razor keen,
Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen.
-Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
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Comes from the Latin word satura, meaning “dish of
mixed ingredients”.
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A technique in which a writer ridicules or criticizes a
person, group, institution or event using certain literary
devices.
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Usually witty.
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Almost always sarcastic or ironic.
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Usually has a tone of “mock-approval” – sarcastically
supporting the very thing it is criticizing.
How does the definition of satire relate to its Latin root?
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Drama (Tartuffe – Moliere, The Importance of Being
Earnest – Oscar Wilde )
Journalism (The Onion)
Fiction (A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift, The
Lowest Animal – Mark Twain)
Poetry (The Rape of the Locke – Alexander Pope)
Graphic Arts (editorial cartoons)
Television programs (Saturday Night Live, The
Colbert Report)
Music (With God on Our Side – Bob Dylan, Weird
Al)
 Saturday
Night Live’s Weekend Update
 The Daily Show
 Scary Movie
 Austin Powers
 Political cartoons
 This is Spinal Tap
 Songs by Weird Al Yankovich (White and Nerdy)
 The Simpsons
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Sarcasm
Irony
Parody
Burlesque
Elevated word choice
Puns
Hyperbole/exaggeration
Improbable situations
Humorous imitation
Understatement
Incongruity
Reversal
Warped logic
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Pun: play on words
Hyperbole: overstatement often used to show how ridiculous a situation
is.
Burlesque is an imitation of a person or subject by exaggeration or
distortion.
• a frivolous subject may be treated with mock dignity
• a weighty subject might be handled in a trivial style
• character who should use formal, intelligent language speaks like a
fool or a character who is portrayed as uneducated uses highly
sophisticated, intelligent language. Ex: Princess Bride – “Marriage,
marriage”, giant who rhymes
Parody mocks not a person or subject, but a specific literary work or style,
by imitating features and applying them to trivial or incongruous
materials. Weird Al song, “Eat it.”
 By
definition, satire is _____________. One
technique utilized to create satire is
_______________. One example of satire I
have seen, read or heard is
_______________________________.
CUPERTINO, CA—Only a month after the much-heralded
announcement of the iPhone, Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed
that his engineers were already working around-the-clock on
the touchscreen smartphone's far-superior replacement. "We
looked at [the iPhone's] innovative user interface, the
paradigm-shifting voicemail, the best-in-class mobile browser,
and we realized we could make all that seem ridiculously
outdated by the time the product becomes available to
customers in June," said Jobs, who described the project as
"Apple reinventing the iPhone." "When the second-generation
iPhone comes out this fall, we want iPhone users to feel not
just jealous, but downright foolish for owning such laughably
primitive technology." Jobs also hinted that the second iPhone
device would not be compatible with existing Mac computers,
third-party peripherals, or any future Apple products.
In
order to mock/ ridicule
technology companies, this article
utilizes sarcasm and irony. For
example, Jobs supposedly states that
Apple wants “users to feel not just
jealous, but downright foolish for owning
such laughably primitive technology."
LONGMONT, CO—The Information Age was
dealt a stunning blow Monday, when a factual
error was discovered on the Internet. The error
was found on TedsUltimateBradyBunch.com, a
Brady Bunch fan site that incorrectly listed the
show's debut year as 1968, not 1969.
Caryn Wisniewski, a Pueblo, CO, legal
secretary and diehard Brady Bunch fan, came
across the mistake while searching for
information about the show's first-season cast.
Factual Error Found On Internet, cont.
Attempts to contact the webmaster of "Ted's Ultimate Brady
Bunch Site," identified as Ted Crewes of Naugatuck, CT,
were unsuccessful. The page has been taken offline by its
host, Cheaphost.net, which released a statement Tuesday.
"We at Cheaphost were deeply saddened and disturbed to learn that one
of the millions of pages we host contained a factual discrepancy," the
web-posted statement read. "Please be assured that we are doing
everything within our power to ensure that nothing of the sort happens
again. We will not rest until the Internet's once-sterling reputation as the
world's leading source for 100 percent reliable information is restored."
Paul Boutin, senior editor of Wired, said the error is likely to
have a profound effect on how the Internet is perceived.
 "Will
we ever fully trust the Web again?"
Boutin asked. "We may well be witnessing the
dawn of a new era of skepticism in which we
no longer accept everything we read online at
face value. But regardless of what the future
holds, one thing is clear: The Internet's status
as the world's definitive repository of
incontrovertible fact has been jeopardized."
 Complete
the following statement. Blank
spots require more than one word.
 In order to mock/ ridicule __________,
this article utilizes ____________. For
example, _________________________.
Now that you know the elements of satire,
what do you think makes satire effective?
Why do writers use satire instead of
criticizing the person, group or institution
directly?
Read the Onion Article Titled: “Magma Soles”
Analyze the article using the
Elements of Satire, Write an
Essay.
Add this Article to your Graphic
Organizer