The primary purpose of satire Essay Example for Free

The primary purpose of satire Essay Discuss the accuracy of this statement for the two texts you have chosen. Within all satirical works, there is a deeper seriousness beneath the text. Two such texts are Ben Eltons Dead Famous and Christopher Guests Best in Show, which both take a satirical viewpoint on contextual issues within society and have an underlying seriousness. Dead Famous is an early 21st century mock genre that satirises the idea of reality television. Dead Famous is set within a reality television series entitled House Arrest in which 10 inmates are put within a house with thirty television cameras for sixty-three days and compete for the publics affection, all of which is constantly overseen by Peeping Tom who controls what goes on within the house. Underneath this satire, the composer raises serious issues about societies obsession with reality television, how real reality television is, and questions what entertainment really is. At the beginning of the 21st century, the worlds obsession with reality television was rising to a peak. Many countries around the world had had a first season of Big Brother (On which Dead Famous was based), and had screened many other reality television programs such as Shipwrecked, Survivor and Temptation Island. The text takes the reality television genre and subverts it. This subversion comes about within the text by the composer by taking a reality television program and ridiculing. The major technique used by the composer to ridicule reality television is hyperbole. Within the text, all regular aspects of reality television (in particular Big Brother) have been taken to extreme proportions. This includes the overuse of sexual references within the text and the melodramatic events that happen within the house. These sexual references have been scattered throughout the text, much like those on reality television. However, these sexual references are taken to extreme proportions with the inmates coming very close to engaging within the act of sex quite early within the show. This hyperbole has also been used through the event of a murder that occurs within the house, this melodramatic event is one which would never occur on a reality television program, however has been included within the text as it is a gross exaggeration of the events that would occur within a Big Brother house. Dead Famous also questions the reality of reality television. The composer takes the idea that what is shown to the public on House Arrest (and other reality television programs) is not truly what happens within the house. The composer does this by showing the responder several points of view. The first point of view is that of the inmates and what really happens within the house on most days, in the sequence that they occurred. This point of view also allows the responder to see the thoughts and feelings on activities and situations that the cameras cannot pick up, or choose not to broadcast. This includes footage of the Confession Box (a soundproof room in which contestants can privately speak to Peeping Tom) that the editors manipulate and play selectively to the national audience. Kellys first visit to the confession box was selectively played in an attempt to make her the designated hate figure of the House Arrest series. Another point of view is that of the producers and editors within the editing room. From this perspective, the responder is shown how the footage within the house is manipulated to show the public what the editors want them to see, and how the editors are paid to look at what was actually said and find what we [the producers] want to be said. Within this perspective the viewers are shown the devices used by the editors to create a house favourite for the public to love and a designated hate figure or bitch for them to hate, and vote out. Through this, the responder is shown that not everything that occurs within the house is what is shown to them. The third perspective is that of what the investigators are shown through the daily show which is viewed by the public as a day-by-day account of what occurs within the house. Through the daily show, the responder is shown the effects of the editing room. They are shown the way in which the people they have seen through complete footage are shown to the public. The disgusting Woggle is an example of how the responder is shown his filthy habits during the actual footage, yet within the daily show all that is shown is what the public likes to see, his ability to stir trouble and cause conflict amongst other inmates, therefore making him the favourite housemate. The example of woggle is one that demonstrates how at all different points within the programming (inmates, editors and viewers) one person can be seen in completely different ways.