Satire: An explication

Abstract

Over the past two millennia, satire has transformed from a uniquely Greco-Roman theatrical and poetic form into an ambiguous catch-all applied to political and sociocultural commentary, humor, parody, sarcasm and irony. Despite being a subject of study in any number of fields, explications of satire are limited. It is likely for this reason that there are inter- and intra- disciplinary disconnects in theoretical and methodological approach. Given the contemporary proliferation of satirical work, a proper explication of satire will improve text identification, empirical measures, and interdisciplinary collaboration in satirical research. To that end, this paper explicates satire, evaluates contemporary satirical research in the context of this explication, and recommends future research lines to expand the study of a pervasive construct.

Is the Great Barrier Reef dead? Satire, death and environmental communication

“…While satire is capable of drawing from the contradiction of polar opposites – of protection and life and simultaneously, destruction and death – its power depends on context and intent, but not necessarily humour. Park-Ozee (2019) explains that satire is:‘inherently purposeful, seeking to critique socio-cultural, economic, or political structures, norms, or ideals. It utilizes combinations of absurdity, distortion, reversal, and reduction to expose the incongruities in the subject of critique.…”

“…This paper contributes here by observing how satire can simultaneously foster awareness and promote inaction on climate change as it moves through contemporary communication networks and across local to global contexts. In doing so, we note Park-Ozee’s (2019, 600) critical intervention into the current studies of satire as limited by a reliance on the work of white, male satirists, thus ignoring satirical critique from non-western culture and marginalising racial minority and women's voices and excluding the non-literary.…”

Humor and satire in politics: Introducing cultural sociology to the field

“…An additional distinguishing feature of satire is that it always contains some level of fantasy and imagination (Frye, 1957/2000). In other words, using mechanisms such as absurdity, inversion, distortion, and reduction, a satirist creates “an improbably fantastic oppositional reality” in comparison to which “reality look[s] impossibly absurd” (Park‐Ozee, 2019, p. 589). Finally, the most significant distinction between satire and other forms of humor is its focus on political topics.…”