A video to help teach satire...

Below is one of my favorite video's to help teach satire.  Not only is it funny and easy to understand, but gives the students clear examples of several of the satirical devices the students will have learned and will work with when we get into reading Huckleberry Finn.

Analyzing this video is the first step for students to learning how to determine author's/creator's purpose and how they use satire as a means of conveying that purpose to their audience.

Here is the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHmLljk2t8M

And here is the accompanying analysis I will model with the students:

Clip Title Describe what happened- Explicit	“Put a Bird on It” Two people go into a shop and put birds on the merchandise to make it more “artsy”.
Who and/or what is the target of satire?	The “Maker” Culture
What is the  desired change?	Stop calling things art, or your own art, just because you added or took away one thing.  Ex.: Sticking a bird (or other image) on something doesn’t mean you created it or turned it into art.
What is the TONE? (Horatian or Juvenalian?)	Horatian
FORM of satire (burlesque, caricature, farce, lampoon, parody, travesty)	Lampoon/Travesty
DEVICES used (circle all) exaggeration                    understatement    incongruity                      deflation            linguistic games              surprise               irony                                invective         mock encomium             grotesque           comic juxtaposition        mock epic/heroic       parody                             inflation        diminution	Explain each device used- where/why/how does it appear? Implicit Exaggeration coupled with deflation - They take the “maker” culture, reduce it down to a base element and over-blow that element.  They put birds on items that would never need decoration such as a piece of toast Comic juxtaposition/Grotesque - fake birds vs. real bird and gross factor when all of the birds enter the store. Surprise - after all their talk of putting birds on things, a bird suddenly flies into the shop. Inflation - Two ways: 1. Putting birds on things like you created something. 2. A bird flies in the shop and they freak out and kill it like it’s the most disgusting thing in the world. Invective - Male character insults female character when putting a bird on something leads to injury Irony - The birds that are praised and loved at the end are despised as they destroy the store.