For November, I am continuing my look into the satire genre and the parts of it that make it work. I am also using the same handful of examples from last week.

For the purpose of this, I will be using the definition of satire from dictionary.com: “a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human vice or folly are held up to scorn, derision, and ridicule.”

This also includes parody: “a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing” (dictionary.com).

This week, I will discuss how satires can use their story structure/events as part of their jokes and social commentary.

Stories of this genre often take a style of adventure and picaresque, where each stop and segment of the journey derides and mocks something different. Each scene or chapter usually becomes a mini satire, culminating themes as the characters travel. Episodic in nature, the changing setting reflects the way these stories agitate the concepts they target.

For instance, Monty Python and the Holy Grail satirizes Arthurian legend and the romanticization of medieval times through the silliness of its scenes. The anarcho-syndicalist commoners mock peasant revolts like the Jacquerie, and portrays Arthur doing what actual kings did: he attacks people who challenge his authority. It also makes fun of divine right monarchy, showing the practical ramifications of him being a king.

The French knights hark back to the Hundred Year’s War, while demonstrating a comical version of siege warfare. The plague scene portrays the middle ages as filthy and full of pestilence, as opposed to the glamorization of the time period in media, with the humorous comparison of body carts with garbage trucks. Sir Robin being cowardly, the murderous Three-Headed Knight, the territorial Black Knight, and the cruel Knights of Ni portray an inversion of the brave, protective, generous, and kindly cavaliers of fiction.

The film mocks tales that romanticize the medieval world, and uses the best engine for this task: King Arthur, the one that started it all.

Spaceballs, on the other hand, does not use scenes to satirize concepts, but scenes to parody specific scenes. The characters meeting Yogurt and the Schwartz training matches Luke Skywalker meeting Yoda. Rescuing Princess Vespa, just like rescuing Princess Leia. Destroying Spaceball I and battling Dark Helmet, like destroying the Death Star and battling Darth Vader.

Evidently, this gives less room for creativity and makes it a less effective parody. It does not even go far enough to mock that many tropes of the sci-fi genre, sticking only to specific films and shows. The lack of original storylines detracts from its cleverness, and does not add much to the dialogue on the subject.

Not that it was ever meant to be a super meaningful work, or in depth commentary on sci-fi.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, meanwhile, accomplishes this in spades. Though it does rib its home genre, Douglas Adams primarily uses sci-fi to ridicule humanity and philosophy. Zaphod Beeblebrox is the President of the Galaxy, yet his Earthling citizens like Arthur Dent did not even know such a role existed. This comments on irresponsible leadership, painting scenes in a new light: the entire time, Zaphod is supposed to be doing his job, but is not.

The scene of Earth’s destruction pokes fun at bureaucracy, as well as eminent domain in Britain. Arthur Dent ending up on Zaphod’s ship adds salt to the wound, as the planet could have been saved if he had been fulfilling his elected duty. The Earthman talking with the robot Marvin, particularly on Magrathea, creates banter that makes the eventual climactic moment hilarious. And the constant search for the meaning of “Life, the Universe, and Everything” shown as a space journey plays on philosophy, having the entire cosmos to explore, but searching for meaning instead.

Candide mirrors this, where each major event whittles at the protagonist’s long-ingrained optimism. Since Voltaire wanted to mock Leibniz’s philosophy (that this is the best of all possible worlds and everything turns out for the best), he caricatures his rival as Dr. Pangloss, juxtaposing the incidents of the novel with the idealistic mindset. Candide is instructed that everything is awesome (cue The Lego Movie song), right before being kicked out of his home and conscripted into an army that commits atrocities. When our hero’s friend Jacques drowns in Lisbon, Pangloss tells him that the port was created for him to die in, and feeds into his foolish positivism when the earthquake strikes.

Traversing Europe, the Americas, and the Ottoman Empire, Candide witnesses all kinds of horrors. War, rape, religious persecution, natural disasters, slavery, and others. If this were a simple adventure, these plot events primarily apply to the character’s own disillusionment; but knowing it as a satire, it becomes a scathing rebuke of Leibniz’s optimism. If such wanton violence and injustice occurs, than this cannot be the best of all possible worlds, and Pangloss’s commentary on each evil reveals the naivete behind the outlook.

While Hitchhiker’s Guide takes a Horatian (light-hearted) look at general philosophy, how people (and machines) search for meaning (and ultimately find none), Candide retorts and satirizes a specific attitude, more Juvenalian (dark-humored).

South Park mixes Horatian and Juvenalian styles depending on the message, occurring in the same town yet still traversing all corners of the universe. As the only television show in these examples, it takes the episodic approach quite literally, homing in on a specific target and utterly destroying it in twenty two minutes. “Crack Baby Athletic Association” (a phrase you thought you would not read today) satirizes how colleges do not compensate their student athletes, a more hard-hitting Juvenalian lampoon. In “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” the episode engages in Horatian humor to spoof the video game and people who excessively play it. The series parodies Game of Thrones with the “Black Friday Trilogy,” using the show to mock the holiday and vice versa, bouncing between both types.

The situations created in South Park are utterly ridiculous, even more absurd at times than Holy Grail and Spaceballs, yet there is still an internal logic. It makes sense in the framework of the episode, and the show can get away with it because of the brand it has established. And, it accomplishes what excellent satire sets out to do: create bizarre situations that seem unrealistic, and nonetheless reveal how strange reality is. “Child Abduction is Not Funny” portrays the parents as idiotic (a common theme in the series), an exaggeration that really is not so exaggerated considering the mistakes grown adults make in real life. The focus that episodes bring allow such in-depth approaches.

Like any joke, part of the humor is in the telling. A good one can make people laugh before the punchline is even uttered, whereas one that does not properly set up and build up will fail even with a good punchline.

While there is no singular formula to create satire, the key is to understand where the story is supposed to go, and take the best route to arrive there. The readers and audience are along for the ride, and a road trip that is all about the destination is less enjoyable if the journey is boring.

What are some of your favorite satires (or even South Park episodes)? Do you prefer Horatian or Juvenalian methods?

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