"What is Satire?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers

Thanks so much for your kind words, @hailmuse! We hope you like the other videos in our series as well!

@Mr Walrus Dude stop

Thanks so much for the comment, PB!

im watching this rn, because my english teacher linked it on a google slide

@@The_ScoobZ Please tell your teacher thank you for the support!

i’m watching this because i’m starting a satire project tomorrow and i don’t fully understand satire. (i’m in 12th grade english)

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Thanks so much, Art! We just published a video on tragedy and we'll add comedy to the list!

This is extremely helpful! Thanks

great video dude

@@aidenlav Thanks, aiden!

Thanks so much! We hope you check out our other videos as well for more definitions of literary terms.

Thanks you for the reply. It is very helpful. I'm gonna use your tips in my next attempt. Ty. Oh by the way I am a Willamette Alum.

@@AlwaysBeCruising No problem! Always good to hear from folks nearby. We have quite a few friends at Willamette! Good luck with your channel.

@@SWLF ty

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Thanks so much, Harry! We agree that the term is frequently misunderstood, but we hope our video helps to steer people in the right direction.

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Thanks so much, Jeff. Unfortunate,y, we don't have any suggestions for writing manuals on the subject. The best way to go (in our opinion) is to read as much of the genre as possible and, perhaps, dig into some literary histories of the genre as it evolved from the classical period through the 18th century and on into the present. Good luck to you!

Thanks so much! We hope you enjoy the other videos in our series as well!

@@SWLF No problem :)

Thanks so much, Jackeline! If you are interested in the Spanish translations for many of our terms, check out the following page: liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/oregon-state-guide-english-literary-terms

@@SWLF Thanks a lot!! Our classes are in English, but our students will always appreciate translations in Spanish :-)

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@@SWLF I will watch the whole series. :)

@@tusharsharma9983 Awesome! Let us know which ones were your favorites if you get the chance. And thanks so much for supporting the project!

We're so happy to hear that you enjoyed the lesson!

Sarah Silverman could talk about ANYTHING and it comes out funny. Some people just have it.

We are as well! Thanks for keeping the conversation going, S Dustin.

@@SWLF English teacher in Oklahoma. Thank you for the content . Well done.

Swift still funny!

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Awesome! Glad to hear you liked this one too!

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You're very welcome, Arnold!

Thanks so much for your suggestion, Alexi57, and for your kind words. We're delighted that the series has made its way to France! We do have a few videos dedicated to poetic subjects--rhyme, meter, enjambment, assonance and consonance, stanza, etc. Would those be what you were looking for with respect to poetry commentary?

@@SWLF Thank you for having me. Yes it is, however analyzing a poem for commentary needs to be done by Professors like you who have a good mastery of the subject and a wide experience. I found the following video , just in case : Analyzing a poem for commentary (by: Brad Coltrane, 2012 ). Many thanks.

@@alexe610 Thanks for the suggestion! We'll give it a look and see if we can fit something into our schedule.

Interesting! How so? It has been awhile since we listened to any old Hicks or Carlin records...

@@SWLF well they have some dark topics with light humour such as the wars in middle East and the selling weapons and receipts bit from Hicks or the Club that they used to bash you over the head by Carlin, just trying to figure out if that's the correct type of satire....🤔🧐

@@Onkarr In those examples, we would suggest that Hicks and Carlin were moving between Horatian and Juvenalian, but mostly staying on the Horatian side.

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Ha! In that case, happy teacher's day, Prof. Clues! Thanks for sharing this video with your class!

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Thanks for the suggestion, Oluwayemisi! We'll give it some thought as we consider new videos for the series!

Thanks so much for your comment, Ned! Your last examples in particular raise some fascinating questions about just how universal these categories of satire are and how widely we should use them. Given the fact that these works (as you categorize them--we aren't familiar with them) seem to resemble Menippean satire but are not influenced by them, could this be the literary equivalent of "convergent evolution"? Is this category ahistorical--existing outside of time and culture--or should this term only be used in Western stories?

I dunno how journey to the west is a satire unless you’re seeing it as commentary of human nature in athropromorphic characters? Like gulliver travel and the different people etc they come across. I guess it could be

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First time I had seen your channel, very glad to know about it , definitely will be back.i do most of the writing for the channel, so I really wanted to say I learned something, and you can't ever know too much

Ha! Thanks, Mark.

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You're very welcome, BAD_PIKACHU_ox!

As fate would have it, that is on our list to record quite soon!

A great example of both a satire and an allegory! Thanks, Hema!

Ha! We hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the question! We have published a video called "What is Irony?" that should help you to distinguish satire from irony. We also will be getting a "What is Sarcasm?" video out soon, so keep an eye out for it.

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Interesting question, Awurama. Would you care to elaborate?

Ummm, we hope that's a good thing?

same XD

There are definitely some satirical elements to Watchmen's depiction of superheroes. But like Prof. Gottlieb's discussion of Tyler Durden in Fight Club, readers don't always pick up on this (many of them lionize Rorschach, for example). Thanks for keeping the conversation going!

@@SWLF Thanks for answering. The reason I asked was because I've had problems separating what is parody from what is satire, not helped by the fact that people misuse the terms so that I don't know who are using the terms correctly and who are not.
More specifically, in this case my question was prompted by someone claiming Watchmen satire, something I disagreed with, for reasons that might be stupid, so therefore I thought it worthwhile to ask someone that might know better.
If I may make stupid summary of what my own read has been and what the someone I mentioned thought, my read was that parody is commentary on an original work and satire is commentary on reality. The other guy's opinion was that parody was more friendly ribbing on an original work whereas satire was more hostile.
From that point of view, I could not see how Watchmen was satire, since it is an exploration of the underlying assumptions present in superhero fiction and what their impact would be on reality, not actually pointing finger at anything present in reality going "See how flawed this-and-that is", given that superheroes do not exist.

Ha! We hope that means you liked the video...

Hmmm. Maybe that trend is confusing the term satire (as a genre) and satirical (as an adjective meaning critical or sarcastic)? We hope this video helps a bit in this regard!

Memes are pretty satirical tho. Comedy itself is slowly dying.. and people trying to cencor memes kinda proves memes are one of the last bastions of true satire

thank you! I’m so sick of people saying “I hope this is satire” or “please tell me this is satire” when someone is just meant to be a joke or sarcastic. Satire is a thing of its own. 😂

Thanks for the comment, Tim. Pahlaniuk isn't a fan of the term either--see his nuanced interview on the subject here: melmagazine.com/en-us/story/a-conversation-with-chuck-palahniuk-the-author-of-fight-club-and-the-man-behind-tyler-durden-2
But we find it is a useful shorthand, given the brevity of these videos, for a certain kind of hyper-macho posturing presented by Tyler Durden and satirized by Pahlaniuk. If you can think of a better term, please feel free to share to keep the conversation going!

Ha! We hope that means you liked the video, @rzlo1644 !

@@SWLF yes! 100% . Btw new subscriber here, it really attracted me since I am from literature background.

@@rzlo1644 Wow, thanks so much for your kind words, and for subscribing! We hope you'll keep enjoying the channel!

Ha! Horatian, Juvenalian, or Menippean?

Interesting question, Joel. We aren't familiar with this game or series, but this scenario is precisely the danger of satire--it might, as Prof. Gottlieb suggests, be read straight, Fight Club certainly runs the same risk. That said, I'm not sure the solution is to parody the "super warriors" in quite as explicit a manner as you suggest (well, you could, but it wouldn't be necessarily understood as satire specifically). Satire typically is ridiculing something (especially the Juvenalian version) but it often speaks in the voice of the thing to be ridiculed (the people advocating for eating children in the case of Modest Proposal or Tyler Durden in the case of Fight Club). As such, satire's irony often makes us work harder to distance ourselves from what these sometimes seductive figures are advocating.

Grading papers and contemplating literary terms. What's up with you?

Menippan satire is definitely the toughest to spot but trust us--it'll get easier the more you encounter the genre in your reading. Good luck!

essentially, that’s why people use the word wrong 😂😂

Ha! A Sartorial satire?

Thanks for the comment, FlareGunDebate. Pahlaniuk isn't a fan of the term either--see his nuanced interview on the subject here: melmagazine.com/en-us/story/a-conversation-with-chuck-palahniuk-the-author-of-fight-club-and-the-man-behind-tyler-durden-2
But we find it is a useful shorthand, given the brevity of these videos, for a certain kind of hyper-macho posturing presented by Tyler Durden and satirized by Pahlaniuk. If you can think of a better term, please feel free to share to keep the conversation going!

​@@SWLF it's useful shorthand for prejudice but not clarity. I don't think "toxic masculinity" exists so I wouldn't use another term for it. I think Evan Gottlieb is projecting a contrived value on to Palahniuk's writing. Fight Club isn't a satire of masculinity it's addressing the lack of social model stories for men. I would compare Tyler Durden to Randle McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I think Nurse Ratched would contrive a term like "machismo" or "toxic masculinity".

Why is it always white men that love to talk about toxic masculine when it’s a white men lecturing others about toxic masculinity but they are literally the definition of it, ..don’t get it.

@@FlareGunDebate agreed. I'd also add that suggesting satire must be directed at a more powerful subject is ridiculous moral grandstanding with the same faulty logic of "punching down comedy". Satire is suppose to illuminate human weakness. It doesn't matter who it's directed toward, so it's not bullying. Human error is human error. And it's probably more immoral to suggest your outgroup identities make you immune to your human weaknesses.

@@as73142 I agree. Satire is a form of humor and comedy is subversive. Laughter undermines a prideful person's sense of authority. I think narcissists get a power trip by accusing kind hearted people of mockery. You can keep a tight psychological grip on modest people by diagnosing them with made up stuff too. Like some kind of emotional mountebank. Kinda funny when you think about it.

Ha! And did we deliver on this promise?

no

Dont worry i didnt😃

It certainly is a device that is easier to detect the more you encounter it. Good luck, mole People!

Cause its hard to have real satire in a censored world ..we have more propaganda than satire now.

Thanks for the comment, Oniel. We're doing our best!

Acknowledgement of similar contemporary issues do not invalidate the present issue.

Feel free, elaborate

Each gender has their own privileges' and "rights" (of sorts) that the other gender doesn't have as much access too. 2 examples of this are men are generally physically stronger, whereas females are generally trusted more with kids.

We're unfamiliar with carry minaty's work. Are they particularly satirical? If so, what kind of satire do they most often employ?

Thanks for the suggestion, @ANU-__ ! We'll give it some thought as we plan out future videos!

...and? How did it go????

Thanks so much, Art!