satire+notes

Satire notes –
 * Satire is concerned with ethical reform
 * attacks institutions or individuals the writer feels are corrupt
 * Works to make vice laughable and/or reprehensible
 * this brings social pressure on those involved in the wrongdoing
 * seeks:
 * reform in public behavior
 * bolstering the audience’s standards
 * or at least a wake-up call in an otherwise corrupt culture
 * often implicit (not on the surface)
 * assumes readers can pick up on the moral clues
 * it is not a sermon
 * often attacks __types__ of people, not individuals
 * if an individual is attacked
 * it isn’t trying to change that person
 * but trying to warn others against approving of that person
 * satire is witty, ironic, often exaggerated
 * uses extremes to promote awareness of ethical and spiritual danger
 * A satirist who is in danger may use ambiguity, innuendo, and understatement for protection
 * The goal is reform

Techniques used in satire
 * absurdity – something that seems like it could never happen
 * exaggeration – for example, caricature
 * understatement – litote aimed at reform
 * parody – mocking imitation. Shrek is a parody of a fairy tale
 * word play
 * euphemism
 * mock encomium – praise which appears good on the surface, but really suggests blame
 * grotesque – tension between laughter and horror

sarcasm – spiteful humor intending to cause pain, not to create change. (not satire) burlesque – satire imitating either style or content of a literary work or genre
 * either written in a dignified style about a low subject
 * or in a low style about a dignified subject

Horatian satire – Juvenalian satire –
 * tolerant, witty, wise, self-effacing
 * angry, caustic, resentful, personal