Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Blazing saddles satire
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Blazing saddles satire
Analyzing Satire and Parody in Blazing Saddles
"No one is born a racist bigot. In other words, racial bigotry or racial prejudice is not genetically or
biologically determined... Therefore, if most people spoke out about racism, it would be the first step
towards a revolutionary change." -Dr. Charles Quist-Adade
Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, sheds light to the cultural problems of the Western era through satire with elements of parody within. John Vogel describes Blazing Saddles as “The Ultimate Western Spoof.” The problem of racism is the main focus of this film. If one takes a closer look at the work of Mel Brooks, there is a noticeable trend of his films pointing fingers at racists. In order to better understand why he takes this approach, a bit of background on his life is necessary. Mel Brooks’ birth name was Melvin Kaminsky. He was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, NY. Brooks was the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants (Funk). Just that small bit of information begins to unravel a larger story. Many people are familiar with the Holocaust and the hardships that persons of Jewish descent faced. David Thompson describes Brooks in his book A Biographical Dictionary of Film, “Brooks is the product of live-audience TV, hired to write gags for Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows in 1950. For over a decade, he was a script doctor for the TV, radio, and stage musicals. … His first two features are his most personal and dangerous works.” (93)
Even from a brief summary such as this, one can tell that Mel Brooks associates himself with comedical films that would categorize as satire and/or parody. Seeing that Brooks was born Jewish and that he has elements of “Hitlerism” in his works, you can begin to see the connection with what may...
... middle of paper ...
...014.
Grant, Barry Keith. "Parody." Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film. Vol. 3. Detroit: Schirmer
Reference, 2007. 261+. Print.
Lowe, N. J. The Classical Plot And The Invention Of Western Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2000. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
"parody." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
"Satire - Definition and Examples | Literary Devices." Literary Devices. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar.
2014.
Thomson, David. "Mel Brooks." A Biographical Dictionary of Film. 3rd ed. New York: A.A.
Knopf, 1994. 93-94. Print
White, John. Westerns. New York: Routledge, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2
Apr. 2014.
Yasirfarabi. "Synopsis for Blazing Saddles." IMDb. IMDb.com, June 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Although, that could be true, racism is not a trait that is a part of a person’s DNA, it is something that is learned. For example, most people learn that there are only two genders while growing up. We understand this simple binary because it is reinforced by religion, girl and boy. Now in current times some people don’t understand the extended categories to what others identify as. It’s important to look at why this is the way that it is, most would agree that you should change but people resist change all the time.
1. Define 'satire' and provide one example of personal or social satire that yoou have encountered. You may use any source for your example:TV, media, news editorials, movies, comedy, etc.
Satirical writing allows the author to express his or her opinion about a problem in society. A writing must follow three rules in order for it to be classified as satirical. First, a continuous focus on one’s subject’s faults. Secondly, instead of telling the reader directly, information must be given indirectly. Thirdly, the writing must have a variety of satirical techniques in general (Festa). With these simple guidelines, an author can demonstrate his beliefs of what he thinks needs to be changed in society.
Robinson, Cedric J. Forgeries of Memory and Meaning: Blacks and the Regimes of Race in American Theater and Film Before World War Ii. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. Print.
A film of the fifties, Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, USA, 1959) provides insight into the state of the film industry, recently wracked by legislation and censorship, the implementation of pre-existing technology in part to combat the new limitations, the importance of the star system, and the two-sided response to the social norms, both contradicting and reinforcing the status quo. Billy Wilder seemingly celebrates disregard for moral values of the time as a source of humor, referencing cross-dressing, sex, homosexuality, and lesbianism through leading men who execute cons without suffering negative consequences; and expects his spectator to do the same. Overall, the film appears tailored to the white, male spectatorship, like Wilder himself, in search of comedic spectacle, although it is not exclusive. The film also presents glimpses of some serious, progressive elements, challenging its viewership.
Brown, Earl B., Jr. "Kosinski's Modern Proposal: The Problem of Satire in the Mid-Twentieth Century." Ebscohost. N.p., 1980. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2014.
Mel Brooks, a well known and respected contentious writer with a void for filter, acts in his personal film productions. His script in “Blazing Saddles” intrigues the viewer capturing their attention while sending a message that might trigger the viewer into presumably pondering whether his work is considered displeasing to the audience. The film which aired in the 1970’s in a time period in which public society was discontent and uncomfortable with the ideology of a man of color partaking in a film production and hearing humorous antics that had been predominantly placed in the film. Brooks film was no ordinary film as it was targeted towards the male audience with a dash of comedic influence that sparked an upheaval within the community making
Satire is the use of humor, exaggeration, and irony in order to make fun of a group of people or ideas. When people think of satire they usually think of television shows such as South Park, but Mark Twain was an expert in the art form of satire back in the 1800’s. “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain is an excellent example of satire. This story uses satire to compare the people of the East coast of the United States to the people of the West coast, and Twain also uses satire to portray the struggles of gambling addiction.
Talking about the causes and effects of racial discrimination can go many ways. First off, let me just clarify that am a stronger believer in the fact that racism is taught. You don’t pop fresh out of the womb spewing racist slurs at your doctor. It is taught by stereotypes being spread by your family and acquaintances around you. I remember plenty of times throughout high school when close friends of mine would be angry with a person of a different race for no real reason and they would use slurs incredibly offensive towards that person, even if they did say behind their back it proved that racism is at large, larger than it should be. Sometimes it wasn’t even subconsciously, they were just blatantly racist!
While the motifs and characters were distinctly Jewish, the themes allowed the movie to garner huge success at the box office. This is due in part to its publicity as the first motion picture with synchronized audio. Jewish actor, Al Jolson’s portrayal of aspiring singer/entertainer, Jakie Rabinowitz, allowed people who perceived Jews as too foreign to reconsider their perspective (Diner 225). The plot revolves around his desire to leave the family tradition of being a cantor and become an entertainer in the secular world. In the film, Jakie is introduced as Jewish in his first scene, yet his problem is as American as they come; the internal conflict presented by a desire to assimilate into secular and maintain family traditions is an issue found in many American children and their families. Al Jolson himself was a product of assimilation upon his arrival in the United States, treading carefully between his Jewishness and the secular environment now surrounding him (Brook 402). With the ability to utilize his own experiences in his acting, Jolson has created a Jew that gentiles could relate to in The Jazz
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Today I joyfully welcome you all to the University of Queensland’s open forum on satire in society, in particular the topic of satire in Jane Austen’s novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’. The oxford dictionary states that satire is: The use of humour, irony, exaggeration to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues (Oxford Dictionary). Satire is an effective method of getting a message across to an audience, often persuading them to see the creator’s point of view. “Fools are my theme, let satire be my song” by Lord Bryon, an English poet and politician is a perfect example of satire, for it suggests that Lord Bryon enjoyed making fun of the foolish people in his society; therefore, he used satire to ridicule them because they either didn’t understand or they were too ignorant to actually believe that he was talking about them. Another example of satire is Pride and Prejudice – specifically chapter one, Austen uses techniques such as satire and sarcasm to mock both middle ...
Racism comes in many forms and fashions. Reasons for this intolerance, are just as varied and numerous. Intolerance is displayed by humans toward one another in regards to skin color, ethnicity, religions and personal sexual habits, among a few. Comparably, some are taught through environment, the temperament that was prevalent in the households were one was reared, from acquaintances and from revered people that one connects with on life’s journeys, and from world views, among a few.
In this paper I will be arguing that racist beliefs are cognitive problems according to Appiah’s account of racisms. In order to defend this position, I will first explain Appiah’s account of how racism is heritable through genes, focusing specifically on what he thinks the connection between extrinsic racists and intrinsic racists are. Then, I will define what Appiah takes a extrinsic and intrinsic racists to be, and show how his definition of what an “insincere” extrinsic is distinctive by contrasting it with other ways one could interpret or define as an “insincere” racist. I will then present an objection that explains why I think that racialism is not heritable through genes and that an “insincere” extrinsic racist should not change their minds.
Similarly, in Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, we can see the issues regarding tyranny and also antisemitism, shown in his character that satirizes Adolph Hitler. During WWI, a jewish barber (Chaplin’s character) was a soldier of Tomania, a fictional country. During battle, the barber found the wounded Commander Schultz, the high officer of the Tomanian army, and helped escape with him in a plane that eventually crashes. They are separated and the barber is taken to a hospital where he remains for the next 20 years.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a “satire” is a poem or a novel, film, or other work of art which u...