Satire In Film

What is the best way to convince someone of something? If your lucky enough to see the movie inception or best yet understand the move as a whole, you would know that the best way to convince someone of something is to paint a picture that lets them come to the collusion on their own. If you can “aid” someones ability to think freely and draw them into the point you want to make, you will have them much more convinced in a much deeper way than by laying your augment in words alone. What is the best to paint a picture to indirectly convince your audience into your point? A motion picture is the obvious answer. Films use this technique to subliminally channel messages to you. Films are intended to convey a plethora of messages to its audience.

Some messages are extremely full of propaganda, some are much more subtle. Some are intended to have undertones of hate and others of joy. One film might portray African Americans as nothing better than a dirty workforce, while others might choose to show how some African Americans have a tighter moral compas than many whites. Some might choose to show how nuclear power is safe and environmentally friendly while others cast a much more dark and scary. Some films use satire to make a mockery of the other side, showing how far fetched and outrageous the opposing side’s augments are.

In the short film with the three stooges, satire is used to make a mockery of how dictators exploit the uneducated to amass power over people.

Not only does the film show the pitfalls of dictatorships and why they fail but also how they come to existence. When the ruling party wants more power, a dictatorship is used to try and accomplish their task. However once the appeasement is over and the corruption begins the ruling class implodes and eventually ceases to exist. This film with the three stooges was created in a manner to highlight the extremes of foreign countries government styles. The issue it address was how inefficient other countries are and how we are superior. Its a common issue for directors to cover, many films are created to showcase the shortcomings of others to assert oneself’s dominance. The three stooges in their short film did this by playing idiot dictators who couldn't accomplish much other than sawing a square table into an octagon one yet alone run a country. The time of the move coincides with the American war with Germany and the audience would of been externally receptive to seeing a mockery about the germans. The appetite to cast Nazis as scum was very tolerable, given this it is important to note that this short film with the three stooges was one of the first films to blast the Nazi regime. It is probably not a coincidence that this film used satire to mock the Nazis because satire and laughter is used often to “test the waters” on issues because it is more lighthearted than other techniques. This rule holds true still today that satire is used at the front line of new controversies, take for example the TV show The Daily Show with Trevor Noah or the former TV show The Colbert Report with Steven Colbert. Both of the TV Shows constantly take daily events and show how the ideals and ideology of major actors are flawed and how in some cases injustices are carried out. The three stooges film could very will be an extended segment of the

modern TV shows listed above, so one as to form the connection that the three stooges film and much of the collection of their work carved out the market and tested the strategies that The Colbert Report and The Daily Show use today.

Propaganda has been used time and time again with very effective results as long as outside information can not crack the stranglehold. Many governments, even our own government uses propaganda techniques both on foreign and domestic targets, so its safe to asume that theses techniques are always in the toolkit of everyone trying to convince masses of anything from large ideas to small subjects. Film makes are very aware of the abilities of propaganda and use it frequently. After watching Atomic Cafe it is real clear the use of propaganda in how radiation was being discussed as next to harmless in order to create a false since of security. That is one big issue that is tackled in many films that use propaganda, either by creating a false since of security or creating a feeling of insecurity. In the film Atomic Cafe, short video clips are compiled from the early days of nuclear testing to show how officials were downplaying the harmful effects of nuclear radiation in an attempt to harbor safe feelings in the general public on their regards to an imminent threat from the Cold War. Back then, school aged kids were instructed to drop and cover when they saw a bright flash. They where told that dropping and covering was enough to save their lives, but that is simply not true. The harmful effects of radiation called gamma rays are able to penetrate much of anything therefor covering ones self offers very little protection. The issue addressed of security helped put the general public at ease even though it was just a superficial sense. One unique aspect of the film Atomic Cafe was it’s use of cartoons and other interconnected short scenes inside the movie it’s self to further draw the conclusions that officials where dumbing down the harmful effects of nuclear fallout. Another great point is the use of cartoons in the movie because cartoons are used all the time to convey issues without using words in an effective way. Take for example your regular Sunday paper, it is full of cartoons, but more specially political cartoons that poke fun at the mis-givings of a person or group, political cartoons are extremely powerful mediums for making points and showing the audience the raw truth behind the curtains. That is why the film was extremely powerful in showing the different angles that nuclear radiation was being educated to the general public. Some information was being completely transfigured and spread out while some of the more later information was much harsher, but most of the information was being conveyed in real simple, sometimes even animated ways. This goes back to relate to the movie Inception and how the best way to convince someone of an idea is to let them come to the conclusion on their own. By using smaller and more directed tidbits of information, the director/producer is able to aid in one’s own imagination so that they can develop the augment for themselves. That was key in The Atomic Cafe by using small sections/scenes to draw up a picture that showed how ridiculous early officials were on the use of atomic bombs, the scenes in the movie enforced the issue of a false sense of security that was trying to be painted by the early officials through propaganda. The videos that were used to teach school aged kids to stop drop and cover to protect themselves was merely used to stop panic among the public and it worked. The movie was a perfect example of how propaganda was used to to convey a message that was untrue but that was more popular with the major players in control.

Films are created with a purpose, some’s purpose is to merely escape from reality and enjoy light sensible humor while others’ purposes are more complex and dive into murky water to make a point. This has been the case for film since the beginning and it still holds true today, take Steve Harvey’s new TV show Little Big Shots for example. It is the best escape from the chaotic presidential campaigns that have seemly hit an all time low in terms of dirty attacks. Films fit a purpose of their time, they are modeled by what is going on around them, the issue could be crazy world leaders who happen to make great satirical characters or it could be to calm to the general public on a new health scare during a war time environment. No matter the issue a film can paint a picture to create undertones that effect society.