Analyse the ways in which satire can engage and provoke its audience Satire aims to expose to its audience the shortcomings of humanity through an assemblage of wit and mockery; it provides momentum for change and reform through ridicule. Robert Sitch’s television program ‘The Hollowmen’ seeks to expose the nepotistic and often superficial nature of Australian politics through the use of political satire, showing us that Australian politics is “inherently without values or moral grounding’ (Louise Staley).
While ‘Fat Chance’ exposes the artificial nature of policy making, ‘The Ambassador’ seeks to accrue the idea that government policies are designed not for the good of the people, but instead to suit the government’s agenda. Contrastingly, Jamie Babbit’s 1999 film ‘But I’m A Cheerleader’ takes this mockery of comfortable, self-serving egotism and extends it to a witty depiction of Middle-American homophobia which is ultim
...ately derived from society’s need to constrict sexuality and gender roles based on the ingrained stereotypes of the human psyche.Ultimately, both texts provoke an understanding from respective audiences through satirising the absurdity of authoritarians and the malaise of citizens, be they in the form of the government or society as a whole. The verisimilitude throughout Sitch’s episode ‘Fat Chance’ provides his audience with a fundamental understanding of the progression of the Australian government from efficient to perfunctory in the political landscape’s obsession with quantity over quality regarding policy making.
The endorsement of “superficial responses to the latest whims of the general public” is central to this episode, ultimately undermining the manipulated Australian society’s belief in the apparently faultless contemporary world of politics. In ‘Fat Chance’, Sitch has established the burden of the myopic statements of th
Prime Minister which consequently results in the production of synthetic policies in order to appease the public mind.This concept is juxtaposed with the fundamental idea of hectic lobbying to be re-elected in parliament; ultimately this role is placed upon the fictional Central Policy Unit, thus exposing the uselessness of the political advisors themselves. Furthermore, Sitch has expressed the quintessential political desire to achieve a measurable momentum coupled with the practicality of keeping the heat on the press. In a society which is unaware of the process of policy making, Sitch has satirised the meaningless statements of politicians and thus caused udiences to revaluate their view of the government. Similarly, ‘The Ambassador’ identifies the skewed values present in the political world, highlighting the tension within politics which exists between political necessity and the megalomaniac agendas of the politicians.
Through a depiction of the nepotistic machinations of the Central Policy Unit, Sitch has created a hyperbolic representation of the undermining of government agendas and the distorted values of politics.Focusing on Ron Eggles as the caricature of a “former Toowoomba Shire Councillor with a Bachelor’s Degree in pig shooting”, Sitch has juxtaposed this with the pragmatic and transparent policy criteria for diplomatic postings and the opposing reality of Eggles’ career achievements. Through this, what transpires is a battle of ethics as the Prime Minister pushes to “stop clapped-out party hacks getting plum overseas postings” and the deceptive nature of the Central Policy Unit as they attempt to create a diplomatic posting policy which relies on nepotism in order to “make one more”.In order to justify this, the policy makers claim that Eggles is not only going to “get
what’s coming” but he will also maintain the acceleration of political progress.
Sitch’s notion that the removal of the “clapped out party hacks” is only so the “PM can nominate his replacement” further endows the megalomaniac government agenda to be exposed by his use of satire. Hence, satire is used here to reveal to society the flawed artifices of politics which are hidden by layers of expediency.Contrastingly, Jamie Babbit’s ‘But I’m A Cheerleader’ advocates the exposure of unjust stereotypes through mockery and exaggeration, specifically relating to gender and sexuality. Through such mockery of homophobia and the exaggeration of stereotypical gender and sexuality roles, Babbit has succeeded in launching a humorous and ironic vehicle from which a serious debate can be launched concerning the morally flawed concept of homosexual conversion therapy.Graham, the stereotypical butch protagonist states that “you are who you are, the only trick is not getting caught”.
This use of critical attitude solidifies the idea of self-acceptance as well as bringing to light that idea that if you’re different from the norm you must stay hidden and this is one of the biggest issues that But I’m A Cheerleader seeks to address.But I’m A Cheerleader wittingly depicts mainstream society’s comfortable ignorance of the constriction of sexuality and gender roles which are firmly entrenched in the human psyche. Set in the conformity-celebrating True Directions, characters are forced into cartoon versions of masculinity and femininity, all of which are an outlandish re-enactment of a Western cultural view on gender and sexuality.This juxtaposition of stereotypes and exaggeration has allowed Babbit to present to her audience with a critiqued understanding of the prejudicial nature towards homosexuals in mainstream
society and ultimately she is asking her audience to embrace the complexity and diversity of humanity as a whole.
Ironically, none of the characters in Babbit’s film fit into their prescribed gender roles and this forces the audience to redefine their understanding of what they consider to be ‘normal’.Through Babbit’s use of mocking satire, she has rendered social restriction ineffectual and highlighted that self-expression isn’t conditional. Hence, both texts provoke an understanding of the significance of satire as a way to critique the complexity of authority and society through the use of humour. Together they emphasise the use of satire in society to provide a validated means to which the self-serving and often ignorant nature of humanity can be understood and remedied.
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