Targets of Satire
The “Woke Capitalism” Gold Rush: Satirizing Corporate Progressivism
The “Woke Capitalism” Gold Rush: Satirizing Corporate Progressivism – Targets of Satire – Encyclopedia of Satire
2 Minute
Category: Encyclopedia of Satire
History of Satire
Stephen Colbert’s Persona
Encyclopedia of Satire – Stephen Colbert’s Persona – History of Satire – From Aristophanes to Internet Memes
1 Minute
Encyclopedia of Satire
The Outsourced Revolution
Encyclopedia of Satire – The Outsourced Revolution – Satirical Tropes and Triggers – Clichés, Patterns, and Pet Peeves
1 Minute
Encyclopedia of Satire
Meme Satire Emerges
Encyclopedia of Satire – Meme Satire Emerges – History of Satire – From Aristophanes to Internet Memes
1 Minute
Encyclopedia of Satire
Satire: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia Entry
How To Write Satire – Satire: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia Entry — The complete reference overview of satire’s definition, history, forms, techniques, and cultural significance
3 Minute
Foundations of Satire
The Philosophical Foundations of Satire: Truth Through Laughter
How To Write Satire – The Philosophical Foundations of Satire: Truth Through Laughter — Why satire is not merely entertainment but a serious epistemological project: how comedy reveals what seriousness conceals
4 Minute
Forms of Satire
Horatian vs. Juvenalian Satire: The Two Great Traditions
How To Write Satire – Horatian vs. Juvenalian Satire: The Two Great Traditions — Understanding the fundamental distinction between gentle wit and savage indignation, and how satirists navigate between them
3 Minute
Foundations of Satire
The Social Contract of Satire: What Satirists Owe Their Audience
How To Write Satire – The Social Contract of Satire: What Satirists Owe Their Audience — The implicit obligations of the satirist: accuracy, proportionality, fairness, and the distinction between critique and cruelty
4 Minute
Forms of Satire
Menippean Satire: Philosophy as Comedy
How To Write Satire – Menippean Satire: Philosophy as Comedy — The third great classical satirical tradition, mixing prose and verse, high seriousness and low farce, in an endlessly productive hybrid
3 Minute
Forms of Satire
Political Satire as a Form: Ethics, Rules, and Freedoms
How To Write Satire – Political Satire as a Form: Ethics, Rules, and Freedoms — The specific formal and ethical constraints that govern satirical treatment of political subjects and public figures
3 Minute
Satirical Tropes and Triggers
The Satirical Running Joke: Repetition as Comic Critique
How To Write Satire – The Satirical Running Joke: Repetition as Comic Critique — How repetition, escalation, and the recurring satirical motif create structures of comic critique across extended satirical works
3 Minute
The Future of Satire
The Global Future of Satirical Journalism
How To Write Satire – The Global Future of Satirical Journalism — How the international satirical press is developing in the digital age, and what challenges and opportunities the global media environment creates
3 Minute
History of Satire
Medieval Satire: Chaucer, Erasmus, and the Fool’s License
How To Write Satire – Medieval Satire: Chaucer, Erasmus, and the Fool’s License — How satire adapted to the constraints and opportunities of medieval Christian culture, from estates satire to humanist comic critique
3 Minute
History of Satire
The Augustan Age: Swift, Pope, and the Peak of English Satire
How To Write Satire – The Augustan Age: Swift, Pope, and the Peak of English Satire — How the period 1660-1745 produced the greatest achievements in English satirical writing, and why the conditions were so favorable
3 Minute
Satirical Archetypes
The Pompous Official: A Satirical Archetype Across Cultures
How To Write Satire – The Pompous Official: A Satirical Archetype Across Cultures — The self-important bureaucrat and corrupt politician as satirical targets, from Aristophanes to Yes Minister
3 Minute
Encyclopedia of Satire
The Encyclopedia of British Satire: Major Works and Figures
How To Write Satire – The Encyclopedia of British Satire: Major Works and Figures — A reference guide to the most significant works, writers, and institutions in the British satirical tradition from the Augustans to today
3 Minute
Satirical Figures
Armando Iannucci: Architect of Twenty-First Century Political Satire
How To Write Satire – Armando Iannucci: Architect of Twenty-First Century Political Satire — How the creator of The Thick of It, Veep, and The Death of Stalin became the defining satirical voice of contemporary democratic dysfunction
2 Minute
History of Satire
Ancient Satire: Aristophanes, Juvenal, and the Classical Tradition
How To Write Satire – Ancient Satire: Aristophanes, Juvenal, and the Classical Tradition — A survey of satirical writing in ancient Greece and Rome, from Old Comedy to verse satire and the formation of the genre
3 Minute
Satirical Tropes and Triggers
The Satirical Reversal: When Victims Become Victors
How To Write Satire – The Satirical Reversal: When Victims Become Victors — How the structural device of reversal — turning the social order upside down — has driven satire from Aristophanes to the present
3 Minute
Regional & Global Satire
American Satire: From Mark Twain to The Daily Show
How To Write Satire – American Satire: From Mark Twain to The Daily Show — The defining characteristics of American satirical tradition and its relationship to democratic politics and popular culture
2 Minute
Regional & Global Satire
French Satire: From Moliere to Charlie Hebdo
How To Write Satire – French Satire: From Moliere to Charlie Hebdo — The distinctive tradition of French satirical writing, from classical comedy to the radical cartoon press and its consequences
3 Minute
Regional & Global Satire
African and Postcolonial Satire: Soyinka, Ngugi, and the Griot Tradition
How To Write Satire – African and Postcolonial Satire: Soyinka, Ngugi, and the Griot Tradition — How African writers developed satirical traditions drawing on indigenous oral culture and Western literary forms
2 Minute
Satirical Movements & Manifestos
That Was The Week That Was: The Satire Boom of the 1960s
How To Write Satire – That Was The Week That Was: The Satire Boom of the 1960s — How a BBC television program transformed British political culture and inaugurated a new era of satirical comedy
3 Minute
Satirical Figures
Jonathan Swift: The Father of English Satire
How To Write Satire – Jonathan Swift: The Father of English Satire — A comprehensive study of Swift’s life, satirical methods, and enduring influence on the British and global satirical tradition
3 Minute
Satirical Figures
George Orwell: Satire as Political Conscience
How To Write Satire – George Orwell: Satire as Political Conscience — How Orwell deployed Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four to create the most politically consequential satirical fiction of the twentieth century
2 Minute
Foundations of Satire
The Role of Exaggeration and Hyperbole in Satirical Writing
How To Write Satire – The Role of Exaggeration and Hyperbole in Satirical Writing — How hyperbole functions as a truth-revealing device in satire rather than merely as a comic trick or rhetorical flourish
3 Minute
Satirical Archetypes
The Fool and the Satirist: Ancient Kinship
How To Write Satire – The Fool and the Satirist: Ancient Kinship — How the figure of the fool — the licensed jester, the holy idiot — provides the template for the satirist’s social role
3 Minute
Targets of Satire
Politicians as Satirical Targets: Rules of Engagement
How To Write Satire – Politicians as Satirical Targets: Rules of Engagement — How the satirical tradition has developed conventions for the treatment of political figures, and where those conventions find their limits
3 Minute
Regional & Global Satire
Satire Under Authoritarianism: Soviet and Eastern European Traditions
How To Write Satire – Satire Under Authoritarianism: Soviet and Eastern European Traditions — How satirists operated within and against totalitarian regimes, developing strategies of indirection that preserved their critical voice
3 Minute
Satirical Movements & Manifestos
The Alternative Comedy Movement: When Punk Met Stand-Up
How To Write Satire – The Alternative Comedy Movement: When Punk Met Stand-Up — How the alternative comedy movement of the early 1980s overthrew the conventions of British stand-up and created a new satirical mainstream
2 Minute
The Future of Satire
Satire in the Age of Misinformation: The Poe’s Law Problem
How To Write Satire – Satire in the Age of Misinformation: The Poe’s Law Problem — How the contemporary confusion between satire and misinformation threatens satirical effectiveness and what satirists can do about it
3 Minute
Satirical Figures
Voltaire: Satire as Philosophical Weapon
How To Write Satire – Voltaire: Satire as Philosophical Weapon — How the French Enlightenment’s greatest wit deployed satirical fiction in the service of philosophical critique and political reform
2 Minute
Encyclopedia of Satire
The Satirical Canon: Works Every Student Must Know
How To Write Satire – The Satirical Canon: Works Every Student Must Know — An essential reading list of texts that define the satirical tradition, with scholarly context and analytical guidance
3 Minute
Satirical Tropes and Triggers
The Anatomy of a Satirical Trigger: What Makes Power Laughable
How To Write Satire – The Anatomy of a Satirical Trigger: What Makes Power Laughable — Identifying the conditions and characteristics that make political and social targets susceptible to effective satirical attack
3 Minute
Forms of Satire
Mock-Heroic Satire: When the Epic Meets the Absurd
How To Write Satire – Mock-Heroic Satire: When the Epic Meets the Absurd — The formal technique of applying epic grandeur to trivial subjects, from Pope’s Rape of the Lock to Monty Python
3 Minute
Satirical Tropes and Triggers
Absurdism in Satire: When Logic Becomes the Joke
How To Write Satire – Absurdism in Satire: When Logic Becomes the Joke — How the deployment of rigorous internal logic applied to absurd premises has generated some of the most devastating satirical critiques
3 Minute
History of Satire
Twentieth-Century Satire: From Modernism to Television
How To Write Satire – Twentieth-Century Satire: From Modernism to Television — How the upheavals of the twentieth century transformed satirical writing and produced new forms of comic political critique
3 Minute
Satirical Archetypes
The Naive Observer: Swift’s Gulliver and the Innocent Eye
How To Write Satire – The Naive Observer: Swift’s Gulliver and the Innocent Eye — How the apparently innocent narrator who fails to understand what they are seeing became a defining device of satirical literature
3 Minute
Targets of Satire
Corporate Power as Satirical Target
How To Write Satire – Corporate Power as Satirical Target — How satirists have addressed the rise of corporate capitalism, from Dickens to The Office to corporate satire in digital media
3 Minute
Satirical Movements & Manifestos
The Daily Show Effect: When Satire Became Journalism
How To Write Satire – The Daily Show Effect: When Satire Became Journalism — How Jon Stewart’s Daily Show redefined the relationship between comedy and political journalism in the early twenty-first century
3 Minute
The Future of Satire
AI-Generated Satire: Can Algorithms Be Funny?
How To Write Satire – AI-Generated Satire: Can Algorithms Be Funny? — Examining the challenge of producing genuine satirical work with artificial intelligence and what the challenge reveals about satire’s human core
3 Minute
History of Satire
Victorian Satire: Dickens, Punch, and the Rise of the Comic Press
How To Write Satire – Victorian Satire: Dickens, Punch, and the Rise of the Comic Press — How the Victorian era created the first mass satirical culture in British history
3 Minute
Targets of Satire
The Media as Satirical Subject: When Journalism Mocks Itself
How To Write Satire – The Media as Satirical Subject: When Journalism Mocks Itself — How satirical treatment of journalism and media culture has produced some of the most technically sophisticated satire of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
3 Minute
Satirical Archetypes
The Wise Fool: Satire’s Most Enduring Persona
The Wise Fool: Satire’s Most Enduring Persona – Satirical Archetypes – Encyclopedia of Satire
2 Minute
Regional & Global Satire
Kabuki’s Kyojo: Japan’s 400-Year Satirical Tradition
Kabuki’s Kyojo: Japan’s 400-Year Satirical Tradition – Regional & Global Satire – Encyclopedia of Satire
2 Minute
History of Satire
The Printing Press Revolution: How Gutenberg Enabled Satire’s First Golden Age
The Printing Press Revolution: How Gutenberg Enabled Satire’s First Golden Age – History of Satire – Encyclopedia of Satire
2 Minute