Film or television satire may be of thepolitical,religious, or social variety. Works using satire are often seen as controversial ortaboo in nature, with topics such as race, class, system, violence, sex, war, and politics,criticizing orcommenting on them, typically under the disguise of other genres including, but not limited to,comedies, dramas,parodies,fantasies and/orscience fiction.[1]
The Great Dictator (1940), one of the most famous examples of political satire in film, criticized the regime of Adolf Hitler.
Satire may or may not[2] use humor or other, non-humorous forms as an artistic vehicle to illuminate, explore, and critique[3] social conditions, systems of power[4] ("social, political, military, medical or academic institutions"[5]),hypocrisy, and other instances ofhuman behavior.
Film directorJonathan Lynn generally advises against marketing one's work as "satire" because according to Lynn it "can substantially reduce viewing figures and box office" due to a presumed negative perception of satire in the [American] industry:
George S. Kaufman, the great Broadway playwright and director, and screenwriter, once said: 'Satire is what closes on Saturday night.' An excellent wisecrack, but it led the way to a general belief in America that satire is not commercial. When you pitch a satirical film idea, don't refer to it as satire. I used to, and I was met with the inevitable response that satirical films don't make money. This view is factually incorrect. Plenty have done so, if budgeted right.[6]
Film, more than television,[7] offers advantages for satire, such as the "possibility of achieving the proper balance" between realism andnon-realism, using the latter to communicate about the former.[7] The ideal climate for a satirical film involves "fairly free" political conditions and/or independent producers with "modest" financial backing.[7]
United States
In the case of American satire,Roger Rosenblatt postulated thatpost-9/11 political climate "causedirony's death." Satire has been subjected to official and unofficial pressures[8] concluding in self-censorship or outright removal of the material, with the reason given of satire not being economically viable.[9][10] In the case of television, controversial content creators have been historically constrained byFederal Communications Commission regulations (Gray et al., p. 181),[10] which threatens them with sanctions for airing alleged "indecent material"[8] but also by industry and corporate watchdogs. Since the 1930s, with notable example being theHays Office, there have always been organizations that "watch[ed] closely over media content to ensure it doesn't threaten the commercial climate in general and their products in particular." Typical pressures put on American satire that present topics of (anti-)war, patriotism, sex, religion, ethnicity, and race.[8]
In another view, censorship and content sanitization cannot eliminate satire. Production of political satire between 1929 and 1960 was scarce but uninterrupted. Pro-government comic relief satire devoid of criticism was one strain of satire found on radio and television during the 1940s and 1950s that was "mass audience-oriented, nonradical," and focused on "[safe] plot lines [of] middle-class, suburban, white characters" typified by 1950s sitcoms, such asI Love Lucy, while the so-called edgier strain was rediscovered in the burgeoning stand-up comic scene in the late 1950s and forward. The latter was typified bycomedy musicalbums ofTom Lehrer, standup comedy ofLenny Bruce,MAD magazine, and Chicago improvisational comedy troupeSecond City.[11]
Satirical films about "life in Russia during theStalin era" were banned.[7] In the 1990s, Russian television show producers were charged with "tax evasion and illegal currency dealings" after airing an episode showing a critical caricature ofBoris Yeltsin but those charges were dropped after television network president condemned this action.[13]
Georgia
The 1987 art filmRepentance, initially banned[14] in Russia and Russia-controlled Eastern Europe, only[12] shown in Georgia before being internationally released in 1987 with permission of by-then head of stateMikhail Gorbachev,[15] contained satirical allusions to Stalin.[16] AcademicianDmitry Likhachov considered the film "significant" for society as a whole: "The past does not die. It is necessary to publish in journals of mass circulation works which were not published in the past. The main theme in literature now is repentance."[15] Other Georgian films that were banned includeMy Grandmother (revived 1976), an art film with surreal and satirical elements, andSaba, a satirical drama byMikheil Chiaureli.[17]
^abcdHodgart, Matthew John Caldwell (1969).Satire: Origins and Principles, Transaction Publishers, p. 242,ISBN9781412833646.
^abcFreedman, Leonard (2008).The Offensive Art: Political Satire and Its Censorship around the World from Beerbohm to Borat: Political Satire and Its Censorship around the World from Beerbohm to Borat, ABC-CLIO, p. 35,ISBN9780313356018.
^Gournelos T, Greene V (2011).A Decade of Dark Humor: How Comedy, Irony, and Satire Shaped Post- 9/11 America, Univ. Press of Mississippi, pages xxix, 63, 224,ISBN9781617030079.
^abcGray J., Jones J.P., Thompson E. (2009).Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-network Era. NYU Press.ISBN9780814731994. Quote: "[T]he economics of cable programming showed that while satirical programming is popular, there are limitations to the types of satirical programs that make economic sense in the post-network era."
^Kayorie, James Stephen Merritt (2019). "Introduction". In Baumgartner, Jody C. (ed.).American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and Their Impact on U.S. Policy and Culture. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 240–250.ISBN9781440854866.
^abde Baets, Antoon (2002)Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide, 1945–2000, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 529,ISBN9780313311932.
^abMarsh, R. (1995).History and Literature in Contemporary Russia, Springer, pp. 34–35,ISBN9780230377790.
^The New York Times Biographical Service, A compilation of current biographical information of general interest, Volume 25, Arno Press (1994).Quote: "Mr. Abduladze was best known for his 1984 film "Repentance," a fierce satire of Stalinism that won the special jury prize."
^Inside Soviet Film Satire (edited by Andrew Horton, 2005), Cambridge University Press, p. 111.ISBN9780521021074.
^abcBoy Culture: An Encyclopedia (2010) (ed. Shirley R. Steinberg, Michael Kehler, Lindsay Cornish). Greenwood, p. 279,ISBN9780313350849.
^abcThe Deep End of South Park: Critical Essays on Television's Shocking Cartoon Series. McFarland. 2009. pp. 4–7.ISBN978-0-7864-4307-9. Retrieved18 September 2020..Quote (p. 7): "Parker and Stone's satiric focus is not directed solely toward aspects of religious worship. They have tackled such challenging topics as euthanasia ("Death"), the right to die ("Best Friends Forever"), the war in Iraq ("I'm a Little Bit Country"), the plight of the rainforests ("Rainforest, Schmainforest"), Hurricane Katrina ("Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow"), gay marriage ("Follow that Egg"), anti-tobacco legislation ("Butt Out"), geriatric driving ("Grey Dawn"), and Barbra Streisand ("Mecha Streisand")[.]"
^Leyshon, Andrew (2014).Reformatted: Code, Networks, and the Transformation of the Music Industry, OUP Oxford, p. 69,ISBN9780191024740.Quote: "Stan, Kyle, and Kenny are arrested by the FBI for filesharing and then given an illustration of the consequences of their actions through the 'hardship' endured by musicians who consequently had to 'forego' royalty income. Metallica's drummer, Lars Ulrich, a strident opponent of Napster, is depicted as crying by the edge of his swimming pool. The boys are informed by the agent that Ulrich 'was hoping to have a gold-plated shark tank bar installed right next to the pool, but thanks to people downloading his music for free, he must now wait a few months before he can afford it' (Comedy Central, 2003: 'Christian Hard Rock [sic],'South Park, season 7, episode 9)."
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United States
Lebanon
Russia
Georgia