Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog

Writing an Original Argument

For the next blog post, please write an original argument on one of the following topics below.  Whichever topic you choose, support your argument with appropriate evidence from your reading, observation or experience.  Your argument does not need to be multiple paragraphs, but you should have a clear structure, where you make claims, back them up with data, and provide a warrant for how the data supports a particular claim and your overall argument.  Feel free to establish exigence and make your thesis as complex as possible.

Topic #1: Richard Corliss writes in Time magazine:

Ask any reader who has seen the movie version of a favorite novel, and the answer will usually be, 'The book was better.' That's because readers of a novel have already made their own perfect movie version. They have visualized it, fleshed out the locations and set the pace as they either zipped through the book or scrupulously savored every word. Often they have even cast it.

Many lovers of books argue that films are a lesser art form.  Even if the film is a masterpiece, it will never provide the viewer with the same rich, thoughtful experience as a reader gets when reading a book.  Write an argument which defends, challenges or qualifies this assertion.

or

Topic #2

If you have not been following the Republican presidential campaign closely, watch the following statement from Republican candidate Newt Gingrich about food stamps and the African American community.  Also, for background you might read the following news article about Republican candidates using racially-tinged rhetoric in their campaigns.

Leonard Pitts, an African American newspaper columnist, writes:

I got my first job when I was 12. The deacons at my church paid me $2 a week to keep it swept and mopped.

So I do not need Newt Gingrich to lecture me about a good work ethic. In this, I suspect I speak for the vast majority of 39 million African-Americans.

There has been a lot of talk about whether Gingrich's recent language, including his performance at last week's South Carolina debate and his earlier declaration that Barack Obama has been America's best "food stamp president," amounts to a coded appeal to racist sensitivities. The answer is simple: Yes.

Gingrich joins a line of Republicans stretching back at least to Richard Nixon. From that president's trumpeting of "law and order" (i.e., "I will get these black demonstrators off the streets") to Ronald Reagan's denunciation of "welfare queens" (i.e., "I will stop these lazy black women from living high on your tax dollars") to George H.W. Bush's use of Willie Horton (i.e., "Elect me or this scary black man will get you") the GOP long ago mastered the craft of using nonracial language to say racial things.

So Gingrich is working from a well-thumbed playbook when he hectors blacks about their work ethic and says they should demand paychecks and not be "satisfied" with food stamps. As if most blacks had ever done anything else. As if a jobless rate that for some mysterious reason runs twice the national average does not make paychecks hard to come by. As if blacks were the only, or even the majority of, food stamp recipients.

Then write an argument in which you defend, challenge or qualify Pitts' assertion that Republican candidates are using racism -- stereotyping and insulting black people, in particular -- to win votes.

OH HO HO Its Funny Because Its Sarcasm!!

Family Guy usually shows a Latino worker who recognizes sarcasm and over exploits the speaker’s use of it. In this clip of the show, dramatic irony is used to show a situation, which a person describes how “good”; his day is going by covering it up verbally by saying how it rained. Interestingly, the show also captures verbal irony as well as the situational to describe how an event can be interpreted by a person who says the sarcastic comment, the one who recognizes it and the one who needs to explain it to the person who doesn’t recognizes the sarcasm but whom later catches on.

 

  

Buckwheat Sings

To give some background, Buckwheat was a character in a series called Our Gang (Little Rascals) that ran from 1934-1944. The "Buckwheat" character was subject to controversy in later years because it contained elements of the "Sambo" or "Jim Crow" stereotypes.

Eddie Murphy made a series of Buckwheat videos in the 1980's. He appears as an adult Buckwheat and highlights the issues with the Buckwheat character. This video appeared on SNL and uses parody and hyperbole to make fun of and criticize the Buckwheat character. Eddie Murphy uses parody by imitating Buckwheat's hair, clothing, characteristics, etc. He uses hyperbole to exaggerate Buckwheat's behaviors for comic effect.

That 70s show

One of my favorite shows is "That 70s show". Right now it's off the air but when it was running I watched it and now I still watch the reruns.

The show on a whole uses Satire a lot but here are some of the examples:

There is a lot of irony like when Michael Kelso cheats on his girl friend but when she cheats on him he gets extreamly angry and threatens to dump her.

Another example of satire is the contant use of sarcasm. Eric's dad will say something to him, and Eric will respond with a sarcasm which gets him usually called a smart mouth. An instance of this is when Eric's dad says what are you going to do with your life and Eric says, "Everything you do Daddy!"

Another use of satire That 70s show frequently uses is when they immitate an old fashon movie or scene with one of their own. Like when Hide, one of Eric's friends, moves into Erics house and they have a black and white scene that's like: "So, your parents got a new son", "well look on the bright side, you can watch your parents and their new son through the window", "If they let you". This scene was in format of a black and white silent movie though.

Altogether that 70s show uses satire in every episode.

International Man of Mystery

I find this one of the greatest examples of satire in cinema history. Along with the Shrek and Scary Movie series, the Austin Powers franchise may be my favorite of all movie parodies. Brilliantly written by Mike Myers, the Austin Powers movies parody spy and action movies. 

Austin Powers, the International Man of Mystery, is the worlds greatest spy. He is a celebrity and icon in England, rivaling the popularity of The Beatles, before he chronologically freezes himself to help him catch his nemesis, Dr. Evil. The name Dr.Evil is a straightforward parody of all the different cheesy villain names selected for James Bond villains, such as Dr.No. James Bond in all his films comes off as very attractive and a womanizer. But Austin Powers parodies this by trying to make Austin Powers as unattractive as possible, yet somehow he still gets women, such as showing his rotten teeth and overwhelming chest hair. Characters such as Number 2, who parodies a sidekick, or Randomtask, who parodies a Bond villain Oddjob, are present everywhere in the story. 

Austin Powers is a constant parody. The plot lines are nearly identical to Bond plot lines, along with characters, but it parodies the seriousness of Bond with funny and clever twists. Just how Shrek downplays the reality of fairy tales, Austin Powers does the same for spy movies. Very well too. 

The scene below gives a great example of the satire in Austin Powers.

 

30 Rockefeller Parody

Most people today have seen at least one episode or part of an episode of the wonderful NBC show, 30 Rock. As both the creator and the lead of the show, Tina Fey uses her witty sarcasm and perfect comedic timing to make this show one of the best on network television. But if you're like me (which you probably aren't because I'm super imperceptive...) you may not have taken the time to realize that 30 Rock is actually a parody in itself. Every character, every incident, and every sketch is dripping in satirical gold. 

For example, characters like Jack Donaghy, Tracy Jordan, Liz Lemon and Jenna Maroney are all perfect parodies of the television business class. Jack Donaghy is portrayed as the quintessential business man, always wearing a suit, in a big office, getting everything he wants no matter how ridiculous. Tracy Jordan is the portrayed as the innapropriate, simple-minded, illogical black guy who tries to play the funny man, but usually just ends up being offensive. Liz Lemon is the typical hard-worker who gets absolutely nothing in return. Still single because she's too invested in her work, Liz is the perfect portrait of what we see to be the "nerdy" woman in the workplace. Finally, Jenna Maroney portrays the "dumb blonde" kind of character who is invested in herself and her work, giving some time, but not much, to her friends. Often getting into trouble with Tracy, she is seen as the naive, conceided type of person.

The entire show is a parody of what working at a TV studio is like. Everything from the ridiculous sketches (like the accidental Nazi fireworks...) to the crises that befall Liz and Jack, all add to the ridiculous parody and satire of the show. 

Why Watch the News When You Have the Daily Show?

Nowadays, watching the news can be a bit depressing. There's always something bad happening on the news such as murders, robberies, kidnappings, etc. that makes you lose interest in watching the news at times. What I like about the Daily Show is that it brings humor into telling us what's going on in the world which can really be entertaining. I personally love watching the Daily Show more than I love to watch WGN News. Here is a clip from one episode when Brian Havig speaks with the protestors in the Occupy Wall Street Movement. This isn't an ordinary interview as humor is brought by Brian Havig to bring some fun into the story. I would consider this a perfect example of satire because the Daily Show makes watching the news so much more entertaining to watch which is better than hearing sad stories everyday from the news on major networks.

 

The importance of being Hilarious

The importance of being earnest, is one of the greatest pieces of satire ever written.Oscar wilde wrote it as an exaggeration and parody of the upper class of london in the 1890's. When you first read it, the play can come off as boring, because its charters are so arrogant mean, and sometimes a little stupid. but as you read into it, or in my case see it over 30 times (it was because i was part of the production at school,, not because i have actively gone to see it over 30 times), the humor becomes more apparent, and you laugh at yourself for not noticing it all along because its staring you down in the face. the play is making fun of how ridiculous the upper class was. how they where hypocites "i know I'm not punctual, but i like it so much in others" (cecily), how they took advantage of their education "literary criticism is not your forte, my dear bot, you should not try it, leave it to the men who haven't gone to university, they do it so well in the daily papers" (Algy), or when Algy says "i may be  occasionally over dressed,, but i make up for it by being immensely over educated" (Algy), the play also points out how the upper orders don't care about the lower classes "i don't much care to hear about your family life lane" (Algy). the play is a parody of the life of the people of high class london.

i think though that one of the reasons we still find it so hilarious, is because we still find it true to some extent about our society today. that the upper classes don't care about the dare i say it, the 99%! that we find the people who have privilege are not always the brightest tools in the shed. When wilde wrote this play his wit, and use of satire abused the upper classes in the funniest of ways. but even today its ideas of the upper class may still ring true.

Wilde turly wrote a play for the ages!

 

Are you wearing ladies underwear?

This scene above from Shrek 2 is an example of a parody in the literature of satire. The scene shows all of the fairy tales characters going to save other fairy tale characters. It is a parody in sense because it begins with the Mission Impossible theme song. This sets the mood for them to do something totally bad ass. Then it shows the famous puppet Pinocchio going down the tunnel by his puppet strings to save Shrek, Donkey who is now a stallion and Puss in Boots. One the way down he gets tangled and the Gingerbread Man jumps on him. They need Pinocchio to tell a lie to make his nose grow so the Gingerbread man can reach Shrek. They tell Pinocchio to say he's wearing ladies underwear, and when he says it his nose doesn't grow. When he says he's not wearing ladies underwear his nose grows. 

This shows how Shrek 2 is making fun of the common stereotypes of all of the fairy tales. It shows us that fairy tales are not real and that we shouldn't believe them to be true so people won't try to live up to those expectations. In every movie of Shrek, there are plenty examples of satire and they all try to get the point across that fairy tales are stories and are not true. People want fairy tales to be true, with all of the happy endings and the princess being rescued from the tower surrounded by a moat. The truth is that all of it is made up and we just have to accept it. 

Stewie Situational Irony

Family Guy is known for its clever use for satire. In this particualar episode, Stewie appears on the side of his mom's bed and seems as if he needs her urgently because of the use of his mom's first name which is Lois. After Stewie screams her name for the twenty-seventh time, she answers in a frustrated tone. Surprisingly, Stewie replied, "Hi."

This is an example of situational irony because when Stewie screams his mother's name so much, viewers tend to think that he wants something very important like he needs his diaper changed. Instead, just to annoy her, Stewie says, "Hi". It's unbelievable how simple and clever the transition from Stewie saying Lois to mama. This is the reason why the writers of Family Guy get so much praise for their work.

Sure, Its Not Another Teen Movie........

"Not Another Teen Movie" came out in 2001 and is a parody of a lot the teen movies made from the 80's-2000's. Some of the movies they criticize are, "The Breakfast Club", "Pretty In Pink", and "Bring It On".

This movie takes scenes from the original movies, and makes of parody of what happens. For example, The main guy has to make the unpopular girl in school the prom queen. Before an important party, he goes to her house with his sister so his sister can make the unpopular girl "sexy".

The two girls go upstairs and the sister takes a close look at the main girl. She then preceeds to take off the girl's glasses and takes down her hair. The unpopular suddenly gets beautiful hair and looks good.

Another example is from "Bring It On". The cheerleading squad needs one more person so they have a try out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAK9AZlptx8&feature=related

This is a praody of Bring It On and also of how they have the nice 50's girls who are innocent. They show use the parody to make fun of cheerleaders by making them seem like idiots. Also, by giving the innocent girl terrets that makes her say dirty words, they are making fun of that kind of character.

 

Black Man Advertises KKK

Dave Chappelle's skit is a parody of both a black man and the KKK. In the skit, a blind black man is in the KKK and is fully speaking out against African Americans, whereas in real life, he would actually be speaking out against the cruel actions towards the African Americans, and the injustice of the KKK. The KKK support him in his actions and even help him advertise white supremacy.

A parody is an imitation of a style of an author or work for common effect and ridicule, which is exactly what is happening in the skit.

 

Men in Tights and Parody.

 

    Robin Hood: Men in Tights, is full of verbal and situational irony, as well as a huge number of parodies. In the above clip, there is situational irony because men don't normally wear tights. They also shouldn't be talking about how manly they are because they're wearing tights. The whole clip is verbal irony because it's really saying the opposite of them being manly, because they continue to bump into each other and dance and say they do things that are not manly. Finally, the whole movie is a parody of other Robin Hood movies. It makes fun of the medieval outfits worn in similar movies as well as fighting styles and romances. The movie is comical but it is also pointing out the faults in the other movies that could be improved.

Name Twenty

 

 

When one thinks of satire in general, what often first comes to mind are cartoons such South Park, The Simpsons and in this case, Family Guy. This particular clip is no exception and is chock-full of satire. First, before the actual plot even kicks in, one of the infamous Family Guy "cutscene" comes in. They make fun of Beethoven being almost completely deaf by the use of parody. Imitation of the composer in a humorous and extremely exaggerated way is only the warm up for what is about to come.

When Stewie tells Brian the name of his song is "Suzie," Brian sarcastically responds: "Wow, a song named after a girl... there aren't a million of those already." Not only is this sarcasm, but it is also an example of an understatement. Stewie, offended, tells Brian to name a bunch, to which he rattles off a total of 31 without hesitation.

Even though there is no really profound deep meaning about racial issues, Family Guy is making a couple social commentaries: 1) Beethoven was too deaf to be a good composer and it shows in his music (according to them) and 2) there are a ton of songs named after girls. But, even if the commentary is extremely shallow, it gave me a good laugh and I think that's all the writers wanted.

The Importance of Being Earnest: Satire at its Finest

The movie (and play) The Importance of Being Earnest, is one of the most perfect examples of satire in our culture.  Although it is set in England, it makes fun of the upper class.  The play uses dramatic irony to show how Oscar Wilde sees the upper class as too formal and snobbish.  It is dramatic irony because the characters in the play obviously think that they are high class with their multiple houses and butlers even though the author thinks that the upper class is too snobbish.  

The show also uses hyperbole to make its point.  Every character in it is exaggerated.  The characters Jack and Algernon are both willing to change their names to Earnest just because the women they love say that they will only love a man named Earnest.  This is an example of how much emphasis Wilde believes that society places on love and how important it its to us.

Weird Al Yankovic - "Fat"

 

This is a video by "Weird Al" Yankovic called "Fat". It creates humor with parody and situational irony at the beginning of the video. The song and the video are a parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad". This video is a parody because it replaces all the words to Jackson's song but still keeps the beat and the rhythm. The reason why it is because the video focuses on the issue of obesity in America. It uses hyperbole and dramatic irony to highlight this. The hyperbole would be the fat suit suddenly inflating when there is a showdown between the two groups of fat people. The video also uses dramatic irony when the two fat guys ambush Al and ask him why he isn't eating with him and making fun of him for being on a diet.

The video is supposed to show frequent and prominent obesity is in America. It makes you think about your eating habits. For me, personally, it sends that message "if we continue to eat fast food, this is what gang showdowns are going to look like in a couple of years except without the dancing". The video force you to look at your lifestyle and think about how your eating habits are affecting your body. It criticizes the fact that, at the time, a large number of  Americans were and still are becoming more obese. This video sends the message that we should eat healthier to live longer

Wii Fit Parody

This parody of the new spin off of working out called the Wii Fit, is quite hilarious. The director, or at least the narrator, uses irony throughout the entire video to conduct a complete opposite meaning of what the product is attempting to have people do.

The Wii Fit sends a message to the viewers of its commercials and the consumers that buy the product that working out can be as easy as pulling out your Wii, standing on a white piece of plastic, and moving the equivalent amount of walking about a half of a block. Also, through the original commercial, the Wii is advertising the product to be something that can bring the whole family together to have fun, but lets be honest, when one wants to get in shape the first thing they think of is not usually how they can get their family involved.

The real message behind this, I believe, is the unconscious image that the media embeds into the heads of many Americans that a perfect body is necessary for a happy human and the Wii is telling America that it is as easy as moving your leg back and forth to get that ideal body. 

The parody includes situational irony through elaborating on how what the people are doing in the commercial is the close to the exact opposite of what you have to do to get in shape, is very comedic and does successful take on the ironic form of satire.

NBC's Making Fun of Itself?!

The television show 30 Rock is an NBC comedy that is, in itself, satire.  It pokes fun at corporate America and television networks by being a parody of itself.  It shows the "behind the scenes" of a fake an NBC show "The Girlie Show," and shows idiotic moves of the people in the business.

The very first episode is filled with irony.  About seven minutes into it, Liz Lemon meets her new boss, who just happens to be made successful by his invention of the GE trivection oven.  

This is situational irony because you'd expect the new Vice President of East Coast Television Programming to have some background in the media business.  Instead, it is made apparent that Jack (the new VP) was promoted not because of his knowledge of the art of entertainment, but for reasons entirely of business and numbers.

This example of irony is showing how corrupted corporate America is by data.  The only thing that drives decisions is how much money can be made off of it.

Jack "the businessman" is just one example of the many commentaries 30 Rock makes.  The rest of the episode and the many following ones are filled with satirical remarks.  They are what make this comedy funny.

Satire in the Flight of The Conchords

 

This is a song by the Flight of the conchords which creates humor using situational irony. The listener if they are familiar with this type of song expects a simple love song, instead of this the lyrics are about a woman who is not the most beautiful girl in the world, and its the contrast from the expectation that creates humor. Where a normal song would say that the woman is the most beautiful woman or something along those lines they have qualifications of how beautiful the woman is like "the most beautiful girl I have ever seen with a kabab".

This song could also be seen as a parody of a typical love song. The situations which they present as romantic like doing the robot or eating kabobs are a contrast to the typical love song. It could also be said that they are using understatements to create a contrast between the descriptions of people in archetypal love songs and thier own song.

Overall the satirical point that the singers are trying to make is in my opinion mostly for humor, but they may be making a comment on the predictability of many songs in thier contrast from the usual formula.

Michael Buble likes Russian Unicorns?

 

This hilarious example of Satire was produced by Bad Lip Reading a channel on YouTube. The new aritist used parody to imitate the original song although he completely changed the meaning. The song was a parody of the Original song Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Buble` and it was very well done even according to him. Also the writer of this used situational irony. He took the video and made is seem that Buble` was saying all these random things. Not only did he do this but he matched it up perfectly to make it look like he was saying all of these hilarious things.

This example of Satire illustrates how anything in american culture can be satirized. As long as one uses the proper devices such as parody and situational irony like this it can turn into a satire. This satire criticized how when someone is lip sinking they could actually be saying anything and this is what BLR did with this music video. Through the use of parody and situational irony the artist completely changed the song and made it into a satire.

Vampires Suck.

 

 

When first read, the title Vampires Suck can seem a bit harsh. However, it was just a movie created to poke fun at what was making tweens around the world become creepishly obsessed with ficticious characters; the movie Twilight.

Vampires Suck by itself is one big ball of satire. In fact, when it first came out, movie critics would identify it as being "A Twilight Parody" or "A Twilight Spoof". Although filled with many aspects of satire, it was essentially known for being a parody of a movie based off a book that Stephenie Meyer wrote.

This spoof was an over exaggerated version of the movie that had created legitimately insane girls to dedicate their rooms to shrines of their newly found obsessions; incredibly pale, blood-sucking vampires and buff, shirtless werewolves. Vampires Suck over emphasized Twilight's plot, intensified every aspect of Twilight's main characters, and sarcastically portrayed Twlight's stalkers to be a bit more crazy than they saw themselves to be.

Although Stephenie Meyer probably found the parody a bit insulting, as did the crazy twihards, it was originally developed to be a nicer way to enjoy jokes about a movie that many people found kind of bizarre and a bit unrealistic. And, as quite a few people said after viewing the spoof, it wasn't even as great as it had originally seemed. One viewer commented "The idea was great, the movie?...Not so much."

Some satire can go about unrecognized in a lot of older books, movies, etc. like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which essentially create controversial views and the wrong idea about the point of the book, movie, etc. However, in my opinion, contemporary culture does a much better job of making sure that the satire is for the most part completely recognizable.

Satire can definitely be taken the wrong way in a lot of different areas of culture. I think that a certain percentage of twihards felt that Vampires Suck was unnecessary and a little too dramatic because the movie was basically meant to appeal to people who didn't find the original Twilight movie appealing.

Overall, though, the movie did a great job of making it's point, poking fun at the book/movie and its  followers, and being a creative source of entertainment. Without its extreme sense of satire, it would have been another unrealistically pathetic attempt at a "good movie".

Snooki "Tik Tok" Parody

 The Venetian Princess has been known to criticize modern day culture through her parody use of music videos. In her parody of "Tik Tok," she makes fun of Snooki, the notorious celebrity known for her corrupted life and outgoing personality. The Venetian Princess describes Snooki saying things such as, "Wake up in the morning, going to find me a Guido..." She even makes a parodic comment describing the famous Snooki hairstyle, "Give the poof its own area code." This is an example of a parody because the Venetian Princess uses ridicule to make fun of Snooki's eventful life.nOne of the possible reasons for her parodies would be to imitate people for effect.

Ipad Parody

There are parodies of almost everything in pop culture now but I liked this specific one because it also gives a small hints of sarcasm as well. This parody grasps the attention of most people and is humorous because it highly simplifies something extremely technologically advanced.

 

 

This video completely makes fun of how technologically savvy this device really is while stating what the device can "technically" do. The guy using the "Ipad" is also focusing towards the use of lots of understatement in the video by "making movies" or playing "3D games." The parody also uses sarcasm when it describes the price of the "Ipad" along with the "Ipen" when making the prices extremely high for pencil and a piece of paper.

At first glace this video just seems to be a parody but after watching it 3 or 4 times, I was still catching little pieces of satire in the writing and labeling of some of the objects in the background. It's amazing to think about how just a one minute video can capture almost 4 uses of satire.

Satire Illustrating Mean Girls Message

 

The comedy Mean Girls is about a girl named Cady who moves to Evanston after being home schooled while living in Africa.  Cady then has to experience high school with barely any knowledge of what teenagers act like.  She then meets the Plastics, a group of popular mean girls.  Satire is shown throughout both Cady's little knowledge of high school life and of the Plastics meanness to everyone else at school.  

One example of dramatic irony is when Cady first arrives at high school.  She does not have any experience with high school or any school since she has been home schooled her whole life.  When she arrives in the cafeteria on her first day she approaches a group of african american girls.  Cady thinks they will be welcoming and says "Jambo" thinking they will become her friends and let her sit.  Instead however they stare at her with an unfriendly look.  This scene is an example of dramatic irony because the audience knows the girls will probably not know what Cady is talking about and most likely think she is weird.  Another example of dramatic irony is when Cady does not get the slang of the high school girls. When Cady tells Regina that she has always been home schooled Regina goes on to say "shut up! Shut up!" to which Cady replies "I didn't say anything."  This scene has Cady unaware that when Regina says shut up she does not mean literally but just that she cannot believe what Cady is saying.  These examples of dramatic irony exagerrate what a home schooled kid knows about society and brings in comedic relief.  

The Plastics use verbal irony to put down the less popular girls of their high school.  When Regina George, the leader of the Plastics,  sees a girl in a skirt she does not like she says "I love your skirt! Where'd you get it?" The girl who is oblivious to Regina's sarcasm says "It's my mom's old skirt from the '80s."  Then Regina says "Oh, vintage,so adorable."  However, after the girls thanks Regina and walks away Regina comments on how much she dislikes the skirt.  This sarcasm is used by Regina to offend the girls of lower social status and to insult people without having the person know they are being insulted.  After this scene is shown Cady realizes that when Regina said she liked Cady's bracelet Regina was really using sarcasm.  This realization shows that Regina uses sarcasm to insult people without their knowledge.  

Overall, the Creators of Mean Girls use irony to make scenes comedic.  However,  irony especially verbal irony is also used to comment on how much girls insult people behind their backs.  Irony is used in Mean Girls to portray the back stabbing and insults from girls to other girls around the world.

America's Ironic Past

 

This cartoon from a documentary about the Columbine Shooting, Bowling for Columbine, is meant to make fun of the way Americans have acted throughout history. It uses irony and hyper boles to show how ridiculous the actions of Americans have looked throughout history, by painting Americans as paranoid. 

Whenever Americans got scared of something, they would try to relieve their fear through enacting measures that would make them even more scared in the future, which is ironic.

The goal of the cartoon, as well as the rest of the film, is to point out the foolishness of guns, and how guns are much more likely to contribute to bad things as opposed to good things. Moore wants America to control guns so that tragic events like Columbine do not happen again.

SNL and Satire

Saturday Night Live (SNL) is pure uncut satire. The entire show is based off of sarcasm, irony, understatements, and hyperbole. the segment which represents what SNL is all about is Weekend Update. In this segment a parody of a news broadcast is set up and the fake reporters mock and make fun of celebrities and important political figures.

In this segment Seth and Amy tear apart Rod Blagojevich who was just recently arrested. One of the first satirical devices I noticed was verbal irony, A.K.A sarcasm. when Amy asks if he doesn't know that people tap phones she is not seriously asking the question. She is asking the question to make him look stupid because everyone knows people tap phones.

The other satirical device that is used allot in this segment is hyperbole. When Seth and Amy get to talking about Blagojevich's hair Amy says he "looks like a toupee wearing a toupee", which is an obvious example of hyperbole because Blagojevich dosnt actually wear two toupees. They later use some even more insulting and ridiculous examples which are also examples of hyperbole.

In this particular segment the main types of satire used are sarcasm and hyperbole. Satire is what SNL and many other programs in the american media use as comic relief and a much needed break from the news we are used to watching. In some ways satire defines American media. 

The Frederick Douglass Story

I find this video to be very informative. Even though we've just got through reading about Frederick Douglass, they're probably still a few questions you have in mind that you want to be answered. This 20 minute documentary tells the story of Frederick Douglass and how he fought for his freedom.

 

Asians Suck At Driving...

People often debate about whether or not Family Guy, one of Fox's most popular "PG-13"animations, should be aired because of it's profane stereotypical humor. In fact, producer Seth MacFarlane joked about the hatred the majority of Americans feel towards his show in his 50th Episode Anniversary.

Although MacFarlane might have been poking fun at the controversy going on about his production, some people truly feel that his humor is nothing to joke about.

Finding a clip of one stereotype in Family Guy came way too easily for me. It seems that whatever episode i play, there are at LEAST10 stereotypes used in a joking manner. The one I chose, however, was that of an Asian woman instead of an African-American--the race most commonly made fun of due to the main character, Peter Griffin's, best "black" friend Cleveland Brown. (Even there he was most likely named Brown because of his skin color--but that's just pure racism, not stereotypical.) 

The common stereotype "Asian people suck at driving" is portrayed in one of MacFarlane's episodes when Peter is talking about abstinence. He tells his daughter, Meg, that he will remain abstinent and "as untouched as a turn signal in an Asian woman's car" suggesting that because "Asian woman have no idea how to drive" they would have no need to turn on a turn signal.

Although i laughed, as I do during most of the racist stereotypical remarks that MacFarlane's makes in his episodes, i realized that maybe I shouldn't have been laughing because I realize that some people may find it incredibly offensive. Not only does the woman in the clip not drive well, but she has the stereotypical Asian-American accent.

I guess the question comes back to what we talked about in class... is it ok to be laughing?

 

Racisim on the Chappelle Show?

Many people criticize Dave chappelle for his style of comedy and skits he performs because a lot of his skits and jokes are based on racial stereotypes. For example the clip from the show that we watched in class with white people dancing to electric guitar, black people dancing to drum beats, and Latino people dancing to a mixture of beats gutar and keyboard.

Why are sterotypes like these funny? Well first of all, stereotypes would not be funny if there was absolutely no truth to them. Also, the majority of people find dave chappele's style of sterotypical comedy funny because they are so exagerated. For example in the clip when the white people where eating dinner and then all of a sudden once they hear an electric guitar, they all get up and start moshpit style dancing. Ofcourse nobody believes this would ever happen, but that is also why it is funny because it is so ridiculous.

Many people believe that even though these racial stereotypes are put out their in a comedic way, these distorted images eventually become a reality and you start to percieve other races in deifferent ways. I believe this to some extent, but mainly when it comes to racist cartoon images that distort the faces and bodies of people of different race. Like in certain old cartoons where they would show black people with big lips. This distorted image gets into peoples heads, and subconciously alters their perception.

I don't believe that Dave Chappelle does this. I dont believe that he projects sterotypes. I believe that what he did was a good thing and that is that he put all the racial sterotypes out on the table and stripped them of their power through comedy. Becuase when you can truly laugh at something like that you dont take it seriously anymore, and I believe that we shouldn't take them seriously because as dave shows, they are just over exagerated generalizations.

Music and Race

Today's music often promotes the stereotype that black people are alll rappers or atleast that if you are going to have a break in the middle of your song, it should be done by a black person. In many recent music hits, the song braks off in the middle and a black guy does a rap relating to the song. Rarely is there a white guy doing the rap. The repetition of these occurences sticks it in the minds of Americans and maks it a normal thing that is almost to be expected. 

An example of how much this has permeated our culture is the song Friday by Rebecca Black. This young girl made a music video with the help of a production company. However, in the middle of the song, an older African American guy appears on screen singing a different portion of the song. Where did he come from? This young girl is helping to create race in America by showing that even young children know that in the middle of a song, a black guy often appears to create a nice break.

Your're Swag

In today's society everybody dresses differently. We all develop our own unique "swag", as some kids call it today. But then if everyone dresses differently, why is it that so many people are still catorgarized with dressing a certain way. Of course I'm not talking about dressing in a rediculus manner, like girls wearing barely nothing or offensive clothing. It doesn't matter how one dresses, unless you're in a t-shirt and jeens, if you step out of the way, "you should dress", someone always has something to say.

As an African American, lots of people constantly judge what I wear. I'm not saying that the comments are always bad but some get a little rediculus. I'm someone who wears cloth for confort but also wants to look nice, or as far away from a bum as I can. So, if I'm feeling sweat pants and a t-shirt one day, this is cool with me, and if I'm feeling a dress shirt and jeens another day this is also cool with me. But people often comment, like, "what are you wearing, you look like a white kid," or on other days, "are you trying to be black" which is really offensive because I am black. The public can't seem to make up their mind on what I wear it seems.

On telivision today, the black guy is ussually wearing a different outfit than the white guy and this is just the truth. Just flip to any channel. Watch a BET show like, "the game" and then watch something like desperate housewives and you'll see the difference. But in reality, everyone chooses their own style and "swag" so everyone looks different.

People should keep in mind that no matter what they wear, they are always going to be judged negativly or positivly and a lot of the time, according to their race. So everyone should wear what they want. If a black person wants to wear a winter hat and gets called a thug... so be it, and if a white person wants to wear some shorts a little above the knees and a t-shirt and be told he's from River Forest... so be it.