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POLITICAL SATIRE
Thesis Statement Political satire does in various ways alter the political history as it strengthens and accompanies political accomplishments. Political satire aims to inform individuals about matters pertaining to the general public as well as issues interconnected to government and politics, in a lighter but educational manner. It not only acts as a curative means to entertain citizens but also has a substantial effect on the political scene of a country. Based on this, “Political satire in the 21st century has a higher impact on the public opinion than a revealing newspaper article through creating humor and simplicity."
Introduction
The use of satire to express thoughts, themes, and opinions has been in existence since the early ages. It was written by an old Irish bard in an effort to put his solemn contempt upon the intended target. Mostly, satire targeted leaders, their styles of leadership, ideas and actions. The satire on the king, especially during the Irish king’s regime, was liable to result in his dethronement or even death. Political satire has been used in the past periods and continues to be used to criticize the political scenes in a humorous way. The use of satire over centuries as a literary tool has made it possible for essential thoughts, themes, and ideas to be passed across and expose the malfunctions and flaws in the society in a humorous manner. Over time, it has progressed in almost every direction which correlated with the fashionable trends of the contemporary population. As much as some concepts of this political literary tool have not undergone considerable changes, many other aspects defining satire have vanished. The educational concepts and teachings serving as life examples have almost been entirely erased from the broad application of satire (Harris 64). This may be attributed to the swift changes occurring in the society. Nonetheless, political satire still exists and can be seen in the contemporary world on television, newspaper cartoons, and in spoofs.
Satire and Politics In many administrative systems, political satire was used as an alternative informational tool in lieu of more treacherous disputes. As much as satire may instill changes in the political history, it has frequently been intended to reinforce and accompany a given political action. Although the brunt of this form of satire cannot be accurately determined, it is apparent that, once integrated with other opposing forces, political satire has been discovered to impart noteworthy differences in the political arena as well as in the entire society. Situations that evidence these notions may be seen in dirty jokes and cartoons circulating in the royal family. Satire was cherished for generating an atmosphere of vehemence and mockery which ignited the insurgency in France. Furthermore, political satire addresses age prejudice by making politics attention-grabbing and entertaining to the youth that, in most cases, are politically indifferent. However, society may at times not consent to using satire as a tool in expressing grave political issues as it is considered to some extent intimidating, disgusting, and pushy. Criticism of politics in the contemporary world often comes in satirical overtones that integrate comedic genres with the reality-based approaches to representation, such as cinema. Satirical campaigns not only uncover mundane secrets on television, but also serve the public in revealing the limits of democracy in their particular country. The manner in which the democracy behaves with regard to its politics and citizens plays an immense role in the extent to which the media would utilize satire to handle such issues. Indeed, the media categorize their “breaking” and “popular” news on air under a big influence from the political views of not only leaders, but also the everyday citizens (Jeffrey and Thompson 23).
Political Satire and the Society Political satire has achieved a prominent status in the current years and has generated an exertive influence which assists the paper to connect with the readers. In turn, this has enabled to generate political discussions and knowledgeable interaction with its readers, hence serving as a means for community outreach. Political satire has been cherished by both the politicians and the general public, because it is able to unfold the future ahead of them and show the potential of being more open-minded, effectual, and cooler. Satire is reflective of true political situation in most governments. Satire is valued for its message potency, particularly while handling political matters that affect the society. The Simpsons serve as an example of a TV-show that encompasses satire in its entirety and intends to mock at the human lifestyle, political leaders, as well as politics in general, as seen in America. Take the encounter where Homer expresses his opinions to Lisa, his daughter: “If you don’t like your job, you don’t strike. You just go in everyday and do it really half-assed –that’s the American way”, he said (Jeffrey and Thompson 67). This insinuates that the Americans do not employ their skills and knowledge to their utmost potential, leaving the society and its lifestyles in a mediocre state. Consequently, the American population seems to consent to this weakness, although the old American Dream envisions a big family, house, and a nice car. Those two ideals do not conform to each other and that leads to a gap between the intended goals and the reality. The American Dream is further played off in Family Guy, when Peter, a main character, talks to a laboring immigrant and asserts, “I have never worked so hard in my life. How the hell do you guys do this everyday? It seems like a lot of work. Immigrant life sucks” (Armstrong 45). The episode conveys the idea that working as an immigrant is much harder compared to the activities in a regular American working day. As much as Family Guy and The Simpsons are presented in the form of cartoons, they express the societal faults in a humorous manner. There has never been a superior way of articulating the funny side of politics than using satirical cartoons. Many of the people’s views have transformed with the use of cartoons. Those who have kept away from politics because of how serious and engaging it is, have found themselves developing a different perception after coming across the satirical TV-shows.
Political Satire and the Media Although not considered satirical, some reality TV-shows have incorporated certain aspects of satire in the way they criticize the behavior of the youths. It is universally acknowledged that reality TV-shows are staged, the “true” friendships and relationships are created for the sake of the expected drama to unfold. Sometimes, the idea of reality TV faces opposition due to its implications for morality. Most of the individuals who feel offended by the content of reality TV tend to use morality as an excuse and weapon against them. Nonetheless, reality shows that employ the services of young adults in their middle ages as their “central characters” deliver the themes and messages affecting this age particular group. Bearing that in mind, the satirical element is either deliberately or inadvertently integrated into such TV shows and, indeed, does criticize some of the ridiculous behaviors of the youth (Armstrong 32). The utilization of satire is directed towards criticizing societal flaws, and this may be achieved in reality shows through characters’ actions. Since many reality TV shows are stage managed, it may be concluded that their satirical content is specifically targeted at the social flaws that the human population has amassed over time. As a result, they do not quite generalize to the actual situations in the society, as they are essentially meant to produce a sufficiently thrilling and truthful drama. The bottom line is extracting profit from such shows, rather than criticizing misdeeds in the society. Television is mostly used for relaxation, and not for educational or scientific reasons. An average individual puts a lot of effort so as to identify human flaws and understand the power struggles, viciousness, or the absurd intelligence satirized in television shows, which fairly well depict the bizarre activities, which governments and politicians engage in. While there still exist portions of the conventional satire that the modern society enjoys, most satirical creatures of the contemporary world have been reduced to comedy.
Political Image and Branding Political cartoons play a crucial role in branding the image of political parties and leaders, thus affecting the decision of the voters. In newspapers, political cartoons are published to highlight a specific idea or view-point through illustrations. In most cases, the images are exaggerated in order to be humorous and informative simultaneously. At times, the political cartoons can have serious or satirical tones depending on the artist, the audience, and the idea being passed across. Political cartoons have maintained the culture of provoking, educating, and informing the viewers on current issues. In modern times, such cartoons have grown more popular as a result of their straightforward means of addressing issues (Bigi & Bonera 149). Whereas other typical newspaper articles are characterized by certain redundancy in passing across a particular message, information, or idea, the political cartoon will simply feature illustrations and pictures. The cartoons are found in newspapers across the world and have proved to be a powerful instrument to criticize or praise political figures. Most people believe that cartoons are one of the most important tools in the newspaper’s political analysis weaponry. Unlike editorials or articles, cartoons have the ability to instantaneously scrutinize any political issue. They have more insight and veracity than a thousand words of an analysis based on narrative texts. For centuries, political cartoonists have availed themselves of this devastating medium to trim the proud and powerful politicians (Amber 24). Satire has since then proved to brand the political image in many ways both positively and negatively. Researches indicate that political leader’s images account for more than 30 % of the voter’s decision, while political party’s images contribute to an additional 24% of the voter’s final decision. Of all voters’ decisions, 42% was attributed to politician’s stands on important issues. Message dissemination is the key to communication between the public and politicians as it plays a big role in creating political image. The public perception of politicians is a leading driver in determining the failure or success of the politicians and campaigns, thus such brand communication cannot be taken for granted. Message dissemination can be two-way: direct interaction with populations and responding to the facts put forth by the media (Bigi & Bonera 153). Political cartons have proved that most politicians cannot fully control their images as well as those of the parties they represent. The cartoons challenge the politicians to watch the voters as well as the media and behave in an appropriate manner so as to maintain a good political image. Political cartoons pick the most grotesque and conspicuous features of the leader or party and put them on public display. In doing so, political cartoons directly attack the image of politicians or highlight their strong points. Thus, skillful politicians must be in a position to protect and adapt in order to gain enough votes from the public and get elected. In most cases, satirists make use of well-known political images so the massage cannot be misinterpreted (Bigi & Bonera 150).
The Role of Satire, Caricature and Cartoons Due to the serious nature of politics, the use of caricature, cartoons, and satire has played a big role to ease the tension and make politics more enjoyable and fun, but still post the same serious headlines on daily newspapers. Political cartoons use satire and caricature to make the images of their subject more humorous and easily recognizable, thus attracting instant attention of the viewers. For example, the cartoons on President Bush emphasized on his small ‘dumbo’ eyes and pointy nose. One glance at the cartoon and anyone would recognize Bush’s image in it. Some political cartoons are meant to insult selected political leaders depending on their images to the public (Bal & Pierre 230). The ideas and messages expressed by the cartoons normally reflect the artist’s views. Thus they are commonly referred to as editorial cartoons. An editorial article or column in any newspaper is meant to pinpoint the views of the columnist; thereby, political cartoons do the same but only in a funny or satirical way. To imply the seriousness and importance of political cartoons, cartoonists and editorials are always given the same section in the newspaper and, in most cases, have subjects that complement each other. This leaves no doubt about the seriousness of the political issues presented in form of cartoons as“…brand policies are not made in isolation”. Such cartoons have managed to become usual part of everyday newspapers that could as well get the same message across with the help of an editorial column (Zimmerman 78). Satire is manifested in political cartoons through the creation of disparity, a perceived gap or dissonance between reality and image. The gap can either be latent or plausible. Wherever the cartoonist’s satire magnifies or highlights the recognized disparity between image and reality, the gap should be described as widening. The cartoons will only be plausible if their satire creates the gap through suggesting another reality that is not what the audience has believed to be the case. Latency, on the other hand, will manifest itself when the satire draws attention to or points out the gap between reality and what the cartoon espouses the situation to be. What matters most is the viewers’’ perception of this subtle difference. However, unless the cartoonist uses facts to support his or her contention, the created gap may collapse when faced with simple evidence (Bal & Pierre 235). Caricatures used by cartoonists bring out some unique attributes differentiating the main subject from other objects in a particular context. The differentiation created by caricature comes in two dimensions and components: ideological and physical. Its physical components include material characteristics like size, color, physical features, and shape. The ideological components are ideals, beliefs, values, and intangible talents. Exaggeration is an important inclusion to caricature and most cartoonists make use of it in order to use the illustrations to magnify their ideas and messages (Henderson 310).
Who Cries and Who Laughs to Political Satire Cartoons on politics have the capability to elicit a wide response. Many cartoon artists create their work in such a way that they mainly express the controversial views of politicians. The cartoons act like time capsules as they provide the viewers with a portion of life at that particular time they are created. Although they seem to concentrate on a specific era as they mostly refer to particular events, the themes and ideas expressed by the cartoons are normally universal, transcending the place and time. Certain nuances used in the political cartoons may fade away in subsequent generations, such as popular references, language usage, and use of symbols that are out-dated. However, the changes occurring in the society can in no way render political cartoons obsolete. Because of the mass appeal and editorial nature of political cartoons, they provide a lot of important information about public sentiments that are not to be found in most scholarly accounts of the events (Rob 78).
Conclusion
The humor that is brought out by political satire has attracted the interest of many men and women of varying ages who once kept off politics. Most young people consider politics to be a “perquisite” of the elderly generation, but with the use of political cartoons, they feel included in the politics, as most cartoons are rather appealing for the young people. Many women consider politics to be a serious matter suited only for men. Satire in politics ease the seriousness associated with power struggle, thus every member of the society feels included. Political cartoons are simple and easy to understand and, hence, they have changed the perception of many readers who avoid large articles and columns in newspapers, as they can still get the same message through the cartoons. Once a person develops interest in political cartoons, the satire involved will make the person a fan of that daily paper. Political satire can serve both to inform and entertain. Though meant to inform, some viewers just check it out for the illustrations, but not interpret the message in it. Political satire has proved to play a significant role in painting the image of political parties and leaders before the public. A good number of voters have been influenced by the satire in the political arena. Satire has impacted the society in considerable way. For instance, it is through political satire that the population relives changes in the matters affecting the society. Television, cartoons, and caricatures serve as primary means of channeling satire. The highly regarded satire does not intend to bring harm or injure through its ridicule, but rather generate awareness in the society. The use of satire in the political field mainly implies a fun relief, while addressing real issues. The watering down of satire over time is closely connected with the advancement of the society.

Works Cited

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