Professor: Sean Wilkinson
English 100
29 September 2017
Major Essay
Satire has the power to be able to point out the deficiencies in certain cultures. It is a unique form of comedy that has played a major role in bringing out real life issues through television shows. Satire can be defined as the use of humor, sarcasm, irony, exaggeration and ridicule in exposing to be denouncing. Satire can be used to aim at social viewpoints, such as racism, politics, stereotype, religion, etc. According to the articles written by authors Alex Jung and Ted Gioia good satire must meet certain criteria for it to remain effective satire. For example, it should be grounded in real word issues, have modern relevance, it should punch up, maintain …show more content…
Based on Jung and Gioia characteristics one effective characteristic that "Padre De Familia" has, it is grounded in real life issues. Immigration is not a new topic, it is a topic that is grounded in real life issues that has been going on in America for several years now. Satire was used in a form to target racial humor to prove a point. Working in the United States as an undocumented immigrant is the main point of "Padre De Familia". In one of the clips Peter wants illegal immigrants fired from his job, because he believes that they are stealing jobs from Americans. In a comical clip Peters mom tells Peter he was born in Mexico, and did not file for his U.S. citizenship. Peter is an illegal Mexican immigrant. (08:4013:11) The satire of Peter being an illegal immigrant illustrates the fact that the U.S. has an illegal immigration problem and illegal immigrants are being portrayed as bad people for stealing American jobs. Immigration is a hot topic and by integrating humor into the issue it has the power to reach many viewers of all ages to really focus at the problem. By using real life grounded issues with the attraction of satire, viewers recognize the severity of the problem going on. Without revealing real life issues, a huge number of viewers would never think about such an important issue. The power of effective satire can effectively …show more content…
Effective satire should be border on offensive, according to Jung and Gioia, as well as smart humor. Satire would not be able to function if no one is offended by it. By being offensive it serves as the point. In the beginning of the episode Peter is being used as the American who becomes frustrates with the presence of illegal immigration, in a satirical form the clip is being done intentionally offensive to bring out the constructive criticism of certain individuals. The satire that "Padre De Familia" presents is effecive because it is done for laughter and some viewers may tend to feel insulted when confronted with the truth. The purpose of offensive racial satire in the episode was to be able to effectively address racial issues within the Ameican culture. The episode used satire as its most visible way to purposely expose how Mexican immigrants live in America. For example in one of the clips Peter states "Life as an immigrant sucks" (17:1304:38) Behind offensive comes the harsh reality of the issue being exposed, the ability to bring satire into real life situations funtions as a tool to express frustration, dissident and ultimetly