Category: Satire

Introduction

The Simpsons is an American comedy program that Matt Groening created. It debuted on December 17, 1989, and since then, the show has been a permanent fixture in the American entertainment industry for over three decades (Ortved, 2010). The Fox animated cartoon comedy production has become a fixture of pop culture and expanded beyond comedy to using satire to comment on current issues, including guns, immigration, business, religion, and pollution. The paper covers the discussion about political satire relating to the Simpsons show and its relevance in the current political issues. In particular, the show has employed political satire to invite public discussion across varied governance issues that touch on current topics.

Political Satire and the Simpsons Show

The Simpsons show derives its roots from American history and its cultural traditions. It has deployed satire and political cartooning to drive government speech and acts of insurgency against supremacy ultimately. The first use of a political cartoon can be traced back to “Join or Die” by Benjamin Franklin (‌Boukes, 2018). It led to the trend of using political cartoons, which empowered the Simpsons show to focus on politics albeit in a thoughtful, nuanced, and curiously proactive fashion. A classic example is in Season 11’s episode “Bart to The Future” (Ortved, 2010). Just as the title suggests, Bart describes his vision for the future when Lisa would become the nation’s first female president. Curiously, Bart indicates that she would inherit a burden in the form of a budget crunch from President Trump. The comedy was released before Trump became the president of the United States.

Simpsons and the Current Political Issues

The Simpsons show is mainly involved in current political affairs, especially in highlighting the political differences between the Republican and Democratic parties. It has repeatedly featured mockeries of real-life politicians from both parties. Using satire, the actors have mocked and made fun of the parties’ ideological and policy position differences. At one time, the Democratic president, George H.W. Bush, openly denounced the show referring to its failure to help promote family values (Hayder & Al-Ebadi, 2021). However, the contrast and complexity of the political parties have caused each party to claim that the Simpsons show captures their values and thoughts. Democrats have constantly considered that the reference to Lisa’s right-on vibes is crucial in promoting the party’s ideals (Lichtenstein & Nitsch, 2022). Similarly, Republicans pick the example of Springfield’s “Spend-o-crat” Mayor Quimby’s multiple misdemeanors to suggest that the show supports their not-so-secret hatred for liberal politics (Ortved, 2010). The comedy depictions continue to elicit different political opinions among supporters of the political parties.

Conclusion

The Simpsons show has become a permanent fixture in American popular culture. It has promoted political exchange across different platforms. It has encouraged people to openly discuss different political developments by criticizing or supporting varied views of contemporary issues. It has promoted the ideals of each of the two dominant political parties in the country that encourage public discussion on current political events in the country.

References

‌Becker, A. B., & Bode, L. (2018). Satire as a source for learning? The differential impact of news versus satire exposure on net neutrality knowledge gain. Information, Communication & Society, 21(4), 612–625. Web.

‌Boukes, M. (2018). Agenda-setting with satire: How political satire increased TTIP’s saliency on the public, media, and political agenda. Political Communication, 36(3), 1–26. Web.

Burgers, C., & Brugman, B. C. (2021). How satirical news impacts affective responses, learning, and persuasion: A three-level random-effects meta-analysis. Communication Research, 49 (7). Web.

Hayder, M., & Al-Ebadi, H. K. (2021). Techniques of satire in political speeches. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt / Egyptology, 18(10), 2865–2876. Web.

Lichtenstein, D., & Nitsch, C. (2022). Content analysis in the research field of satire. Standardized Content Analysis in Communication Research, 277–286. Web.

Ortved, J. (2010). The Simpsons: An uncensored, unauthorized history. Faber And Faber.

Satire is a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts. Satire simply shows an irony in a sentence. Satire is literary work from which individuals receive attack through irony. Many works of literature use satire to show foolishness or vice in humans, organizations, or even governments.

Many people fancy cars. Some people are proud to own their own cars. Car owners always tend to service their cars frequently to avoid any break down that might occur while they are travelling. In petrol stations, the petrol station attendants also assist by cleaning cars for their clients when they come for more petrol. Attendants may seem to be kind enough to fuel the less quantity of required fuel by the car owner.

During elective campaigns, politicians promise citizens that life will change in just a fortnight if elected to respective positions. Politicians give all kind of goodies to individuals who are eligible to vote. When voted in, politicians seem to forget all the promises they gave to the electorate.

In conclusion, ironical situations clearly spell out the use of satire. An example of satire is when someone is saying or doing the extraordinary. For instance, politicians promise to change lives of citizens within a twinkle of an eye yet after elections, they forget all their promises.

George Cruikshank (27 September 1792 – 1 February 1878) was a famous English book illustrator and caricaturist, known as the “modern Hogarth” during his lifetime. He started his career by producing satirical cartoons that depicted political events and then continued his work as an illustrator for children’s books mostly.

Cruikshank was born in London in the family of Isaac Cruikshank who was a popular caricaturist and illustrator. George Cruikshank was apprenticed to him and became his assistant. During his lifetime, Cruikshank was married twice and became a father to over ten children, both legitimate and not.

Cruikshank first gained popularity with his series of political caricatures for The Scourge, a Monthly Expositor of Imposture and Folly periodical. Eventually, he reached the success of James Gillray, the leading caricaturist of that period. Then, Cruikshank moved his interest from political cartoons to book illustrations. The most famous works were the illustrations to Sketches by “Boz,” (1837) and Oliver Twist (1838) by Charles Dickens. Friendship with the latter also contributed to Cruikshank’s success.

Apart from making illustrations, Cruikshank was publishing The Comic Almanack (1835–53). In the 1840s, he started promoting moral aspects. He called for temperance in Bottle (1847) and The Drunkard’s Children (1848) series of plates and painted a huge canvas The Worship of Bacchus in 1860-1863.

George Cruikshank spent over 30 years in an attempt to influence the society and convince it to reduce the alcohol consumption. In general, he created about ten thousand works including illustrations, prints, and plates. Collections of his works are kept in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. There is also a blue plaque to commemorate Cruikshank, which is located in Camden Town, UK.

Introduction

Wathe g the Dog is a 1997 film produced by Barry Levinson starring Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman (Ebert, 1998). It co-starred Denis Leary, Anne Heche, and William Macy.

The film focuses on a Washington spin-doctor who hires a film producer to develop a false war in order to direct people’s attention from a sex scandal involving the president (Ebert, 1998).

The movie was adapted from the storyline of the book American Hero written by Larry Beinhart (Wilson, 1998). It was produced during a period when the president of America (Bill Clinton) was involved in a sex scandal.

Plot summary

The film starts with an anonymous president of the US soliciting sexual favors from an underage girl in a private room. This incident takes place two weeks before an election in which the president is seeking reelection (Wilson, 1998).

Winifred Ames, the president’s consultant advises him to seek help from a renowned spin-doctor and political specialist, Conrad Brean. To divert the public’s attention from the sex scandal, spin-doctor Brean is asked to do something (Wilson, 1998).

Brean uses a nonconventional strategy to achieve this objective. He fabricates a fake war with Albania to induce the media into directing their attention to the fake war and ignore the sex scandal (Ebert, 1998).

Brean seeks help from a Hollywood producer (Motss) who develops a theme song for the war and produces fake footage depicting the adverse effects of the war. Participants include Liz Butsky, Fad King, and Johnny Green (Ebert, 1998).

Green composes a patriotic song for the war. Motss develops footage of an Albanian orphan girl running away from rapists who take advantage of the war situation to exploit girls (Wilson, 1998). He also introduces a logo that is used in news channels to represent the war.

The plan experiences a setback when one of the participants (Harrelson) is arrested. Despite several setbacks, Motss succeeds to avert the media’s attention from the scandal to the elections (Wilson, 1998). His plan is successful because the president is reelected.

Motss is angry when he realizes that the media does not credit the president’s victory to his plan. Instead, the media attributes the win to a slogan used by the president during campaigns. Motss upsets the president when he decides to tell the media the truth regarding the victory (Ebert, 1998).

The president warns him not to reveal the truth because it would endanger his life. The plea is ignored and Motss decides to go on with his plan.

Afraid that truth will be revealed, Brean kills Motss and makes his death look like a heart attack (Wilson, 1998). The film ends with a report of violence in Albania, the location of the fake war.

Main character

The main character in the movie is Brean, a spin-doctor known for diverting attention from one situation to another. In the film, his role is to divert attention from the president’s sex scandal involving the Firefly girl to the forthcoming elections.

He advises the president to extend his visit to Asia and deny that the B-3 bomber’s activation was due (Wilson, 1998). As the president extends his trip, Brean fabricates a story about war with Albania. He chooses Albania because few people know its location and they do not care.

He uses the skills of Stanley Motss to create footage that proves the existence of the war. Brean succeeds in diverting the public’s attention and gets the president reelected for another term (Ebert, 1998). However, he threatens to reveal the secret behind the president’s victory.

The president kills him because he is afraid that truth will be revealed and as such compromise his presidency.

The movie is a political satire film that is highly entertaining. It involves many lies that are intended to conceal truth. Brean’s plan is the focus of the film. Brean executes the plan brilliantly and in a manner that keeps viewers entertained.

Use of political satire is controlled because it neither irritates nor vexes viewers. Acting skills displayed in the movie are commendable. Characters display exceptional skills that make the film engaging from beginning to end.

Development of a fake war improves the film’s appeal because it averts people’s attention and achieves the objective of the film. The tragic death of Brean signifies betrayal is a common phenomenon in politics.

Conclusion

Wag the dog is a political satire film that reveals strategies used by politicians to win elections and conceal the truth. It also reveals devious means that politicians use to cover their ills.

In the film, the president uses the skills of a political consultant (Brean) to cover his sex scandal involving a Firefly girl. Brean successfully gets the president reelected by diverting public attention from the scandal to the elections.

However, Brean is vexed when the media fails to recognize his efforts and decides to reveal the truth.

The president kills him to avoid compromising his victory and presidency. The movie is appealing because of the excellent presentation of political satire and display of brilliant acting skills.

References

Ebert, R. (1998). Wag the Dog. Web.

Wilson, S. (1998). Perpetually Rejuvenated Illusions. Web.