Satire and dignity
-
Giselinde Kuipers
Abstract
This chapter examines satire from the target’s point of view: how to respond to satire without losing dignity? The power of satire lies in its capacity to challenge dignity, which threatens social position, political legitimacy and individual well-being. Analysing concrete examples of satire, the essay reviews the merits, risks and limitations of possible responses: laugh, joke back, argue, retaliate, show anger, or withdraw. The capacity to respond with dignity is not distributed evenly: not everyone has the resources to do so. Moreover, there is not always consensus on what counts as a dignified response. In today’s increasingly diverse and globalised societies, this makes satire increasingly contested and risky, but also an increasingly important domain for intercultural encounters and negotiations.
Abstract
This chapter examines satire from the target’s point of view: how to respond to satire without losing dignity? The power of satire lies in its capacity to challenge dignity, which threatens social position, political legitimacy and individual well-being. Analysing concrete examples of satire, the essay reviews the merits, risks and limitations of possible responses: laugh, joke back, argue, retaliate, show anger, or withdraw. The capacity to respond with dignity is not distributed evenly: not everyone has the resources to do so. Moreover, there is not always consensus on what counts as a dignified response. In today’s increasingly diverse and globalised societies, this makes satire increasingly contested and risky, but also an increasingly important domain for intercultural encounters and negotiations.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- About the contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Mapping the Field
- Satire and dignity 19
- The Authenticity of Play 33
- Cultural Flow 47
-
Space
- Reshaping the Border Zone. An Approach to Satirical Space 61
- Mediating satire 71
- Arab Sitcom Animations as Platforms for Satire 81
-
Target
- Contesting Political Boundaries in Contemporary Moroccan Satire 95
- How to Burlesque a Burlesquer 105
- Who is the ape, who the human? Reize door het Aapenland (1788) and Die Affenkönige oder die Reformation des Affenlandes (1789) considered 135
-
Rhetoric
- Looking backward. The rhetoric of the back in visual satire 147
- "A bull is a ludicrous jest": fable and the satiric bite in Arbuthnot's John Bull pamphlets 175
- Bas Jan Ader's Ludic Conceptualism 185
-
Media
- Absolutely Fabulous 197
- TV Satire and its Targets 207
- Enlightenment Subverted 217
-
Time
- On the power of Money and the King of Spain's son-in- law 235
- Who are the Frogs? The Transmigration of a Symbol of Nationality 247
- Hydropathe Caricature 259
- Conclusions 269
- Index 275
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- About the contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Mapping the Field
- Satire and dignity 19
- The Authenticity of Play 33
- Cultural Flow 47
-
Space
- Reshaping the Border Zone. An Approach to Satirical Space 61
- Mediating satire 71
- Arab Sitcom Animations as Platforms for Satire 81
-
Target
- Contesting Political Boundaries in Contemporary Moroccan Satire 95
- How to Burlesque a Burlesquer 105
- Who is the ape, who the human? Reize door het Aapenland (1788) and Die Affenkönige oder die Reformation des Affenlandes (1789) considered 135
-
Rhetoric
- Looking backward. The rhetoric of the back in visual satire 147
- "A bull is a ludicrous jest": fable and the satiric bite in Arbuthnot's John Bull pamphlets 175
- Bas Jan Ader's Ludic Conceptualism 185
-
Media
- Absolutely Fabulous 197
- TV Satire and its Targets 207
- Enlightenment Subverted 217
-
Time
- On the power of Money and the King of Spain's son-in- law 235
- Who are the Frogs? The Transmigration of a Symbol of Nationality 247
- Hydropathe Caricature 259
- Conclusions 269
- Index 275
