Provide an example where humor was used in digital/networked media to make a serious political or cultural argument. Was it effective?
Comedians and writers for comedy programs on television have always used humor as a way of getting their politically charged message out to their audience. Many of these writers use satire to poke fun at the modern political arena, including our in-class example of Stephen Colbert from Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. However, there is one show in particular that many Americans believe crosses the line, that program is Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy.
Family Guy is known for its politically-charged (usually politically incorrect) and raunchy writing. While sometimes the humor found in Family Guy can be pretty out there, from time to time the writers expose some of the downfalls or negative aspects of US politics. Like this for example...
Seth MacFarlane and the Family Guy writers in this clip critique undecided voters while also making their audience amused with humor. This video shows the stupidity of some voters in the US. They only focus on the charisma of the candidate or become obsessed with one issue. Lois doesn't even need to discuss the issues as the undecided voters are so blind to the real problems, just like many American voters. In this example, MacFarlane is critiquing human behavior while trying to educate the audience (make the viewer reflect on their own actions as a voter) by using satire.
Personally, I think that Family Guy can be effective to a certain extant. Many of the satirical jokes made are able to expose the negative aspects of human behavior. In every episode, the writers are guaranteed to poke at the ridiculousness of our cultural/political actions as humans while also keeping the audience entertained with comedy. The use of humor in rhetoric will always be an effective way to get your message across and to keep your audience's attention.
-Jack Jeffrey
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