Satire Parody Carnivalesque Cancelled 2003 Another selfreflexive episode

Satire, Parody, & Carnivalesque

“Cancelled” (2003) • Another self-reflexive episode (supposed to be 100 th) – Parody of first episode (“Cartman Gets and Anal Probe”) • Written with Normal Lear of All in the Family • Intertextuality: • – Dukes of Hazzard chase parody – Contact (1997), alien film – Independence Day (1996) Don King, Missy Elliot, Michael Jordan,

“Cancelled” cont'd • Nerzod Productions reality show: Earth • Low ratings, Earth gets cancelled • Boys speak to the heads of the Fognl Network, who control all the universe's media: the Joozians • Carnival? Satire? Parody?

Parody vs. Satire Humor Mimics a concept, idea, person, text (relies on that subject for effect) Pure mocking or mimicking Laughing only Humor Doesn't reproduce or mimic subject directly (it is more subtle in its critique) social/political change (may mock) Critical thought through humor

Parody vs. Satire cont'd Relies on borrowing Intertextual or dialogic Can stand alone Uses euphemism, exaggeration, irony Humor meets anger Uses parody as a tool Challenge to status quo or dominant “discourses”

Medieval Carnival

Mikhail Bakhtin “Carnivalesque” Analysis of Rabelais's scatological satire, Gargantua and Pantagruel Examines folk or popular culture 1)Ritual spectacle: collapse of hierarchy. . . inversions of power structures 2)Comic verbal compositions: Parodies 3)Genres of billingsgate: vernacular or playground language 4)Scatological humor/bodily excess Beggars become kings and vice versa

Bakhtin Cont'd Satirical humor and “festive laughter” (scatological humor). . . grotesque body “Low body stratum” humor= fucking, pissing, shitting, farting, drinking, eating, wieners Upper body= wit, the brain, dominant discourses and ideologies Body and carnival are political; hierarchy and control are subverted, parody of authority South Park performs carnivalesque on TV

Images of the Grotesque Body Of transformation, growing and becoming pregnancy, birth, growth, old age, disintegration, dismemberment Openness of body: mouth, nose, anus, ears, vagina Protrusion of body: pot belly, penis, breast, nose Carnival is about exposure of the body and sexual fantasy

“The Hobbit” (2013) Satire of the impact of media on body image, esp. with young girls and boys How consumers view themselves and the distortion of that view via the media Self image is not only in our heads but on a computer for mass consumption. Our bodies are consumed this way (as selfies? )

Parody?

South Park as Carnivalesque Satire

South Park's mode of representation “Carnivalesque mode of representation. . . ” Treats socio-political issues that cross political and ideological boundaries (in the middle) Success in the 18 -34 demographic Appeals to liberals and conservatives Mocks the lesson learned of sitcoms South Park is not an “end” synthesis but is dialogic Paradox of cutout animation and serious topics Carnivalesque/Scat challenges dominant discourses

Archie Bunker Norman Lear's All in the Family Conservative, bigot, racist Laugh AT Archie for his views as he's the victim of his own conservatism “Equal Time” (less gun control)

As Carnivalesque “Low” language of the marketplace Drink, dance, curse The inversion of power structure and its traditions Parody of official language Participatory or “folk” culture (of the people) Carnival offers a new outlook on life TV as heteroglossia: multiple discourses (dialogic) and not singular meaning

In South Park Bodies are grotesque (i. e. Cartman) Mocking of authority figures Scatological humor applied to dominant discourse, ideas, and views And, applied to “serious” issues Boys presented with situation that adults make worse through excess of some sort Recaptures the “public sphere” Issues are translated into a “disturbance of the South Park narrative equilibrium” (p. 223)

“Douche and Turd” (2004)

Thompson “Rather than articulating a consistently conservative or liberal voice, South Park's carnivalesque mode creates a space for viewers to engage multiple social discourses from a variety of political subjectivities, while underminding the supposed legitimacy of those discourses. ” (p. 226) South Park is in the middle, it's apolitical in this sense, shows the ridiculousness of extremism

“The Jeffersons” (2004)