satire's hard

[marycatelli]

Writing satire is hard.  Hard above and beyond writing other genres.  Most "satires" written nowadays are in fact wish fulfillment fantasies, because it would never even trouble the people allegedly satirized; its real audience is the people who want to feel superior to the satirized.

In order to actually satirize stuff, you need the portrait to be accurate enough that the target recognizes it as himself.  No one's going to recognize a religion where all the gods act like badly-brought-up three-year-olds as anything but sophomoric silliness, demonstrating the shallowness of the writer more than anything else.

And when you assert that certain people are behaving badly, for whatever reason, it does not help to put a fictional disguise on it.  It is very easy to recognize that this is a creature of the author, and the author's conception of how this type of person acts and thinks, which often does much to explain why the author thinks so badly of them -- he's let a figment of his imagination overflow into his attitude toward real people.

It can be really hard, getting around that.

Comments

[metaphorsbwithu.livejournal.com]

I agree with all you said except it isn't all that hard to get around.

Satire has degenerated into purposely creating stereotypes and false images and narratives to smear and demean those with whom some people disagree or by whom they feel threatened or simply to feel part of the "in" and/or "progressive" crowd.

It is purposeful and a rather boring, mean-spirited, and cheap "literary" device.

[marycatelli]

Well, the problem with the degeneration hypothesis is that I have read complaints more than a century old of the problem. Perhaps it has gotten worse, but it's certainly an inherent problem.

[metaphorsbwithu.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. I meant in a relative sense.

One only has to look at decades-old and even centuries old commentary on the human condition to realize there are few things new under the Sun.

The problem now (with mass-communications, group think, and widespread movements) is that it is now systemic, ubiquitous and even institutionalized and designed to "nudge" people into thinking uncritically about people and issues - IMHO.

[marycatelli]

And it makes it so much easier to find a crowd of like-minded people so you never have encounter actual diversity.

[metaphorsbwithu.livejournal.com]

In totalitarian regimes, satire is suppressed. Satire, historically, is a disguised way of attacking forces of intolerance, evil and oppression - usually by pretending to approve of the behavior and policies it is addressing.

In societies heading toward statism and central control of thought and behavior, all criticism is attacked and critics threatened and/or intimidated into silence for fear of retribution.

Indeed, the only "satire" approved for public consumption by authoritarians and ideologues is that which smears and ridicules the traditions and beliefs it seeks to isolate and control - kind of the very purpose of satire being turned on its head - IMHO.

[marycatelli]

Criticial realism was an essential part of the totalitarian toolbox. How else can you show up the enemies of the people for what they are?

" 'Twas ever thus"

[jorrocks-j.livejournal.com]

Delay responsible? Why, then; my friend,
Impeach Delay and you will make an end.
Thrust vile Delay in jail and let it rot
For doing all the things that it should not.
Put not good-natured judges under bond,
But make Delay in damages respond...

In sparing everybody none you spare:
Rebukes most personal are least unfair.
To fire at random if you still prefer,
And swear at Dog but never kick a cur,
Permit me yet one ultimate appeal
To something that you understand and feel:
Let thrift and vanity your heart persuade
You might be read if you would learn your trade.

--Ambrose Bierce, "To a Censor" (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-a-censor/)

Re: " 'Twas ever thus"

[marycatelli]

Yeah, the problem's perennial.

[earl wajenberg (from livejournal.com)]

If you can avoid losing vast amounts of time browsing in it, the TVtropes.org website has a nice collection of tropes under the head "The War on Straw," as in the rhetorical practice of attacking a straw man.

[marycatelli]

It's already eaten too many of my hours.