Advanced English - Satire help! (1 Viewer)

[kyskav]

I am wondering if some Spongebob Squarepants episodes could be interesting additional texts for a satire essay? Or is not sophisticated enough for an advanced class?
Does anyone have any other suggestions for good satirical texts?
Thank you!

 

[Absolutezero]

There's probably not enough there to do a deep analysis.

If you still want to do television, anything by Chris Lilley (We Can Be Heros, Summer Heights High), The Chaser, Political Comedy Shows (Newstopia, Colbert) would work. Also, shows like Blackadder or The Office have strong elements of Satire.

 

[SuchSmallHands]

There's one episode where a butterfly is let loose or something and Spongebob and Patrick cause a riot trying to find it and at the end of the episode the whole city is burning and Spongebob says 'we did it Patrick! We saved the city' or something like that and a girl in my ext. 1 class did it as a satire of US involvement in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan to 'save the people'. She got really good marks for it, so you can definitely do it.

 

[SuchSmallHands]

Gulliver's Travels by Jonothan Swift is a good sophisticated satire to study though, if you want to do something a little safer.

 

[57o1i]

At first glance, the idea has some potential, but I think the problem will lie in how you deal with the show's target audience. Generally you wouldn't find sustained satirical programs in the children's market. I think you could make the case that the show is intended to appeal to both children and adults, and that its humour is designed with this split in mind, but you will need to put some thought into it.

AbsoluteZero's TV suggestions are great - if you want political satire I would also recommend The Thick of It or In the Loop (British TV and film) or its American reincarnation, Veep. A film like Thank You for Smoking would also play well.