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Understanding Onion articles
Understanding Onion articles
The Onion satire analysis
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Recommended: Understanding Onion articles
Within the past year, I’ve become a big fan of The Onion and it’s satirical articles. The articles in The Onion poke fun at the world that it is all around us, whether it be world news, politics, or simply people we encounter in our daily lives. It’s a way of helping us cope and with the tough world we live in, as well as reassuring us that some of the frustrating situation we are a part of are normal and the people we find annoying annoy other people as well. It succeeds in that quite well, especially if one understands the satire in the article, and if they relate to it. You can most certainly tell when this humor works if people not only laugh at it, but that the people they share it with laugh as well. There are people who don’t
understand satire and believe the articles to be real, if real than totally outrageous at that. That means it’s successful as well, because the satire is so well crafted and reflects the absurdity of reality that a few people would actually believable. This type of humor works well for me, because I relate to many of the articles, or have thought of the topics so much in my own life. It’s so interesting and humorous to see that im the only person who hasn’t had the experiences or thoughts the articles are about. I enjoy sharing these articles because it’s a way of telling people that I relate to the article and it may build a connection with people who have faced similar frustrating situations.
In the mock press release create by “The Onion”, the new shoe insert Magnasoles are described as being set apart from all other shoe inserts by the pseudoscience that the sole imploys. The new soles are being marketed as having magical powers are curing peoples injuries and changing the ways that people are walking. The writers of the press release use falsified ethos and claims in order to show the public how gullible consumers are becoming.
“The Onion’s” mock press release on the MagnaSoles satirical article effectively attacks the rhetorical devices, ethos and logos, used by companies to demonstrate how far advertisers will go to convince people to buy their products. It does this by using manipulative, “scientific-sounding" terminology, comparisons, fabrication, and hyperboles.
How naive are product consumers today? People assume things are factual without questioning the credibility of a person or product. An article in “The Onion” mocks advertisers in a satirical tone to show the bizarre tactics companies use to market their products to customers. The author writes on the topic of “MagnaSoles” shoe inserts, a fictional brand used for his demonstration. He uses devices such as humor, false authority/science, and irony to display the outlandish strategies of advertisers.
In the article The Onion the satire being made criticizes how easily it is for people to believe in an advertised product even though it may be false. The purpose of the writers use of diction, exaggeration, and sarcasm is to make it clear as to how manipulative people have become believing in any products shown in ridiculous advertisement. In this specific article it targets the way an advertisement uses exaggerated stories such as Helene’s or Geoff DeAngelis in order to try to create a connection to an everyday person. Moreover the way they make themselves more credible by their use of a credible source such as the doctors. In total the way an advertisement builds itself to make themselves seem credible to sell their product.
While the tone may range from playful to angry, satire generally criticizes in order to make a change. Exaggeration, parody, reversal, and incongruity are satirical devices. Author’s use satirical devices to strengthen their central idea.
Satire is form of comedy in which flaws in people or society are chastised in order to prompt change in the objects of criticism. Regardless of how long ago comedy itself may have existed, the concept of satire was introduced by the Roman satirists, Juvenal and Horace. The tones conveyed in their writing characterize the main modes of satire, being Horatian and Juvenalian, and are still used in satire today. Presently, two popular forms of comedy that employ satirical elements include parody news sources and comedic performances. Although satirical writing has evolved throughout history, many aspects of satire are still apparent in both the articles of parody news sources, like The Onion, and the performances of professional comedians, like
For example, the comedy shows The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon expresses satirical humor concerning politics. His show also demonstrates political satire by telling jokes and even impersonating political figures for the audience. He creates humor through sarcasm that focuses on real issues. His sarcastic humor causes others to feel more confident in their criticism toward politicians. For example, “Jimmy Fallon expresses his humor about Donald Trump, impersonating his appearance and imitating his voice while talking about politics. He uses his humor by impersonating Donald Trump and his sweeping generalizations with Madea (Rogo).” Jimmy Fallon shows people his views through humor and it creates a sense of community to express their agreeable and disagreeable views. As we discussed some ideas about satirical humor that affects political changes, it was important to reveal their feelings about changes in life and drove them to look upon their society or government more
Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
Humor is more than just amusing entertainment to pass the time. Though jokes and witty banter can be shallow, humor can go deeper than surface level to convey messages to audiences who would otherwise be close-minded about certain ideas. Humor is a great tool to get audiences to change the way they think, feel, and act. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” Alexander Weinstein uses humor to criticize some of society’s faults, such as the way it has become heavily reliant on technology, racially insensitive, and judgmental. As technology advances, people are adapting and becoming more reliant upon it.
Satire is customarily discussed as “humor critiquing current political or social issues. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary defines satire as the type of derisive humor or irony; mocking wit; sarcasm especially employed against something perceived as foolish or immoral.” While the Oxford English Dictionary’s emphasis on humor calls attention to the mockery of these issues, it does not present the consequences of certain actions. In the Onion article titled “Underfunded Schools Forced to Cut Past Tense From Language Programs” and The Simpsons episode “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish, satire also addresses the effects of certain decisions on society. Attending to the consequences of the actions or decisions that are being satirized allows us to see how satire can help us come to
The 21st century marks the crisis of journalism as the rise of social media and the oversaturation of news outlets for consumers has caused a steady decrease in viewership, especially in younger viewers, as well as the inevitable death of the traditional newspaper. According to Geoffrey Baym, the public has become increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of news mediums as the lines between news (public) and business interests are being increasingly blurred. This is due to major news network like NBC, CBS, or ABC turning their news programs into “infotainment”. The emphasis of these news programs are on entertainment rather than reporting on traditional current events and politics. Although traditional journalism is coming to a close, alternative methods of journalism have emerged. One such example is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. While the main objective of the show is to entertain, increasingly more people are gathering their information about current events from satirical news programs like The Daily Show and late-night talk shows. The Daily Show establishes itself as a credible, alternative source of journalism by using satire to question figures of authority, critique current events by use of parody, and create a forum for discussion of subjects related to democracy.
South Park, though an animated television series, is notoriously known for being a ball of undermined commentaries and criticisms. South Park’s unrestricted and haughty demonstration of the world issues has captured its audiences ever since its very first episode, that summer of 1997. Just recently, it has capped its 20th season back in December 2016 marking 19 years of successful television run. South Park has broke boundaries in terms of censorship and has become a medium for revealing societal stereotypes on ethnicity and race. Its blatant use of hostile terms and tackling of sensitive subjects hold its uproar every single episode. Through the strategic use of satirical elements that come in both non-verbal communication, as seen through the use of visuals and the verbal communication in the form of the language utilized in the character’s dialogues; South Park provided its audiences with its brazen views on racism.
Satire is defined as “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues” (Oxford). The best satirical writers can make the readers believe that an idea is “logical and practical.” This is seen in great abundance in Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World. Through his writing, Huxley uses satire to effectively point out the flaws of society at the time. Even though Brave New World was written in 1931, the satirical points Huxley makes are still relevant in today’s world.
The two satirical cartoons satirized similar subject that involves technology and how it is greatly affecting our society. Therefore, the people and technological innovation is both being satirized in these two cartoon.