In light of the Onion’s failed attempt to satirize the casual misogyny that infects pop culture, I thought we might talk about satire that works.
What are some examples of great Hollywood satire — TV or film — that works? And does satire need to sting in order to be great?
I’m gonna pick one of my favorites, from Saturday Night Live in the 1980s: the assassination of Buckwheat by John David Stutts. The extended bit sent up, among other things:
• American network television news — which was then just starting to feel the heat from new competitor CNN — and the way it can lock on to a juicy story and not let go
• lurid obsession with celebrity
• how advertising saturates media
• the elevation of homicidal criminals to folk heroes
• gun culture and the easy acceptance of guns in everyday life
• the lack of care for the mentally ill (“Do you believe he killed Buckwheat?” “Oh, yes, it was all he ever talked about.”).
In retrospect, the bit looks less like satire and more like the roadmap the future of media and culture would take.
You can watch the John David Stutts stuff on Hulu if you’re in the U.S.
Your turn…
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Sidney Lumet’s Network from 1975. My God, this movie was so ahead of its time it feels like its in pre-production now. You want to see why America is going down the tubes? This film seems like a cheatsheet in seeing the whys and the wherefores.
Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers. I was hesitant to put this here, but while a lot of it is wrongheaded, I’ve never seen a mainstream film that was willing to display every toxic aspect of our culture all at once to the public in such an unapologetic way. The shootout scene at the pharmacy always stands out to me with the female reporter commenting on Woody Harrelson’s character “having a big gun” as he’s holed up and killing police officers. (He’s so virile!) This movie isn’t for everyone. It’s very disturbing–and it should be.
Also, Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare. I’m serious. Its brilliant in indicting America’s failing public school system and in such a breezy, concise way that it blows the documentary Waiting for Superman out of the water in terms of getting straight to the point.
A British TV show from the mid-90s called ‘Brass Eye’. Its creator, Chris Morris (‘Four Lions’), had already made the BBC’s spoof news show ‘The Day Today’ by this point, predating the Onion News Network by a good 10-15 years.
I’ve checked, and all the episodes of ‘Brass Eye’ are on YouTube. The one about drugs – in which clueless politicians and celebrities warn about the dangers of ‘Cake’ – is nothing short of genius. Essential viewing, if only for the phrase ‘Shatner’s bassoon’.
I was going to mention Brass Eye, especially the paedogeddon episode, but then I noticed it says “Hollywood” satire. I couldn’t think of any…
My Brass Eye favourites include Phil Collins (“I’m talking Nonce Sense”) and Dr Fox (“Paedophiles have more genes in common with crabs than with you or me. Now that is scientific fact — there’s no real evidence for it — but it is scientific fact”).
I’m still surprised that The Simpsons is as popular as it is. Everyone knows that satire doesn’t appeal to a mass audience.
I have a feeling a good chunk of people who watch it don’t even know it’s satire. They’re simply amused at face value.
I thought TV was satire. More seriously, the only thing I can think of at the moment is Idiocracy. While I disagree with its basic premise (in the film, the reason that the population got so dumb was natural selection, in which the stupid outbred the intelligent), some aspects of it rang true, like the hostility towards anything resembling intellectual pursuits, the dumbing down of jobs, the glorification of stupidity. The Onion nails satire often enough, though every time I look at comments on their Youtube videos, I get slightly depressed when I read comments by people who think that the news are real. I haven’t seen it yet, but I hear that In the Loop was also pretty good too. Dr Strangelove also nailed its satire of Cold War paranoia and the lunacy of the arms race.
Brazil comes to mind.
MAD TV, apple introduces the I rack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcjLEwZqcQI
Brazil and Idiocracy were already listed – I like both with some reservations. Idiocracy in particular falls into the common trap of inadvertently becoming an example of what it is attempting to criticize.
ProperDave mentioned Four Lions, a satire of Islamic terrorists that starts out silly and successfully transitions to a much darker place by the end. I also have a soft spot for Series 7: The Contenders, a satire ahead of its time that perfectly skewers some of the more ludicrous aspects of “reality” television. Harry Enfield’s Women Know Your Limits short always gives me a chuckle/shudder as does the original Stepford Wives.
In order to be great, satire has to be at least slightly shudder-inducing and dangerous. It has to make the audience question an assumption that is tied tightly to their self-image. If the watcher/reader doesn’t feel a little defensive or even afraid, the satire has failed. No matter how many times people tell me that Family Guy and Southpark (and even Simpsons as of late) are satirical, for the most part, I just don’t see it. For brief moments maybe, but it’s unsustained. The bulk of the jokes are too safe, the writers give their audiences a comforting wink and nudge far too often, and are too eager to please for the shows to really succeed as satire.
I think the outcry over the Onion tweet is evidence of good satire. It’s one thing to say something “outrageous,” offensive, and hurtful for shock value alone, but misogyny was the target, and the outpouring of outrage at what should be recognized as ludicrous hyperbole is a reflection of our failure as a society, as are the legions of people on youtube (and occasionally in the professional media industry) who are unable to recognize onion videos as satire. We have reached a point where it is actually impossible to imagine a statement or perspective that is so vile, hateful, and/or ignorant that it is beyond belief. Poor reading comprehension is partly to blame, but so is the realization that the world (or the internet at least) is actually chock full of people who espouse viewpoints that really are this simplistic, hateful, and willfully ignorant. How sad.
I agree with you that good satire should elicit a reaction from the viewer. But, I also think good satire should elegantly illustrate the object of derision in a way that is not didactic. It should make one question their point of view on things in a way that’s either gross or subtle.
I’ve always felt that great satire not only stings/touches on the heart of an issue, but also offers hope for improvement. Satire should aim to be constructive, not merely destructive. Anyway, great examples of satire:
Dr. Strangelove – My personal favorite example of satire in film. It’s very dark, and takes refuge in absurdity.
The Thick of It/In the Loop – satirizes the venal relationship between politicians and the press. Malcolm Tucker is the most despicable character in the series, and though in the beginning he comes across more as an anti-hero than a villain, by the end of the fourth season it’s clear he’s no one to celebrate.
The Hospital with George C. Scott is cynical and absurd, and though some of its conceits are pretty dated nowadays, it’s cynicism with regard to hospital bureaucracy is not. It offers a touch of hope at the end too.
My favorite work of satire of all time is Catch-22, but I’ve only read the book. If the movie’s half as good as the book, it’s worth a mention. It’s very cynical and absurd, but it offers hope.
I read both M*A*S*H and Catch-22 in high school and immediately went out to see both movies. I confess, I’m not sure why the first went on to be a success and the second was considered a huge flop. Maybe because Catch-22 is darker and more satirical and M*A*S*H is jokier and the characters more lovable? But I love Catch-22 and encourage you to see it.
I second you on the film of ‘Catch 22”-it’s an honest attempt to capture the structure of the book, which makes it quite challenging for any one who hasn’t read it, and is one of the best, and darkest satires ever made, in Hollywood or anywhere else. Naus, as someone who loves the book, should certainly see it. ”MASH” is still quite funny-particulalrly the chaotic football game at the end-but very much a product of its time, and likely to horrify fans of the increasingly cosy television version.
I forgot The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Colbert’s show’s format and style is probably a slightly better example of satire than Jon Stewart’s (though I love them both) – the whole running for president/Colbert SuperPac was probably one of the most illuminating examples of American satire ever.
I second Network and Dr. Strangelove — both masterpieces of satire. I also love Monty Python’s Life of Brian, which I find to be a blackly humorous skewering of groupthink in general as well as a merciless ribbing of several specific religions.
Parts of Sledge Hammer were excellent. Others were just too implausible to be funny (metal detectors in schools, for example).
Once upon a time, a *very* good writer, Jack Pulman (other credits: “I, Claudius” and the 1970 “Jane Eyre”) wrote a comedy about a private in the SS.
“Private Schulz” was dedicated to the proposition that the Nazis were not the efficient super-villains we’ve made them into, but a bunch of stupid, bloodthirsty thugs. It was hilarious. Michael Elphick was indelible as the central character, Billie Whitelaw was sexy and as hard as nails as his love interest, and Ian Richardson took a page from the Alec Guinness/Peter Sellars playbook, showing up in four different roles.
Unfortunately, it was tap-dancing on the edge of the abyss of political correctness, and when it came to Masterpiece Theater (in 1981), there was a great deal of protest about it. So they showed it once, and never repeated it. It remains, to this day, the ONLY Masterpiece Theater presentation that never got repeated.
I gather it has been shown again on UK television, and it’s available on DVD in the UK, but not here in the US.