Tom Tomorrow: Satire by the book

[kpete]

Tom Tomorrow:
Satire by the book

The internets are full of declarative statements about satire these days, the most common of which being that “satire does not work unless it portrays its intended target.”

So let’s consider this image:


Clearly this cartoon doesn’t work at all, because there is no way for the reader to understand that its intended target was not Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden themselves. So let’s see what we can do to clarify things:



That makes the intention of the cartoon clearer — but there’s still room for improvement.



There! That’s much better! But maybe, just to be safe, we should take it one step further:



Okay then! With no room for misinterpretation whatsoever — that’s comedy gold!

Remember: satire does not work unless it literally portrays the intended target!
http://www.thismodernworld.com/

[AspenRose]

1. Wow!

:applause:

[Terran]

2. LOL, thanks

Lot a' people around here talking about satire like they suddenly have Ph.D.'s in English.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. Okay, Tom, we get the point.

But some of us still think the NYer cartoon was poorly executed satire. It happens.

[Enrique]

4. people aren't making a general point like that

they're saying that this particular attempt misfired.

[Duncan Grant]

5. You mean The New Yorker cover isn't a racist hate crime or similar to Nazi propaganda?

Some DUers will be very disappointed to learn this.

[underpants]

6. Conservatives still wouldn't understand

for whatever reason they just don't get irony or satire.

[Duncan Grant]

7. Kick

:kick:

[robertpaulsen]

8. You know what the difference is between Tom Tomorrow and The New Yorker?

Tom Tomorrow is funny.

[2 Much Tribulation]

9. when truth is like satire and satire's like truth well then....

we're chasing our tails until we realize we been completely HAD. See, especially Bill Moyers' speech, available on truthout.org on "which wolf we feed"