Obama - "Whatever I Like"

Remember back when we were talking about humor in the election and wondering how we would ever be able to turn Obama into something funny? Here's the answer:

Family Guy and The Simpsons

When discussing the effects of humor and satire on politics, everyone immediately thinks of shows like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and SNL as well as all sorts of political cartoons and caricatures, but what about adult cartoon shows?

Shows like "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" are cartoons, so they can go anywhere and do anything, and somehow get away with completely inappropriate jokes that live-action shows wouldn't dare to touch.

Here are a couple great examples of election-related scenes from both these FOX shows (interesting that they're both on FOX... right?).

Homer Simpson tries to vote for Obama:


Stewie goes to Berlin, where the Nazis support McCain-Palin:
**So far, 3 different versions of this video that I've used have been taken down from YouTube, and the ONLY place I could find it is HERE**

Considering how many people watch these shows, I think it's fair to say that episodes like the ones above do have an impact on Americans. Probably not enough of one to sway a person's vote, however, but I'm sure it does have some effect on peoples' overall opinions of the candidates.

If You Can't Beat 'Em....

I'm sure you've all seen Sarah Palin on SNL by now, but just in case you haven't I'm going to post it here.

But first... you have to watch this video of Mark Wahlberg and Jimmy Kimmel (it makes the SNL video make more sense):


Sarah Palin on SNL:





Wow, what a brilliant idea (and I'm not being sarcastic). For Sarah Palin to get in on the joke was such a fantastic move. She knows that America loves Tina Fey's SNL impressions of her, so rather than fighting against it, she got in on the fun. I think this is a great example of the way campaigns work the media. Whoever at the McCain campaign decided to send Palin to SNL deserves an enormous raise.

Anyway, thanks, Sarah, for being such a good sport. I hate you just a tiny bit less now.

Political Satire

Most Americans are exposed to political satire one way or another, whether by watching Comedy Central news shows like "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" or reading magazines and newspapers with political cartoons. What does satire really do to politics and people's opinions, though?

When people watch "The Colbert Report," for example, most of them realize that it is a "spoof" of conservative opinions shows like The O'ReillyFactor, and therefore anything Stephen Colbert says is taken as a joke. But what about people who don't understand the premise of the show? Colbert spends a full half-hour pretending to be a radical Republican with some really extreme viewpoints, but what if people don't get it?

That's what happened recently with The New Yorker, according to this NPR article. This past July, The New Yorker used this cartoon as its cover art:

Of course this picture was not meant to be serious, but even people who "got it" thought it went too far. So where do you have to draw the line with political satire? Why is it okay for someone like Colbert to frequently say all sorts of derogatory, offensive things in the name of humor, while The New Yorker gets slammed for the above cover?

Ideally, satire is intended to bring about improvement by means of pointing out a flaw in society (such as the racism and ignorance depicted above) but sometimes it serves the opposite purpose and reinforces negative stereotypes.

Where does the media draw the line? I think the answer is that they use their best judgment and sometimes get it wrong. Luckily, for publications like The New Yorker, they just wait a week and put something new, and less offensive out in their next issue. They get a little bad press and move on, but at what cost to the people fighting against these stereotypes?