2/20/2017 - What is satire cartoon?
To me what makes a satirical television
show successful is attacking the issue with a smart approach and mocking it in
the right angles. A show that does this brilliantly is South Park. What makes South Park a successful satire
cartoon show is the shock value and its ability to get the message across no
matter how controversial, vulgar, or disgusting the content is. South Park does
this well through its simplistic animation and an array of characters.
In one South Park’s most memorable
episodes, South Park Elementary gets a new principal named “PC Principal.” PC Principal
is the satirical manifestation of political correctness war in todays media. PC
Principal is an aggressive individual that is passionate about the equal rights
for all and attacks any that shows the slightest hint of intolerance of any
kind. PC Principal is a satirical approach of the “social justice warrior” and
the creators of South Park are geniuses when it comes to critically mocking
things that are a strain in society. This is how you do satire for cartoons.
But not all cartoons that are satire are satire.
There’s a new cartoon that says its
satire, but I think its nihilistic and is not funny in anyway. “Our Cartoon
President” is a political “satire” cartoon that mocks President Donald Trump, his
family, his cabinet, and other republican politicians that is related to President
Trump. Created by Stephen Colbert, the show exams a typical day at the White
House under the Trump Administration. The
offer nothing fresh or insightful for a political satire cartoon. Most of the comedic
gags just mocks the portrayal of characters with physical exaggeration of their
appearances or deformities or their quirks such as President Trumps accent.
Our Cartoon President is only a few
episodes out but out of the 3 episodes that have been aired, it has shown me nothing
funny or anything that makes me find it remotely satire. It has given me a few
laughs but for the wrong reason. For a political satire cartoon I should be laughing
because it was written by Stephen Colbert, the star of The Colbert Report, another
political show that was genius when it came for mocking conservative because Stephen
Colbert was portraying as a conservative extremist. But not this time, most of
the jokes from Our Cartoon presidents are to please liberal viewers that despise
President Trump and his administration.
Great choice of a satirical cartoon in South Park. I also have talked about the many ways Trey Parker and Matt Stone choose to discuss the hypocrisy on both sides of the political and social spectrum. When it comes to Stephen Colbert, however, I find myself longing for the days of Colbert Report. I guess that might be because I enjoy the character Colbert portrayed on The Colbert Report more than I enjoy the regular Stephen Colbert on the Late Night Show. The Late Night Show has gone so Trump heavy it has become almost unbearable to watch, I get that Colbert's background is politics but I think he needs to focus more on polishing the interviewer and interviewee aspect of his show more so than the constant Trump bashing.
ReplyDeleteI have been pondering on whether or not South Park is satire or actually nihilistic. I do agree with you that Matt Stone and Trey Parker are geniuses and with South Park they hit all the right satirical notes, but if you make fun of everything do you really make fun of nothing? The question doesn't really make sense but if nothing is off limits in way of being made fun of for being wrong, is there something right? I'm not sure. I also heard poor things about Our Cartoon President and you seem to be right about its lack of satirical elements.
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