Why is satire through illustration the most effective way of persuasion in contemporary society ?
This essay will examine and discuss which role plays illustration during periods of social and political upheaval. In order to stablish a point of interest, the essay will answer the question why is satire through illustration the most effective way of persuasion in contemporary society and will explore some of the most effective techniques used in this genre. In order to support this analysis, this essay will also examine two illustrations from the satirical polish illustrator Pawel Kuczynski to analyse the theory behind them through comparison between some of the most effective techniques and devices used in satirical illustrations. Satire is a form of social criticism that applies in art and literature. The Romans were the first civilization to expose this concept although the meaning as modern society understands it today has been slightly altered through the pass of time. Nowadays, satire is a very influential artistic form of critique whereas the main objective is to analyse and critique the human behaviour and society. However, satire can be divided into three big sub genres depending of the harshness or subtleness applied, to present specific social problems that need to be show to the world; Juvenalian, Menippean or in the case of this essay, Horatian. The Horatian satire is named after the Roman poet Horace, whose work had influenced radically on Western culture. His satire was recognized by entertaining his audience with the amuse of human foible but also warm toward humanity itself. This type of satire is still used in modern society and it can be found on cartoons and cartoonists, comedians and comedy writers. Horatian satire is better known for the way that explores the art of making fun of events in a smooth way or even lovely. Rather than attacking evils, this type of satire ridicules universal human folly so the viewer may found identified with what is being critiqued.Furthermore , a good definition of satire could be “a literary manner which blends a critical attitude with humor and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity may be improved. The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man's devising and attempts through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling" (Thrall, et al 436).“If satirists are sometimes prophets and idealists, they are also artists, even or especially when they conceal their art “ (Quintero. R. A companion to Satire: Ancient and modern,4).
In addition, there are different techniques and satiric devices for different purposes depending on how the author wants to present these problems to its audience. This essay will explore 5 of the most effective satiric techniques applied on contemporary society. Firstly is Parody, the art of imitating a technique, style or personality of some person, place of thing in order to ridicule the original. This technique can only be successful if the audience knows the original example that is being ridiculed. Secondly is the Irony which can be described as what “should be” while pretending that this is precisely what is. Basically ironies say exactly the opposite of what was just said. Third is the Exaggeration which is recognizable purpose is to enlarge or represent something beyond what society assume is normal in order to be able to see its faults. Caricature is the artistic manifestation of Exaggeration whereas it represents some physical features extremely until it ridicules
the subject, person or things. Cartoons as its own name suggest, shows a wide range of examples about caricatures, more precisely in political cartoons. To conclude, Incongruity is the last technique this essay will explore. This technique presents through oxymoron (a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory) things, ideas or elements together that are absurd or out of place in relation to tis surroundings or linking things that do not go together (ex Dark light or Dry water ). Although oxymoron is a literacy figure, the artist Patrick Hughes discusses in his book More on Oxymoron that “In the visual version of oxymoron, the material of which a thing is made (or appears to be made) takes the place of the adjective, and the thing itself (or thing represented) takes the place of the noun.” In general, satire became a powerful artistic weapon able to persuade society of the social and religious issues humanity have to deal every day, although in the other hand, this approach may also be very delicate and often, very dangerous for those who uses it on their practice. For instance, Charlie Hebbo (French satirical weekly magazine), whose caricatures and illustrations shown on the magazine has brought some tragic consequences for those artists behind the art work, ending in multiple murders from radical islamists to the artists responsible of these cartoons. In 2016, artists still find this a problem and an annoying barrier to their freedom of speech, although obviously there are some cultures more than others. In this particular case, the famous and polemic american cartoon show “ South Park” it is worldwide known by it's extreme satirical humour. To help readers understands satire and how does persuade people to realise social issues , Southpark is the perfect visual example of satire in the 21 century. “If there is a line, South Park has crossed it. If there is a distasteful joke, South Park has made it” (SouthPark :the greatest Modern satire). So what is the recipe for their success? The fact that posses the combination of satire, parody and mockery to the max, being able to ridicule every cultural and traditional values from every religion, country and society. That is their formula.In a world where almost everything we do is probably going to offend someone in somewhere, Trey Parker and Matt Stone (director and co-director) saw this and did not hesitate in using it as a advantage. “A cartoonist should absolutely be prepared to criticize what they see as poor behaviour by any human on the planet, whether a politician or religious figure.I find the whole concept of ‘you can’t touch them’ as pretty sad.” Wes Tyrell ( association president and the feature editorial cartoonist for Yahoo! Canada) mentioned in one interview about satirical cartoonists.Justice Frankfurther suggests “ definitions of blasphemy and related terms are slippery, subjective and susceptible to manipulation by those seeking power” (S.Brent, Blasphemy: Art that offends, 34). Due to this , the religious leaders seeing satirical cartoons as a menace against their beliefs, and they can't afford to see people from other religions mocking them, leaving them in a ' weak' position and as a 'joke' for their poor behavior in some aspects. But that is exactly what satire is all about. Robert Harris argues that there is a misunderstanding of meaning when society talks about satire and some of them it seems as contradiction in the term. Harris insist that the best definition of satire should be “A literary manner which blends a critical attitude with humour and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity may be improved.The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man's devising and attempts through laugher not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling” ( Thrall, et al 436).
Having a closer look at South Park's episode's structure, it always starts with a specific topic took it from a real world's issue, following by a stage of ridiculousness of the problem through exaggeration and parody until the end of the episode, where there is a strong but sincere and honest message coming out by one of the children's main character, which it resemble the innocence of the world. Not only makes the audience laugh about human behaviour , but also push the viewers to at least, consider it how serious actually the issue is about. To support this idea, Robert Harris summarise the real intention of South Park's satire arguing that “the best satire does not seek to do harm or damage by it's ridicule, unless we speak of damage to the structure of vice, but rather it seeks to create a shock of recognition” .(Robert Harris , Purpose and Method of Satire).South Park target was not to provoke all the different religions, politics and cultures at the same time as some people might think, but to make the viewers aware of it in an open way. And if in somehow made people consider about it, then South Park achieve its intentions. In the same way, satirical illustrators play an important role of persuading their audiences of our world issues through their artwork. Alternatively, the artwork needs to talk by itself more than an animated cartoon TV show due to the message they want transmit, lacks of audio to reinforce their ideas. This is the true power of visual communication. With regard to visual communication, Pawel Kuczynski (Polish political antiwar illustrator) will guide us through his artwork to understands how effective satirical illustrations can persuade an entire majority about the world's issues. Kuczynski's artwork strength resides on war, hypocrisy and political manipulation among some others which humanity is facing nowadays. The way he presents some of the world's problems through his paintings challenge the viewers to look closely at them from different perspectives, and also placing them in a position whereas the viewers can feel part in the whole. Kuczynski's style is colour pencil based, showing a strong and powerful use of bright colours to ease the high critical observations he tries to point it out. This approach besides the inclusion of symbolism and contradictory elements place it together (Oxymoron) creates a unique contrast that as consequence, get the viewers thinking beyond what it may seems obvious.
In the “Rocket and Nuke” painting, it shows an astronaut travelling in a white Rocket upwards and the Grim Reaper riding a black nuke downwards, in a soft and bright blue background suggesting a clear sky. Kuczynski's intention was to transmit a very obvious but at the same time very sad suggestion. The idea that government is more concern about destructive than constructive purposes in their goals as a government,and as consequence, most of their funds go to the war budget instead of spending these funds in solutions that actually may help to fix the world as it is. The idea can be spotted almost in a natural way, always having in mind that to produce a successful satiric artwork there must be an understanding between the viewer and the artists, which means that both rely on a common knowledge background, in this case the modern world war history knowledge from 1800 to today. Moreover, the painting reflects some of the satirical techniques and devices mentioned before. In this case, one of the most recognisable features that lead to this deduction is the use of Black
against White, or what is the same, Good against Evil. This technique is called Oxymoron (To place contradictory things together to contrast) and even if it started as a literary genre style, it can also be applied to art as the painting shows. In addition, there are also clear signs of exaggeration applied on the painting.By drawing the Grim Reaper as a pilot inside the Nuke, Kuczynski exaggerate this feature, in other words, Grim Reaper becomes a caricature due to the fact that everybody knows the Death doesn't have a physical manifestation and Nukes doesn't have pilots either. On the other hand, the astronaut riding the rocket resemble the human ambition and curiosity about the outside world, more precisely a reference about NASA and their responsibilities for the human race expansion and exploration of the deep space. There is a strong use of symbolism on this painting and a strong message behind it. The use of these two satirical techniques creates a sharp contrast not only about contradictory colours but also the idea. Whereas humanity is dreaming about to conquer the unknown , sometimes forget that here, in our own planet, millions of people are dying everyday, and war is one of the biggest reasons. How can humanity even dream about exploring unknown planets and places outside our world while we can not even fix the one we are living in ? Kuczynski's painting simply want to show the ignorance of humanity and how the world doesn't want to see what is obvious because people tend to forget easily the atrocities of human kind. After a long observation at “Rocket and Nuke� painting, and having in mind these thoughts the author wants to share to his audience a last reminder to think about, an irony about our leaders in charge. The hand that send the rocket to space, is the same hand that send the nuke to the ground.
In the same way, “Periscope” painting by Pawel Kuczynski achieved the attention of the viewers once again. This time the theme is more concern about nowadays society and the media rather than war issues and politics, one of the most demanded themes produced by Kuczynski among others. Thus, that is why his artwork can be seen all around the world, not only for the ability to use satire on his artwork to a specific type of audience but also because has the variety to work in completely different areas of matter and by doing this, achieving a major and different type of audiences. Furthermore, social media nowadays had expanded the way artists can show their art worldwide. Whereas long time ago just a few and most talented artists could be seen their artwork reaching different parts of the world, today thanks to nowadays technology and the evolution of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc, everyone can share their ideas on internet and be seen by thousand people in just a few seconds after press “click” from a computer. The painting shows a man looking through a periscope. The room where this person is looking from, it resemble a prison /jail alike. Is distinguished thanks to the dark and gloomy colours used and for the obvious jail bars shown on top of the front wall. Even knowing that by showing this elements on the image,the artist is helping the viewer to understand the place, there is another important feature that contrast with the prison people would normally assume it is a prison. The painting shows a door that is cracked open. The use of pale white on the sky and matt greens for the grass suggest that behind those four walls is the outside world. Now, the viewers have a better understanding of the location, the main point of interest is the periscope, which its funny shape and blue colour will bring to the viewer's minds the Facebook logo as it is. The idea behind is quite easy to get spotted for a majority part of people, thanks again to the common knowledge between artist and viewers; the social media, a topic that most of the people are familiar with. Kuczynski deliver an isolation message within the image. Facebook has created a world whereas people can be connected with everyone but at the same time these people found themselves locked. Some people found enjoyment and feel safe behind a screen while still can perceive the world without leaving their homes. Kuczynski wants to show the reality that nowadays society has become and in a way, trying to aware humanity how actually this routine feels like. Likewise the previous painting “Rocket and Nuke”, there are some satirical techniques visible on the image.For instance, the detail of having the door of the room open in a jail has a strong Oxymoron feature that contrast with the our sense of logic (contradictory elements juxtaposed together; Prison and freedom) . At the same time, the way Kuycznski present the Facebook logo as a periscope shows
a sense of exaggeration on the object, a caricature more precisely, mocking the Facebook users as if they are actually trapped in a cell. In general, the main satirical technique found on the image can be described as a parody (Kuczynski imitates Facebook user's personalities through exaggeration in order to ridicule the original users ) . Last but not least, a final tough for the viewers. All these ideas placed together suggest that our society is prisoner within its own freedom, an irony that humankind should not ignore carelessly. In conclusion, why is satire through illustration the most effective way of persuasion on contemporary society? In a world where internet became a global mass information tool and most of the people can access to it, there is also a counter-sideeffect that can tragically harm society, a potential misleading information. “When every headline news story deals with the same topics of war, political unrest, famine, natural disaster, and general misfortune and human suffering, people become numbed to the horrors of these tragedies because it becomes an everyday reality that does not actually impact them, making them apathetic to such atrocities.” (J.Haag. Looking Behind the Curtain, 2015). Kuczynski has managed to be seen by the world thanks to his art and the generation of 'quickly information consumption' that can instantly connect with the internet users. On the contrary, “ it indicates that this generation has certain negative viewpoints on the world ” institutions such as religion, governments and military forces latches onto Kuczynski's paintings “ as a way to find solace with their frustration”, as consequence, this fact just reinforce his absolute success with is artwork and how satirical illustrations persuade our society about worldwide issues nowadays. In other words, technology is connecting the world closer due to the fact that society lives in a time whereas information spreads at a high speed. Therefore the only way to provoke some real impact to people in Today's society (humanity is constantly exhausted with tragedies and incidents, transforming them into apathetic beings) is the need of more artists that can see the real world issues as Pawel Kuczynski does.
References
Books: Brent Plate,S.(2006)Blasphemy: Art that Offends. London: Black Dog publishing Hughes,P.(1984) More on Oxymoron. Indiana:Penguin Books. Quintero,R.(2006)A Companion to Satire:Ancient and Modern.L.A:Blackwell. Thrall,W.(1960)A handbook to Literature.New York: Odyssey Press.
Websites: grovetogrub.wordpress.com.(2013) South Park: The Greatest Modern Satire (online) https://grovetogrub.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/south-park-the-greatest-modern-satire/ (Accessed: 4 of January, 2016) Haag, J. Szeto, E. (2015) Pawel Kuczynski: Looking Behind the Curtain (online) https://sites.google.com/site/designyourownunit/home/looking-behind-the-curtain-aresearch-based-analysis-on-pawel-kuczynski (Accessed: 10 of April, 2016) Harris,R.(1990) The purpose and Method of Satire (online) http://www.virtualsalt.com/satire.htm ( Accessed: 9 of March ,2016) LeBoeuf, M. (2007) The power of Ridicule: An Analysis of Satire (online) http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1065&context=srhonorsprog (Accessed: 10 of March, 2016) ottawacitizen.com.(2015) Cartoonists insist they should be able to satirize anyone.And yes, that includes religious leaders (online). http://ottawacitizen.com/storyline/cartoonists-insist-they-should-be-able-to-satirizeanyone-and-yes-that-includes-religious-leaders (Accessed: 7 of January, 2016) Unknown. Satire and Satirical devices (online) http://teachers.sduhsd.net/mgaughen/docs/satire.pdf (Accessed: 15 of February, 2016)
Images: Figure 1 : Kuczynski,P. (2013). Periscope (Painting) https://www.facebook.com/222849284410325/photos/a.315950128433573.91004.222 849284410325/683981061630476/?type=3&theater Figure 2 : Kuczynski, P (2013). Rocket and Nuke (Painting) https://sites.google.com/site/designyourownunit/home/looking-behind-the-curtain-aresearch-based-analysis-on-pawel-kuczynski