Hard News: Irony Deficient
123 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 Newer→ Last
-
Lilith __, in reply to
the best way to satirise the current state of NZ politics would be to produce a drama series about a competent government that engaged respectfully with its citizens.
+1
-
Speaking of getting sued though, we should recall we live in a world where Colin Craig can get a right of reply to Steve Braunias implying his (Craig's) house was under seige by relentless homosexuals.
if our laws protected satire and parody better
The issue at the top of people's minds tends to be copyright over source material (though possibly trademarks have led to more court cases).
Incidentally, a recent thing that probably failed the reasonable-person-would-get-it test which I think would apply in a defamation case was the matter of The Stench.
-
Kumara Republic, in reply to
The issue at the top of people’s minds tends to be copyright over source material (though possibly trademarks have led to more court cases).
The Hustler vs Falwell ruling offers a way forward. I can't recall there being any similar precedent being tested in NZ.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Cool! But followed up by Sacha’s ’Heehaw” (=donkey) is a comment that
is
not-
anyway, fuck it all- the comment may have been ironic. May have been satiric. It just lessened Sacha’s mana in my mind by about 500%-It was just a light-hearted play on Mr Ed being a horse. No offence was intended or should be taken. Sacha's mana is quite safe, methinks.
-
I write semi-occasional satire for (bless them, for it’s truly good of them to give me the gig) the Waikato Times, including such pieces as this one about Colin Craig and this other one about Colin Craig.
And so it was that I found out that there aren’t many laws in this country that protect the act of giving someone a through and mostly fictitious bollocking, particularly if they are a rich and (allegedly) highly sensitive man like Craig.
Which makes more visible satire all the more necessary, IMO. Russell’s post has it: the internet is the main bastion of satire in NZ, and there is much excellence to choose from, but it’s all essentially self-selecting. People choose to read it. I’m of the belief that satire is more effective if it can prompt a little outrage, and it mostly does that when it’s presented to unsuspecting persons through a mainstream channel. That being said, it’s always good when self-selecting satire does wriggle into the mainstream. See http://literallyunbelievable.org/ for details.
To any TV people reading this, giz me and JJW a show. Please? We’ll be ever so funny. Funnier than Hosking, or Henry, or even Sainsbury. Come to think of it, his slot will soon be available, won't it? We can have that!
-
Graeme Edgeler, in reply to
Maori TV’s dubbed & subtitled Mister Ed had more laughs than the original.
I think you're being a little mean on the original. Now, and when I grew up it seemed old, of course, but actually, it's pretty darn good.
e.g. http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/39006/mister-ed-the-complete-first-season/
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
To any TV people reading this, giz me and JJW a show. Please? We’ll be ever so funny. Funnier than Hosking, or Henry, or even Sainsbury. Come to think of it, his slot will soon be available, won’t it? We can have that!
I genuinely will raise it with some people.
-
..and I will donate the first $100 (for funny hats or legal fees).
-
Jackson James Wood, in reply to
<3
-
Sacha, in reply to
Funnier than Hosking, or Henry, or even Sainsbury.
not setting the bar far from the ground
-
James Butler, in reply to
not setting the bar far from the ground
Under-promise and over-deliver?
-
if our laws protected satire and parody better
Feh... I'd note Private Eye is in its sixth unspeakably vicious decade of gnawing off the hand that sues it, despite the United Kingdom being the word-leader in libel tourism.
And, for my blood, it took real balls to run this at the high tide of lunatic Diana idolatry:
The Late Princess Diana
An ApologyIN recent weeks (not to mention the last ten years) we at the Daily Gnome, in common with all other newspapers, may have inadvertently conveyed the impression that the late Princess of Wales was in some way a neurotic, irresponsible and manipulative troublemaker who had repeatedly meddled in political matters that did not concern her and personally embarrassed Her Majesty The Queen by her Mediterranean love-romps with the son of a discredited Egyptian businessman.
We now realise as of Sunday morning that the Princess of Hearts was in fact the most saintly woman who has ever lived, who, with her charitable activities, brought hope and succour to hundreds and millions of people all over the world.
We would like to express our sincere and deepest hypocrisy to all our readers on this tragic day and hope and pray that they will carry on buying our paper notwithstanding.
E. Strobes
pp Lord Gnome
The Daily Gnome
Candle-in-the-Wind
Humbug
Berks -
Bart Janssen, in reply to
not setting the bar far from the ground
There's a bar under that pile of sh*t??????
-
Sacha, in reply to
maybe I've got it wrong and they're all limbo experts
-
It's interesting that we often talk about comedy "changing" in the sense that performers approach it in new ways, but of course it's the audience that does most of the changing, both over time and across geographical and cultural boundaries.
This is particularly relevant to satire, which is funny precisely because the audience is able to immediately recognise the actual (i.e. intended) reality of the situation being portrayed and compare it to the literal portrayal. That awareness of the "underlying" meaning atrophies/becomes less viscerally real the further the audience gets from the audience the creators imagine when creating their work, so the "tingle" good satire inspires slowly becomes less intense.
-
Joshua Drummond, in reply to
At the risk of analysing a joke, I'd argue that a great deal of an audience's enjoyment of satire is the realisation that they are in on the joke - and that for them to be in on it, other people must not be. I know that I get a (possibly cruel) laugh out of it when someone mistakes satire's Bizarro world for reality. I've got two audiences firmly in mind when I write stuff: those who will get it and those who won't, because both reactions are inevitable. I think wildly misunderstanding satire is as vital a reaction to it as getting it.
-
Bill Bailey made a really good point in his interview on Radio NZ last week that audiences enjoy doing some of the work to get a joke. He doesn't like to insult the intelligence of his audiences or belittle them. I think the networks in NZ might have such a low opinion of their audience that they don't want to take that risk. At least not in prime time.
-
Joshua Drummond, in reply to
You're a good man, Mr Brown. Cheers! (Skip to around 2:25 for the appropriate bit.)
-
Lilith __, in reply to
I’d argue that a great deal of an audience’s enjoyment of satire is the realisation that they are in on the joke – and that for them to be in on it, other people must not be.
I'd say that satire is just material you can't take at face value. Some of the best satire begins plausibly and strings you along until that wonderful moment where it becomes too absurd to be borne.
-
Bart Janssen, in reply to
strings you along until that wonderful moment where it becomes too absurd to be borne
But there is also the form where it appears absurdly unrealistic and then you discover it is real. The Daily show does that all the time.
-
Andre Alessi, in reply to
I think that’s quite right, which is why some satire inspires truly, bizarrely different reactions from its audience. Alan Moore’s Watchmen is arguably an example of this-it’s blackly hilarious if you believe Moore doesn’t want you to like and admire the characters (satirising the idea that dressing up in costume and beating up criminals is “heroic”) ; but simply a grim, dystopian superhero story if you do take the story at face value.
-
I suppose the NZ comedy scene is in good health when Cal Wilson is turning up on QI
On BBC Radio 4 Friday night quiz show as well. Though they called her an Australian.
As the Internet is based around communities of interest, satire may have a more natural home there.
I wonder if the internet is a way to get into TV shows these days. You can imagine someone running a youtube channel, building a twitter/facebook community, weekly 10 minute show, starting to get referenced by other shows on TV, etc. If you can go to a TV network and say 1. we're funny, and 2. X thousand people watch us every week that might start to break some ground (Damian's points about smart local content having to push uphill against international dross noted).
-
Joe Wylie, in reply to
Maori TV’s dubbed & subtitled Mister Ed had more laughs than the original.
I think you're being a little mean on the original. Now, and when I grew up it seemed old, of course, but actually, it's pretty darn good.
No mention there of the alleged peanut butter driven lip-sync, or of the spooky claim of backwards satanic lyrics in the theme tune. On the plus side, there's a passing reference to Studebaker as the show's sponsor. That the only cars featured in early episodes were Studebakers gave the show a really surreal twist.
-
Sacha, in reply to
Though they called her an Australian.
does live there
-
If these horrible efforts are any indication, if left unparodied in the mass media our elected reps will attempt to fill the irony vacuum themselves. While I'm currently mightily underwhelmed by Mayor Bob's attempt at a Borat knock-off, that may change if a further episode shows him and his dubious sidekick rolling naked around their hotel room as they squabble for possession of some hilariously dodgy piece of porn.
Post your response…
This topic is closed.