Understanding Satire and How to Use It
One of the things that separate us from the animal kingdom is mankind’s sense of humor. Animals of all kinds know how to have fun; we see it in the way a kitten plays with a ball of yarn, a dog frolics in the water, or the way elephants can instinctively find themselves dancing to music. But what we don’t see is animal humor.
We have seen many cartoons and animations where the animal characters share humorous lines but part of the reason we see it as funny to us is because we know in nature, animals cannot and will not do these things. The fact is that it is only humans who can create humor in our lives.
Studies have shown that there are over 20 different types of humor we use all the time. (1) While there are some types of humor that won’t appeal to everyone but it is a pretty good guarantee humor in some form or another makes up a major part of all of our lives. Probably, one of the most common forms of humor is that often misunderstood, Satire.
What is Satire?
In the simplest of terms, satire is the act of exaggerating a specific wrong in order to imply something that is right. Now that may sound a bit complicated so in even simpler terms it can be defined as a type of humor that points out certain weaknesses and bad qualities in a person, organization, or in society with the motive of changing the way people think.(2) We have all seen satire in our lives at some point or another and the majority of us have probably even used it without realizing it.
Still, many people may not recognize how satire can be used properly. It is often confused with sarcasm and parody, other forms of humor that are commonly used. However, one can easily distinguish satire from the other two by discerning the intent behind the humor. The one quality that separates satire from these other two forms of humor is the very intent behind which it is used.
Types of Satire
There are two fundamental types of satire that are common in humor. The first, Horatian satire named after the Roman humorist Horace is generally light heated in nature and is often given in good humor with no ill intent associated with it. It focuses on drawing attention to the foolish thinking of society. A perfect example of this is in Monty Python’s Life of Brian where the people who believe he is the Messiah chase young Brian relentlessly, but in actuality he is just a mischievous man whose every movement is misinterpreted and given more significance than it really does.
The second form of satire is the Juvenalian that has a focus on exposing some sort of evil or folly in the world today. This type of humor tends to be much harder to accept than the Horatian. Juvenalian satire is often pessimistic and employs irony and sarcasm to instill a sense of moral outrage or feeling of injustice to get a point across. Political satire is one of the most common forms used on modern society. It is often bitter and abrasive and is more likely to portray its targets as evil or a threat to society in some way. The intent behind this type of satire is to purposefully harm the object’s reputation or position.
Another common form of Juvenalian satire is often found in music that attacks a certain standard or practice. The mockery that the song “Gangman Style” makes of high-class society in Korea is a good example of this type of satire. Exposing the materialistic and money hungry attitude of the culture.
While there is often a mixture of humorous styles in everything we see, the key to isolating the satirical humor is to determine the intent behind it. It may be meant to be funny but it does so either by exaggerating real facts or mocking the weaknesses in an attempt to get the audience to laugh first and then to think about the futility of a particular situation. So, the key to successful satire is to use analogies that the audience can understand and relate to. If you have to explain to someone the meaning behind the humor the entire purpose of using satire will have already been lost.
Resources:
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/20-types-and-forms-of-humor/>
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/understanding-satire-with-examples.html>