Thursday 21 November 2013

BLOG ENTRY #4 : Satire and Culture


              Within the last decade, satirical television shows have become a rightful ingredient of culture jamming. In today’s society, there is so much going on in politics; whether it is politics itself or the personal lives of politicians. Satirical television has become binding to present-day society to make sense of the modern peculiar state of some politics. The main reason as to why satirical shows have become so main stream is because these types of shows offer certain insights into what is classified as the current state of politics; which essentially suggests that the satire from these television shows adds insights to the realm of politics that the news and other media cannot. (Media and Society, p. 214) I believe the extra insight on politics that is offered through some satirical television shows can be considered useful in grasping a light-hearted, straight-forward, and comical view on a certain issue.

                One common goal that everybody shares in viewing news media is to understand what is going on in our world; and in a society like today’s, all of us are seeing a story through the tainted window that is mass media. People need satire news shows, because it reassures them that there are others out there who feel the same outrages that he/she does. The sole fact that everyone finds it funny is reassuring.  As citizens we all want to be reassured, which is part of the reason why we view mass media in the first place.  Although the term ‘jamming’ may be referred to as “an obstruction, that is, the equivalent of a traffic jam for the media; it can also reference a more playful, spontaneous form of improvising and engaging with the media.” (Media and Society, p. 213) Satirical media has cemented itself in society’s views because it broadens our perspective on certain political issues; while we view these satire news- shows in a light-hearted and comical manor.
 
 
Thanks
 
Jake

 

o'Shaughnessy, Michael. Media and Society. Fifth Edition. Austrailia : Oxford University Press, 2008. 213-214. Print.

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