You might see a headline from The Onion or The Babylon Bee and, for a split second, think it’s true. But many social media users don’t get the joke – and share these articles as if they’re real.
Public taste has changed and that is that. It’s not just the references that date in topical satire. Audiences are powerful, and if they feel insulted they can shut down a comedian.
Today’s screen satire frequently preaches to the converted. Fortunately, there are some notable exceptions that can skewer even the most progressive of viewers.
We may be living in a golden age of satire, but comedy has always struggled to communicate across political divides. Much of today’s satire may be preaching to the choir.
Speaking with: satirist Armando Ianucci on The Death of Stalin
The Conversation, CC BY44.1 MB(download)
Armando Iannucci, the satirist and director behind the film The Death of Stalin spoke with Associate Professor Stephen Harrington, an expert on political satire.
The Shed at Dulwich reached TripAdvisor’s No. 1 spot for restaurants in London before it was revealed to be a hoax. The stunt showed how easily we are fooled. The lesson learned? Trust no one.
In our pursuit of a world that is safely and entirely OK, must humour be cleansed of its original sin of cultural appropriation and insensitivity? It depends whether we are ‘laughing up’ or ‘laughing down’.
Chaplin’s 1940 film ‘The Great Dictator’ mocks Hitler’s absurdity and overweening vanity, while highlighting Germany’s psychological captivity to a political fraud.
Franklin advanced a scientific – not supernatural – understanding of astronomical events such as eclipses. His satirical character ‘Poor Richard’ mocked those who bought into astrological predictions.