British Satire from World War II to Now
I just realised that the son’s name is Roger.
Definition:
| — vb | |
| 3. | slang (of a man) to copulate (with) |
| usage The verb sense of this word was formerly considered to betaboo, and it was labelled as such in previous editions of CollinsEnglish Dictionary. However, it has now become acceptable inspeech, although some older or more conservative people mayobject to its use | |
I’ve decided to choose Spitting Image for my research topic. I was really drawn to the show because of the work they did on Margaret Thatcher and the Royal Family and the puppets. I’m really impressed with how varied the show’s sketchs, (including some animation) and comedy are with the puppets because I considered the puppets to be a restriction on them. However, the puppets really allow for more variety because the puppets are more malleable for different characters than actors sometimes.
Spitting Image was from 1984 to 1996 and usually showed on Sundays at 10 pm. Many of the featured people were politicians and journalists and although many were annoyed with the puppet portrayals of themselves, most considered having a puppet as a mark that they had made it big. As it progresses, SPitting Image added athletes and celebrities to their puppet collections as well as animated sketchs.
I am going to do my research project on the show, “Not the Nine O’Clock News” (1979-1981), because of its similarity to American shows “The Colbert Report,” “The Conan O’Brien Show” and “The Daily Show” for relaying world news and events through comedy and satire. I also think it would be very interesting to compare the execution (how/what was actually said) of the satirical political and social commentary for the two different countries.
From an article on the BBC website explaining Not the Nine O’Clock News:
“Not The Nine O’Clock News was the first major programme showcasing the talent of the so-called ‘alternative’ comedy performers. Unlike the Bernard Mannings of the world, the performers didn’t rely on boob gags and mother in law jokes to get them through the day. They dealt in observational comedy and were about to put their observations not just of life, but of the events of the world and the country to work, in the first major topical comedy programme since the 1960s”
The whole article can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/notthenineoclock/
I chose to do my research on the Show “That Was The Week That Was.” We had watched a little clip in class and I thought this would be an interesting pick. This video was kind of a shock for me because I was surprised they would address the topic this way. The woman sang about African Americans hanging from trees because she was addressing the racism in the south. This show was obviously satrical, but this song in my eyes may have been taken too far. I don’t think the use of the “n” word is appropriate in any way, even if they were trying to “make humor” on the topic. From some research I found an article that was interesting. It said, “The idea for That Was the Week That Was (which familiarly became known as TW3) came partly from the then director general of the BBC, Hugh Greene, who wanted to “prick the pomposity of public figures.'” I was unsure of what the word “pomposity” meant so I looked it up in the dictonary and found: lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity. So the shows intent was to comment on the way that some public figures acted by thinking that they were better than others and having excessive pride in themselves.
CAST
David Frost
Millicent Martin
Bernard Levin
Lance Percival
Roy Kinnear
William Rushton
Timothy Birdsall
John Wells
Kenneth Cope
David Kernan
Al Mancini
John Bird
Eleanor Bron
Roy Hudd
PRODUCER Ned Sherrin
PROGRAMMING HISTORY 36 50 Minute Episodes 1 150 Minute Special 1 100 Minute Special
BBC
29 September 1962 150 Minute Special
24 November 1962-27 April 1963 23 Episodes
28 September 1963-21 December 1963 13 Episodes
28 December 1963 100 Minute Special
I have chosen to concentrate on Blackadder (the fourth series) because it compacts so much satire into short scenes and conversations between the characters and at the same time represents the different types of people and the British soldiers’ attitudes towards WWI. This final series also embodies the anti-German and mainly anti-war sentiments felt by the Allies.
Rowan Atkinson plays Captain Blackadder, a self centered, sarcastic (but still funny) captain whose pompous demeanor mainly takes root in the prowess of the British Empire at the time. Hugh Laurie (also known as ‘House’ to those of you who have good taste in television) plays Lieutenant George, an upper class ‘Edwardian twit’, and Tony Robinson plays the unrealistically stupid ( for lack of a more appropriate term) Private Baldrick.
All of these characters have obvious references. For example, Captain Blackadder’s egocentricity is perhaps an exaggerated depiction of the national pride felt Great Britain felt coming into the war due to their then-vast empire, strong Naval force etc. Private Baldrick’s silly, confused and uninformed questions on the other hand, clearly refer to how many soldiers were inadequately prepared for war, mainly due to the conscription bill introduced in Britain in 1916. These can be seen in this short clip.
And don’t worry about the Captain’s apparently poor fashion taste, its actually a stunt he’s pulling to get kicked out of the army for being mad. This is yet another example of satire, criticizing the extent to which soldiers would go to stop fighting in the war.
I’ve decided that I want to focus my research on the show Beyond The Fringe.
Upon Googling this show, the first thing that appears is the following video:
Beyond The Fringe on Oxford Philosophy
This video clearly satirizes those who call themselves “philosophers” and the way in which they dig deeply into whatever they do and ask how and why things are the way they are. When they attempt to reason why philosophy is important in everyday life, he uses an example of someone in an argument at a shop saying “What do you mean yes?” as if there really is another meaning to the simple word of affirmation, yes.
I can appreciate this type of satire because these actors are intelligent enough to make arguments and statements that are not just absurd but also the kinds of things that those who truly believe themselves to be brilliant philosophers would probably say.
This is a great article about a new film in the works that the Monty Python members are collaborating on. The film will be a sci-fi comedy called “Absolutely Anything” that is sure to be influenced by the Monty Python legacy. The article cites that it will have the same “sensibility” of their satire work. I’m curious to see if their new work will be responded to in the same way in 2012 as it was in the 1970s, or if audiences will react differently.
I think dystopic scenarios are also valid.
they can mock things that are going on in society and not get in trouble for it.
Satire often will tell the truth and sometimes will even deal with very important issues.
I believe this is vital to satirical presentation because it presents ideas in forms only visible to the discerning eye, and therefore avoids falling victim to being passed off as ‘just another critical assessment’.
sometimes I think that today in our society, we get caught up in the entertainment factor, the sparkle, the flash, and sometimes, the obscenity that is part of satire and forget to find the little truths behind the curtain.
Satire offers the audience a chance to see another side of an event, speech, or idea, opening perspectives and giving them a chance to laugh at the serious stuff.
I think we should begin with a discussion of satire. Some definitions from different sources would be good. Let’s post them and discuss them. I have always thought of satire in relation to comedy, but Jillian rightly threw that idea away by bringing up 1984 as a satire. So let’s see where we go from here.
See the whole document on Blackboard, but Hughet who wrote a book about the Roman satirist Juvenal has these criteria for satire:1. Does it tell the truth?
Welcome to our Archer Seminar blog. This is a good place for us to carry on a conversation about British satire, and to post things as we come across them.