Satire

Satire is considered a literary genre; it is often used in the performing arts; and it is used to highlight human folly, vice, abuse, or shortcomings to affect a change in attitude, action, or belief. Thus, satire refers to ridicule or criticism with a moral intention. Commonly, satire is comical although it is not always humorous because the intention is to encourage serious improvement in the lives of the audience. In other words, although satire is often meant to be funny, its purpose is not to merely entertain the audience; the purpose is to specifically condemn the subject by drawing attention to the subject's shortcomings. Most satire seems to glorify the topic being criticized, but the use of satiric elements shows that the satirist actually disapproves of the subject. Satire is now part of mainstream U.S. culture and is often used in popular movies, situational comedies, and newspapers.

Often a satirist employs irony, parody, sarcasm, exaggeration, juxtaposition, caricature, and double entendre to make his or her point about the topic or individual of reproach. Irony is an inconsistency between what is said and what is meant. There are three types of ironydramatic, verbal, and situational. Parody is a humorous imitation of a serious work. Sarcasm is related to irony, in that what is said is the opposite of what is intended. Sarcastic remarks require a second order of interpretation to ascertain the speaker's intention. Exaggeration is a rhetorical device that deploys overstatement. Juxtaposition is a technique that places two concepts side by side for comparison or contrast. A caricature is a description or a portrait that exaggerates or distorts prominent characteristics or attributes of a public figure either for humor or critique. Double entendre is language that has more than one meaning; usually, one of the interpretations can be unseemly. However, some satire relies solely on the use of humor without using any other satiric devices such as irony, parody, or [Page 655]double entendre. Humor is often used so that the audience is more likely to receive a message that may otherwise come across as moralistic, but some satire uses no humor at all. Perhaps the message is considered so serious that humor is not deemed appropriate. Furthermore, satiric devices are often used in other genres, so the audience needs to know the purpose of the work to determine if it is satire to avoid misunderstandings. Language is, therefore, critical in a satirical work because it is the crux upon which the clear reception of the message rests.

This entry discusses the role satire plays in identity formation and maturation and in U.S. culture, provides literary and cinematic examples, and presents criticisms of satire.