Postmodern style often addresses its viewers as sophisticated media readers and consumers. Referring to Sturken and Cartwright's chapter "Postmodernism and Popular Culture," and the Onion News Network clip posted above, describe how the text operates on the level of satire. In particular, how does the clip make use of parody and irony?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Blog #8
Postmodern style often addresses its viewers as sophisticated media readers and consumers. Referring to Sturken and Cartwright's chapter "Postmodernism and Popular Culture," and the Onion News Network clip posted above, describe how the text operates on the level of satire. In particular, how does the clip make use of parody and irony?
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The Onion News Network clip displays a solid use of satire in that the actions and decisions made by Time magazine for their annual “most influential person of the year” award is attacked through irony, parody, and wit.
The video clip attacks Time magazine through irony, or, an outcome of events contrary to what was expected. Instead of reporting on whomever Time actually named the one most influential person of the year, the Onion News Network instead displayed a false and humorus report on the 299 million least influential people of the world, centering their story around one man on the list, a claims adjuster who “went two years without making an adjustment.” This provides a solid use of irony as it is the complete opposite of Time magazine’s annual award, going against what was expected.
The clip also showcases a solid use of parody in that it was a humorous imitation of an otherwise serious event, this includes both the award announcement and the news report. The award, “most influential person of the year” is awarded to one person after much consideration of many candidates and careful thought. The video clip parodied this seriousness by referring to a supposed controversy between two characters, Petricia Kelty and Jim Stutts on who was “less influential” than the other. The news report is parodied simply because it is a fake report on a fictionalized story, whereas normal news reports are based around credibility, truth, and fact.
This exemplifies postmodernism, not only in the use of satire, parody and irony, but also because there are many possible interpretations on the Onion News Network’s intentions on parodying Time’s annual award. Is their message saying the award is useless, or are they criticizing the news and their choices of new worthy stories by overly-dramatizing less important stories?
The Onion “news source” applies the post modern technique of reflexivity to reference traditional and more formal sources of news and their stories about Time magazine’s countdown of most influential people. In this way, Onion news relies on the educated viewer’s understanding of the referenced material in order for them to “get” The Onion’s Parody of these traditional news sources. This piece not only parodies or plays with the conventions of news sources but also Time magazine’s list of most influential people by doing a countdown of least influential people. Onion news not only references these legitimate forms of media, they also remake and re-encode them for satirical purposes.
The Onion also uses more ironic humor. By presenting their work as legitimate and addressing the countdown of the least influential people with all seriousness, they comment on the pointlessness and utter irrelevance of most of today’s actual news. Onion news is coded with irony because the viewer is not meant to be absorbed by the news clip without remembering that it is a remake. The self conscious viewer is not supposed to be as concerned with the material as they are with the spin on form, style, and conventions of traditional news. This of course refers to the anchors mannerisms, appearance, and speech as well as the presentation and backgrounds of the set.
[Garrett Katerzynske]
[Kastelic}
This clip definitely operates on the level of satire because it uses humor, parody, and irony to emphasize a person of group’s stupidity or vices. Overall, “satire flourishes best when folly reigns...highlight[ing] the health of civic society.” The Onion News Network is playing off of Times’ annual most influential people report. With the Onion, their main goal was not to find the one we all strive to be like, but to find the least influential people in the world, those who have “no impression on anyone around [them].” Through their use of satire, parody and irony come to the forefront and are used to the highest degree.
In the posted clip, one can find the use of parody at almost any given time throughout the clip. By imitating the style of Time, the Onion makes a humorous and entertaining mockery of a highly revered event. Anything from the reporters’ slight bickering over the alleged controversy about standing to the interviews taken on Jim Stutts’ friends, family, and coworkers, one can easily find an item that can be compared to in the original Time and their most influential people report.
This clip also does a great job of using irony, which “relies on the difference between the way things are and the way we feel things should be,” simply by having a least influential list of 299 million people. With Jim Stutts, they are fawning over him because he “went two years without making an adjustment,” has little to be said about him from his boss and friends, and most of all, has absolutely “no impression on anyone around him.” This overall concept is ironic because as a society, we always expect to hear about the heroes of the world and what their next goal is, not about those who have no impact on the world and society whatsoever.
Dan Gorchynsky
TA: Caroline Kastelic
Sturken and Cartwright describe irony and parody in a similar fashion, “A parody assumes a viewer is familiar with many different texts, and who will enjoy the activity of guessing references and getting the joke.” Irony is a similar definition, which Sturken and Cartwright mention often understates the meanings or definitions of certain elements in order to create a humorous effect.
In the case of The Onion pseudo-newsreel, we see an example of irony and parody. The entire context is set in a realistic and formal way. Without sound, a viewer would only assume that the clip is, in fact, a factual news show. The blatant coolness of the “news anchor” makes the viewer, if only for a split second, guess whether or not he actually believes his own fabrications. The sharp contrast of the comedy and the formal setting pulls the weight of the irony, making the viewer ponder as to how the actor retrains himself from laughing. Similarly, the clip dabbles in parody because it refers to a different context outside of the clip. Clearly, The Onion News parodies news stations in general by imitating the actions of the anchors, the structure of the interviews and cuts scenes, as well as the certain aesthetic formation of borders and text. Within the news, however, there is another example of parody. Most people watching the clip would recognize the joke about Time magazine and its long running list of most influential people, along with other, often times pointless, lists. The clip doesn’t just parody the list by re-enacting it, but instead reversing it, creating an ironic opposition called the, “least influential people list”. To put the cherry on top, The Onion mentions the list runs as long as 299,000,000, implying there are more “unimpressive” people than impressive. The overall irony and parody of The Onion News creates for a great postmodern comedy that runs throughout today’s art and media.
Mitchell Keller
TA: Caroline Kastelic
The Onion News Network clearly displays satire because it looks like a real newscast, but none of the stories are real. The reason that people laugh at the Onion News Network is because it is a parody of a real news network: it looks the same, but it entirely different because it is not informative of real events. The only real point in the Onion's newscast is to poke fun at a real newscast's story.
In this sense, the Onion uses irony in their newscast. True news networks ALWAYS find stories that are literally about nothing (the most influential person, for instance, or other examples that do not have anything to do with world events) but that are real. People stay tuned to the TV during the news because these mini stories are entertaining. Because the Onion pokes fun at real newscast's ways of entertaining people, it displays irony.
Another ironic thing that the Onion News Network points out is that real news networks spend too much time talking about these petty entertaining stories, and rarely tell the public any important world news (probably because it is controversial). This is displayed at the end of the Onion clip, when the newscaster says that President Bush is negotiating with Korea without a translator. Obviously, the Onion spent a great deal of time talking about the "least influential person" and only gave us a sentence of a world event (even though it is fake and rather humorous). This is clearly a satirical parody of real newscasting agencies.
Bryn Unger
This Onion News Reel clip clearly operates on the level of satire because of its use humor, parody, and irony. The “Onion News Network” is poking fun at Times Magazine’s annual most influential people report. The Onion’s, main goal was not to find the one we all strive to be like, but to find the least influential people in the world, those who have basically no impression on anyone around them.
This clip also does a great job of using irony, which “relies on the difference between the way things are and the way we feel things should be,” simply by having a list of the least 299 million least influential people. With “Jim Stutts”, they are gloating over him because he “went two years without making an adjustment,” has little to be said about him from his boss and friends, and more importantly, has absolutely “no impression on anyone around him.” This overall concept is ironic because in our society, we expect to hear about the good things in people, not the bad ones.
The use of parody is practically leaking from the seams of this clip. If someone was not familiar with the Onion and saw this while flipping through the channels, I’m sure that they would initially think that it was a real news report. The “reporter” does a great job of acting in such a way that he seems credible, but once you start to hear enough of what he’s saying you can clearly tell that it is a joke. Also the use of “real-life” people as examples off of their “list”, as well as a “Times magazine’s features editor” made this report seem very real.
The clip from the Onion makes use of parody and irony. The news story about the 299,000,000 least influential people in America makes fun of Time Magazine's most influential person in America; it is a parody. The clip wouldn't be as funny if one didn't know what it was a parody of. It uses irony in that when one thinks of Time Magazine, they think of serious news stories. But this is clearly not one of those serious news stories. It is ironic that the clip makes it seem like these people actually went out and searched for 299,000,000 people that have absolutely no effect on anybody's lives.
Sara Nesbitt
Caroline Kastelic
The Onion News Network clip is a great example of Sturken and Cartwright's theory of "postmodernism and popular culture." The clip in itself is a direct parody of a commonplace new clip. It parodies everything from the cool collective news anchor all the way to the breaking news scroll located at the bottom of the screen. For example the scrolling screen reads "Mattel issues recall on the following toys- Sir-Knifes-alot with knifing action, Easy Flame Broiler, and Fat Barbie." With this text the onion parodies the all the recalls of toys that have come about in the last couple years.
I also find the clip ironic because of the main story of the most influential people of the world. The story uses irony by interviewing a simple claims adjustor and then proceeding to a phoned in response from a man who has known him for 31 years yet the never get to the least influential person within the clip.
The clip taken from the Onion News Network is a terrific example of both satire and parody on the modern world we live in today. Poking fun at Time Magazine’s “Most Influential People of the Year”, the Onion fabricates a list of the “Least Influential People of the Year”.
This clip goes about both making fun of Time magazine and their annual list, as well as the ‘nightly news’, by centering on one specific person on the list and interviewing those ‘close’ to him (much like a normal nightly news broadcast would do about any top story). The writers at the Onion assumed by making this ‘news broadcast’ that people watching would already know what Time Magazine’s Most Influential People list was. Without public knowledge of Time Magazine, the Onion’s parody of their list would have for sure been a failure. The satirical comedy relied completely on public understanding of Time Magazine.
The comedy presented in the Onion News Network’s broadcast also relied on its witty use of irony. Instead of only having short list of influential people (like time magazine), it points out that there are a lot more un-influential people in the world by compiling a list of two hundred and ninety nine million individuals. The Onion then makes fun of traditional newscasts by focusing on one of these people, poking fun at the fact that no one (including the viewer) knows him, probably much like the 298,999,999 other people on the list.
The Onion makes fun of both traditional newscasts and Time magazine by changing something that is widely known by the public from something respectable, to something funny and outrageous.
Mark Scholbrock
Sturken and Cartwright explain parody and irony in a comparable way. While they say parodies presume the viewer will understand the subjects and will enjoy them whether they do or not. Irony, they say, downplays the meanings of some principles in order to produce an amusing ambience. Both terms could easily be used to describe The Onion's news channel.
Parody is probably found in the majority of all of The Onion's news clips. They film skits of fake news broadcasts that are usually mocking a certain event going on in the world. Like the clip shown, which is mocking Time Magazine's "Most Influential People In the World." The irony in it is that they are actually making a joke of something fascinating. While Time magazine is putting on display the people that have changed the world, The Onion is turning it into a joke. They are downplaying it to make people laugh.
Derek Reilly
TA: Caroline Kastelic
The Onion News Network clip that covers the story of Time magazine’s ‘Least Influential People’ List seeks to criticize how ridiculous all the lists are that come out each by using satire enhanced by using irony and parody. This short utilizes parody by imitating the usual style of TV news stations it assumes that the viewer is media savvy and recognizes that they are commenting on common news stories. They use the one-man delivery system with short interviews in between that were previously recorded. Onion News also uses the same language and style of presenting news as the regular news stations do, however they are reporting on a ridiculous story. By recognizing all the other people that usually don’t make the list it shows the irony of the story because of how many people are really out there that make no difference. The Onion news sources always seek to comment on current issues through parody, irony, and satire.
Lanae Smith
This very professionally presented news story is given by The Onion is told through the technique of satire using things such as parody and irony. This news story is a parody in the sense that the news stories two hundred and ninety nine million least influential people is making fun of Time Magazines annual issue of the World's Most Influential Person. They do things as announcing the most influential person, Jim Stutts in this person who is a claims adjuster who went a entire “two years without making any adjustments.”
This piece uses irony my making it seem really serious like the Time Magazine piece. Doing things such as making it seem like it was hard to get having controversies with deciding who wins because Jim Stutts is listened to by no one but the runner up has a dog who listens to her. In The Onion's story they have a very long list saying that there is a lot un-influential people then there is influential being compared to Time's very short list. By using these styles of writing it forms an idea of humor making fun of the real piece released in the past.
The Onion News Network clip most definitely shows a good use of satire. The clip uses the sense of humor, irony, and parody. They are making fun of the Times annual most influential people and changing it around to be the least influential people, which is a parody. The clip uses irony because when we all think of Time magazines covering serious issues, not a story like this one. They make it sound like being un-influential is a very important thing. The thing that decided Jim Stutts was the winner because he had absolutely no one that would listen to him where the runner up and her dog that occasionally listened to her. It is because of the use of humor, parody, and irony that this clip is a good example of Sturken and Cartwright's theory of "postmodernism and popular culture."
Amber Blanchard
Caroline Kastelic
The Onion News Network clip exemplifies parody and irony in many different ways. The clip is poking fun at TIME magazine’s annual ‘most influential person of the year’ article and instead presenting the 299 million least influential people of the year. It is set up with everything like a television CNN news report with interviews and the news presenter. Like Sturken and Cartwright said, the Onion News Network assumes that the viewers have seen an actual CNN news report before and can understand the fact that they’re basing it off it. It assumes that people have seen something like that before so they are able to understand the joke. The joke depends entirely on the viewers previous viewing experiences. The clip also makes reference to actual television news reports by having smaller news stories scrolling at the bottom of the screen, but instead of being factual they’re completely random and absurd stories.
Tanisha Richter
TA: Caroline Kastelic
The Onion News Network is an example of a postmodern medium because it creates contrast between the real and the fictional, and it applies reflexivity to its content. The video clip parodies Time Magazine's most-influential-people-style articles by displaying the cover story: "The Least Influential People of 2007." Instead of showing stories of interesting and successful celebrities, The Onion News Network provides (fake) coverage on the most boring, non-influential, and, well... average people. The irony in the idea of a giant news organization portraying stories of average people who have no influence on anything in the world is hilarious. But the comedy isn't shallow - it is very satirical. The Onion News Network isn't simply making a cheap joke. Instead, it creates an ironic satire that seems to point out how useless the "most influential people" actually are.
Eric Grycan
TA: Caroline Kastelic
The Onion News least influential people list works with the assumption that the viewer is aware that it is satire. This clip is presented to us as a cable news program like CNN, every detail down to the text at the bottom of the screen looks like it could be legitimate. At the first mention of Time magazine's Least Influential People List the viewer is with out a doubt aware that this is a joke. There are no other ways to understand this, because in a modern world with are values of success and upward thinking, why would any one value the least influential people so much to make a list.
This is a work of the postmodern in that it tries to flip the conventional values of the modern. Why can't the least influential be celebrated? Why is it so important that we as a collective put some up on a pedestal and not others? Is some one only influential when they are listened to and well known? By what standards do we attribute success?
In the clip the list of people who have not influenced number two hundred ninety nine million, with six billion people on the planet why did so many not make the list? Is it because almost every one in this day in age with are advanced means of communication has some degree of influence? Right know is a different time because almost any joe six pack can express there thoughts on any thing threw a blog, or facebook profile. This clip brings up a challenge to modern values in the postmodern world, is someone who hasn't influenced actually special?
The Postmodern thought seeks to question master narratives. Is some one only influential when they are listened to and well known? By what standards do we attribute success?
Andrew Page
the Onions new clip, Most influential people, is a parody of the New York Times Most Influential people. It is a parody because it pokes fun of an already existing media by mimicking it. It is a form of educated humor because the viewer must have already existing knowledge of the New York Times to find this clip funny. This parody also has a little bit of ironic humor to it. They achieve this by presenting this news as if it was a real article. I think it would lose a lot of its humor if it wasn't done so seriously. And once again this wouldn't work if viewers did not have preexisting information about The New York Times. An uninformed person would find it random and confusing.
In the Onion clip, they feature a story using a parody of TIME Magazine’s annual “100 Most Influential People” list. Instead of a list of the most influential people the Onion features a list of the 299 million least influential people. The Onion assumes the viewer has had previous knowledge of the real TIME magazine issue and, therefore, comedy is created through the use of the parody.
The Onion clip also uses many aspects of irony to create comedy. It is ironic that one of the least influential people in the world happens to work as a claims adjuster. The irony is that claims adjusters really have no effect on people. Therefore, it makes sense that he would be one. There is irony also in the idea that there would even be a conflict of between who beat out whom for a spot on the list as they discuss in the clip.
Alison Korth
T.A. Caroline Kastelic
The clip by The Onion 'News' Network is great! It both shows irony and parody. The clip has is a "news" story about the Time Magazine's "Least Influential Person Of The Year" award. This is of course fictional and is just a parody of Time's actual "Most Influential" list. The news clip does many things inside parody of Time's list. First off, they say that the list contains one less than 3 Million people. This is a parody of how many people Time allows on their list. I love when they have Jim's friend on the phone saying that Jim tells him to come back to Indiana but he will not take his advice (he will not be influenced by him). That, of course is just getting deeper into the main idea of influence.
Even with its parody it also is a source of irony. His wife says it best when she states "I think it's wonderful. He's finally getting RECOGNITION, just, for not having an affect on anyone". The who idea of people being put into a newspaper article shows that they have influence. They have enough influence for people to care enough about them to put them in an article.
The clip is excellent :D
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