You Will Be Offended: Satire, Comedy, and Public Discourse
| Humanities Course | |
|---|---|
| Course Code | OFND |
| Year Opened | 2018 |
| Sites Offered | JHU |
| Previously Offered | CAR, PRN |
Course Description
From the CTY Course Catalog:
At its most potent, humor—and in particular, satire—is a method for revealing uncomfortable truths and exposing hypocrisy. In doing so, it usually manages to provoke, shock, spark debate, and, yes, offend. Satire is most effective when audiences understand the cultural context of its message. In a globalized media landscape, what does comedy look like in other parts of the world? Can comedy transcend physical and metaphorical borders? This course explores the role satire and comedy have played in cultural and political debates across the globe. You and your classmates will read essays, editorials, and newspaper cartoons, and watch TV shows and stand-up routines to analyze the work and cultural impact of humorists like Mark Twain, Richard Pryor, Jaspal Bhatti, Samantha Bee, Eddie Izzard, Bassem Youssef, Joe Wong, and Hannah Gadsby. Using these examples as a model, you’ll write critical essays, debate the ethics of humor, and produce your own satirical texts.
Sessions
23.2 -- Under the delightful tutelage of Dannicus the Mannicus (who wrote in medieval script), we read Brave New World, a piece about eating poor Irish children, made a valiant attempt at Master and Margarita, and utterly failed at starting the Cambridge Guide to Satire. Four Square was played at almost every break, and the classroom was horrifically cold. Many skits were filmed, including Javi running for president ("I love the LGBBQ people!") and Kelly's exposé on John Lennon related traumas (not the dead one; played by Martin).
Activities included a multi-day nonstop discussion of political echo chambers, singing Into The Woods on the walk back to the AMRs, and Oscar's talent show rendition of selected Shakespeare works in a Deep South accent. Javi made the great CVS parting gifts of a Happy Retirement card to DanTheMan and a Fortnite gift card to our TA, Spiderman.
The girls were Darcy's hall, shared with the math girls, and the guys were-- ehm, in a hall no longer remembered. Graey was with the girls, we don't talk about that.
References:
- "Help mom I had a gay thought!"
- "Curl your foot sensually"
- "but the Mongols attacked in 1200, so we're not racist towards them"
- Increasingly strange variations on Dannicus the Mannicus
- horatian and juvenalian arE NOT the same. do not even talk about menippean, it's everything
- Graey once brought three coffees from lunch and finished them all within a ten minutes
- Do Not Buy SneezeX; Side Effects Include: Death
