Satire and Parody

Satire is one of those words that can be challenging to define. Sometimes it just seems to fall under the heading of “you know it when you see it.” Satire is often used interchangeably with parody. They are similar but the best works of satire are much more subtle than parody. Great works of satire have elements of anger or frustration as … Keep Reading → an undercurrent. In some ways they seem as if they are making a judgment on the subject matter. In other words, great satire makes you think. This can be distinguished from parody which is more along the lines of poking fun in a silly way. An example of a parody would be the film Airplane, which was a silly parody of other disaster movies. It has no purpose other than to make us laugh by making fun of other films. This can be contrasted with perhaps the classic satire film, Dr. Strangelove, which was a biting look at cold war politics. Dr. Strangelove was very funny, but it was also poignant and brilliant.

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