Satire The Fundamental Function Of Satire - 1644 Words

Comedy plays a fundamental role in my life, ranging from the witty encounters with likeminded people and the way that humour permeates through my family life. On a personal level, I tend to enjoy satirical comedy above all other sub-genres, and in particular, slapstick comedy. Satire is a technique employed by writers and comedians alike to expose and criticise corruption and shortcomings of an individual or a society by using humour, irony and/or exaggeration. Ultimately, the writer feels obliged to expose these vices to for the betterment of humanity. The fundamental function of satire is to warn the public about prevailing corruption and disorder within a society. [1] Furthermore, the sub-genre of satire has become an underlying part of†¦show more content†¦[3] World famous Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud and founder of psycho-analysis published a book entitled ‘Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious’ which deals with the perennial themes of comedy and laughter. He analyses three laughter situations: der Witz (translated as â€Å"joking†), â€Å"the comic† and â€Å"humour†. Firstly, der Witz includes prepared jokes and repartee. According to Freud, the emotions which are most commonly repressed include sexual desire and hostility, hence why most jokes and witty remarks expressed in a social situation revolve around sex and hostility. In this case, the psychic energy used to repress these innate desires become superfluous, and is therefore released as laughter. [2] â€Å"The comic† situation follows a similar theme. Instead, this time it is the energy devoted to thinking. An example is laughter at the clumsy actions of a clown. We observe movements that we would perform efficiently and smoothly and find them amusing because we cannot comprehend the action. Sigmund Freud applies the theory of â€Å"mimetic representation† in which we expend a large amount of energy to understand a small action such as the uncoordinated actions of the clown. This mental task demands a larger amount of energy than the amount we utilise to mentally represent our own graceful movement. [2] Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin also commented on comedy. In his book entitled Rabelais and His World , Bakhtin attempts to account theShow MoreRelatedContemporary Rhetoric Test # 11364 Words   |  6 PagesLorena Vicuna Contemporary Rhetoric Test#1 †¢ What 3 fundamental concepts are important to understanding and explaining the rhetorical function of the parody? Concept #1= Satire Concept #2= Ideology Concept #3= Irony Before going into detail on what each concept means and what relationship it has in us understanding the rhetorical fundamental of parody, it would be nice to know what Parody is and where it originated. 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