THE LEXICOGRAPHER'S DILEMMA: The Evolution of "Proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park .boston.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Modern-day Gulliver chinadaily.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Essay: OBSERVATIONS UPON THE IRISH Time Magazine Take a look at an interesting article we found.
November 30, 2009
“A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, boiled..."
“A Modest Proposal,“ published in 1729, written in the form of a pamphlet, was Jonathan Swift at his best, or worst, depending on how you looked at it.
His outrageous proposal was that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling one-year-old children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies.
True, he wasn't that fond of children, but he wasn't, we can assume, serious, and in the best tradition of Roman satire, he introduces the reforms he is actually suggesting by making fun of them:
“Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shilling a pound: Of using neither clothes, nor household furniture, except what is our growth and manufacture, of….”
Swift got his point across, mocking the authority of British officials in taking over Ireland.
The 18th century is where modern satire began, led by Swift and artist William Hogarth who used his artwork for social commentary.
(The church was not amused by the above illustration.)
For the first time, the educated classes were criticizing the problems of society, in the guise of ridicule.
The great Irish writer, best known for “Gulliver’s Travels,” described his art:
“A sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.”
I would like to make a modest proposal to wish Mr. Swift a happy birthday, since he is a mere 342 today.
It’s also the birthday of Samuel Clemens, Winston Churchill and Ben Stiller, who has rarely, or never, appeared in the same sentence.
But then you can make a point that Stiller's movie, “Tropic Thunder,” satirizing Hollywood, could be made because of what Swift started.
The great playwright and wit, George S. Kaufman, co-author of "You Can't Take It with You," described satire as what closes on Saturday night.
Looks like he was wrong.
“Dr. Strangelove” got us to look at the lunacy of building more bombs.
Swift lives in "The Simpson’s," gently skewering today’s "Everyman" and in "South Park," less gently poking fun at religion.
Satire can even, as we've seen, influence presidential elections.
I'm glad it's not closing any day soon.
Punch Magazine punch.co. Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Harvard Lampoon lampoon.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Satire History nottheonion.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Satire is a way of poking fun at ourselves and what we feel is all-consuming important. The...
Nov. 30, 2009 11:34 AM
Favorite satirical movie?
24% 18% 8% 14% 20% 8% 10%
Satire is something of a serious lost art now-a-days. Sure there are plenty of shows that are nothing but satire based but they fall flat in my opinion. Not all, most I should say. The days are gone of seriously great comedy and seriously great work. Every now and again I will be surprised and see something worth wild. I think it's my old soul talking and somethimes he just has to be heard...a "Benjamin Buttons" kind of a thing.
Does the Onion count as satire? Mad Magazine that we grew up with?
Soemthimes I wonder if satire was killed by the deadly virus of political correctness.
JULIA- Bada bing, bada boom! Hole in one for you!!
Thanks, Bebe. I think televison station should run Dr. Strangelove marathons this holiday season.
of Ever-Ever Land i speak
(of Ever-Ever Land i speak
sweet morons gather roun'
who does not dare to stand or sit
may take it lying down)
down with the human soul
and anything else uncanned
for everyone carries canopeners
in Ever-Ever Land
(for Ever-Ever Land is a place
that's as simple as simple can be
and was built that way on purpose
by simple people like we)
down with hell and heaven
and all the religious fuss
infinity pleased our parents
one inch looks good to us
(and Ever-Ever Land is a place
that's measured and safe and known
where it's lucky to be unlucky
and the hitler lies down with the cohn)
down above all with love
and everything perverse
or which makes some feel more better
when all ought to feel less worse
(but only sameness is normal
in Ever-Ever Land
for a bad cigar is a woman
but a gland is only a gland)
ee cummings
The all-trumping satirical film is "The Ruling Class," in which Peter O'Toole schizophrenically believes that he is Jesus Christ. This film is an all-you-can-eat buffet of satire, with something somewhere in it to skewer or lampoon any belief anyone holds.
No mention of Monty Python? The horror! The horror!
Certainly Tina Fey, although she has an easy subject, is a satirist for our times. So are Christopher Guest's mockumentaries. And I'm sure in the 18th century, they were saying Swift was no...Horace.
Too Bad they won't bring Monty back in Syndication ....... The Zingers were so quick, but they were there ....... John Cleese took the same madness into Fawlty Towers ....... I guess cerebral wit is outmoded, and all we are left with are, Tits, Ass, and Explosions ... Maybe that means we have become sophisticatedly tolerant ... Yaaaaay !!!
Jalopkin: I think that just means that we no longer have time, sadly, to think about things before we understand just WHY they're funny.
Satire is a way of poking fun at ourselves and what we feel is all-consuming important. The current problem with what passes for satire is that it's not really funny, more towards ridicule, in fact. Unfortunately, those who make the joke are unable to take return fire.
more on the honor rollMy co-workers in the office are a crusty bunch of old retired military guys. Satire, hyperbole, sarcasm, and edged wit are all the norm. Heaven help the unwary person who wanders in and makes an off-hand comment. Fried on the spot! If the Department of Labor and Industries ever heard some of our running battles, we'd all be in jail. For us, it's just plain fun. Keeps the wits sharp.
Has anyone ever seen a play called "Greater Tuna?" Two guys play 20 parts, male and female roles. It's all about a small, rural town, Tuna, Texas, and the folks therein. Great satire, marvelous comedy, and excellent pathos for the Common Man. It's available on DVD; just search for "Greater Tuna."
Tig Deupre: When I saw your post, I remembered that you quoted Mark Twain on your profile page. Well today's his birthday, so 1835 until now means he is 174 years old.....
Douglas (I say genuflecting with bowed head) Adams authored the world's only known five part trilogy and not so much as a mention........ "Don't Panic John!" says Peter Lake, "just grab your towel, stick your thumb in the air, and everything's gonna be allright"
"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." - D. Adams
Julia ~ YES,YES, YES, YES & YES.... Conedy was killed with PC ~ but Satire was Murdered by PC in my opinion. I love Satire ~ I think it helps to keep us all seeing our real selves in the mirror. Unfortunately with all the PC that has to be taught in today's schools & how everyone has to win ~ Well it has had the effect of making us all robots.
Thinking outside the box as Swift did in the 1700's to prove his point is seemingly getting more & more lsot in today's world.
WHATSAMATTA U......... no Moose & Squirrel ?!?!
Except for the occasional angry mob carrying pitchforks and torches after a sensitive nerve has been touched or slightly trampled upon, ... ... ... I think satire is almost second nature here at the EyE which is one of it's major attractions.
"
He picked up the letter Q and hurled it into a distant privet bush where it hit a young rabbit. The rabbit hurtled off in terror and didn't stop till it was set upon and eaten by a fox which choked on one of its bones and died on the bank of a stream which subsequently washed it away.
During the following weeks Ford Prefect swallowed his pride and struck up a relationship with a girl who had been a personnel officer on Golgafrincham, and he was terribly upset when she suddenly passed away as a result of drinking water from a pool that had been polluted by the body of a dead fox. The only moral it is possible to draw from this story is that one should never throw the letter Q into a privet bush.
--The Restaurant at the End of the Universe "
What PeterLake and Julie -- and others, in one way or another -- said. Certainly Monty Python is among the best, aND AVAILABLE ON nETFLIX. oops sorry. John Cleese is among my favorites of MPython (his "ministry of SIlly Walks" will never be bettered).
No one mentioned Gilbert and Sulllivan's multiple contributions in their operettas! I'm hard put to name a favorite, but because you can get it on Netflix, Kevin Kline in "Pirates of Penzance" is a fine example. Stars also the woman who plays HYacinth on "Keeping Up Appearances." Brits have an uncommon gift for satire, and G&S hit bureaucracy of every stripe; opera; human nature; you name it. Their work survives, for I wager some company is performing it every day in some part of the world. (Like my friend who says "It's cocktail time somewhere in the world every hour.")
PC delivered a death blow to satire; even to sense of humor. But thanks to Mr, Peterman, both are alive and well on The Eye, as should be: What else expect if you read closely the Owners' Manuals? (Which I, who've shopped with and enjoyed him since first he began, just had to write and ask for...what have we come to?)
cuukoo, I love it. And wHen you think about it even Wile E. Coyote is satirical....
Mr. P. thank you also for today's fine parallel reading.
and let us not turn a blind EyE to the genius writing behind "George of the Jungle" cartoons with his arch enemy "Gerry Mander" who sought to take over the jungle..........
Georgia...... I always saw Wiley Coyote as a tragic figure who deserved to win at least once in a great while
GEORGIA & PETER LAKE: Well Put, both of you ............
SIR IVAN of JALOPKIN - you surely have a well deserved place of honor at the King of Satire's Round Table. Make way for the well spoken Knight!
From this morning's Milwaukee paper:
Suspect in two 2004 homicides arrested
"Milwaukee police said Saturday that they have a man in custody who is a suspect in two homicides.
In an e-mail, Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said two Milwaukee officers who chased a 26-year-old man after a robbery of a Burger King on Friday discovered that the man is a suspect in homicides that occurred in 2004 and last summer.
No other details in the homicides were available Saturday. Police were still questioning the suspect.
The arrest occurred after two masked suspects robbed a Burger King on N. Green Bay Ave. just north of W. Capitol Drive about 5 p.m. Friday. While looking for the robbers in the area, police stopped and questioned a man who was running away from the restaurant."
Unremarkable enough until it was followed by an airy public radio story detailing how police were thrilled to have nabbed the guy using their new high tech field finger print identifying gizmo.
It must be satire or we would be left having to accept that the reason that this man, a multiple homicide suspect, was out and about, not far from where our loved ones live, for FIVE YEARS, was because he was one of those men lucky enough to look like a lot of other men and it was just too much trouble to sift through them.
Bert,
Re: your Mark Twain comment... Find, if you can, "Surprise," a poem by Billy Collins.
Peter Lake,
It was Wile E.'s misplaced confidence in Acme that doomed his efforts and he never learned.
Stoney - Yep, and I owned stock in that company......
PETER LAKE: For my money, the Best of 'em was, Mort Sahl ... back in the 50's and 60's ... Only person I know of that made Lenny Bruce, Carl Sagan, ... AND Ralph Nader cry .......
karma swim swami: Oh my goodness, yes! I fully agree with you. Peter O'Toole was absolutely superb in "The Ruling Class"! How ironic that when he acted in an eccentric but harmless way he was considered insane and then when driven to insanity by the treatment for his "illness" he turn into a criminal psychopath. It was a wonderful piece of film-making and I was very happy to find it on DVD just before my video tape finally died after innumerable playings.
I'm having a hard time voting for the best satirical film in the poll because I think every one of them are excellent in different ways.
I remember reading "A Modest Proposal" not in English class but in history class (my professor believed that reading some things written by authors contemporaneous with the period we were studying could tell us a lot about the attitudes of the time) some of the more literal-minded students were ready to start a riot, being unable to recognise satire when they saw it. I admit that I didn't halp matters (I enjopy setting off wild academic... er, discussions... much to some of my professors' dismay. It apparently plays hell with the syllabus.
I now have a bit more than a month to read my texts for winter term and figure out the best ways to knock my classmates out of their cosy little shells of complacency. *insert evil chuckle here*
RE: Wile E. Cyote and Acme: He was used as an exemplar of what was meant by certain contract terms and just why one should always read the instructions, warranty and the fine print before doing anything when I was in paralegal school. Somewhere I have a print out of the personal injury complaint on his behalf that someone posted on-line. It made me laugh till my ribs ached.
IVAN - now those are some worthy credentials
I place in nomination, as one of the greats of recorded satire, Stan Freberg. Only he could get away with satirizing pop hits, advertising and George Washington, sometimes all in the same show or album. Some of his most notable:
Columbus, King Ferdinand and the crew of the Santa Maria singing "It's a Round Round World".
Saint George, played as a medievel Joe Friday, pursuing the dragon for eating maidens out of season. And on a 412. All backed with the actual Dragnet orchestra.
The simple Texas gentleman, trying to simply sing "The Yellow Rose of Texas" but being plagued by an overenthusiatic snare drum player.
So that's my two cents plain and I say, as Washington did to Betsy Ross, "Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anybody salutes."
Oooops....
<ker-splash>
Jeez Charlie, you knocked that whole load of tea in hahbor.
A new friend of mine teaches a Freshman English Writing course at one of the local universities. One of the themes he covered this semester was food and needless to say he taught A Modest Proposal after some slight friendly cajoling on my part. Unfortunately, only one of his students got the joke and a horrifying few thought Mr. Swift had a good idea and actually wished to implement it in a Third World country. Oddly enough, a lot of his class enjoyed playing the internet-only video game "Orphan Feast" but didn't understand the concept of the game was loosely based on a combination of Oliver Twist and A Modest Proposal.
High Anxiety, History of the World, Part I, Blazing Saddles, Space Balls and my personal favorite Young Frankenstein......... anyone up for a Mel Brooks Film Fest?
"Put za kendle beck."
Stoney: Thanks for the tip regarding the poem "Surprise," by Billy Collins......any author who calls his recent collection of poetry "Ballistics," complete with a picture of a bullet going on its merry way on the cover, has already won a special place in my heart.....
The updated and fairly recent movie "The Avengers" is just startng, on the Encore Mystery Channel......satire, British style.
I guess I'm more confused than I had thought. Would someone kindly explain the difference between satire & comedy & give one example of each. Somehow they are too close in my mind & are melding into this kind of homogenous one.
help me...
Peter Lake
i'll have 1 adult ticket in the balcony and an xtra large buttered popcorn !
Miss Blue
I'm afraid that will have to be a child's ticket 'cos on this train, adulthood doesn't begin 'til you hit 100 years young.
Enjoy the shows ... first film begin in 30 minutes, immediately following the cartoons.
Bebe: For now, think of satire as one circle, comedy as another circle, and visualize that they partially but not completely overlap one another. Thus do not be to hard on yourself, the comingle and even interbreed with each other.
THEY comingle.... long day.
Igor: Dr. Frankenstein...
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: "Fronkensteen."
Igor: You're putting me on.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No, it's pronounced "Fronkensteen."
Igor: Do you also say "Froaderick"?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No... "Frederick."
Igor: Well, why isn't it "Froaderick Fronkensteen"?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: It isn't; it's "Frederick Fronkensteen."
Igor: I see.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: You must be Igor.
[He pronounces it ee-gor]
Igor: No, it's pronounced "eye-gor."
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: But they told me it was "ee-gor."
Igor: Well, they were wrong then, weren't they?
may the schwartz be with you..!
Animal House ( one of the funniest & greatest movies ever!!!!!!!!!!)--------- satire or comedy????
bebe, perhaps this will help
http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/Books/satire-isnt-comedy/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA1sx-vyWVk&feature=player_embedded
I think I hear lightening in the distance but approaching fast...
bebe - if it makes you laugh so hard that you make snorting noises..... it doesn't matter if it's called satire or comedy. If it's good, its good.
Buggs Bunny,anyone? . .I distictly remember one scene where he was refuring (intended pun-satire?) toone Hitler-esq motto as . ."der furer der better"....all to the strains of opera . .certainly satire
RY,
If The Onion is not satire, then, a man I do not know and I ought to be awfully apologetic and embarrassed for spewing coffee at City Bakery in Milwaukee when a woman threw the paper aside in disgust having lost respect for Bill Clinton who was quoted therein as regretting never having been shot a little while in office so he could have shown his thumbs up bravery as he was gurneyed away.
...and he may have been heard yo mutter . . "What?me worry?"
to, to mutter....sorry, mistyped
"You Can Know There is Genius in Your Midst, By the Confederation of Dunces Against Him ..." Jonathan Swift also 1729AD