"Comedy in Unfunny Times: Parody and Carnival After 9/11." by Paul Achter

Achter, Paul. "Comedy in Unfunny Times: Parody and Carnival After 9/11." Critical Studies in Media Communication. 25.3 (2008): 274-303. Web. 1 Jul 2010.

http://ezproxy.gsu.edu:2638/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=104&sid=13e26aa7-4c98-4cfd-8622-67cef3dc89d3%40sessionmgr113
http://rhetoric.richmond.edu/faculty/Achter_Paul.html

According to Paul Achter, “The news parody opens a space between the audiences and the mainstream news that punctures conventional news assumptions, and playfully detaches itself in order to hold up for examination the styles and topics of the news.” In his article, Comedy in Unfunny Times”, he examines the relationship between news context and the media effects of realistic satire on readers. He examines the ways in which comedy plays a role in helping societies manage moments of tragedy and crisis, and he looks at how the U.S. media paid considerable attention to where humor actually fit into the post 9/11 American perception. Achter begins with with these obstacles painting the background of his critical analysis of comedy after the terrorist attacks, but he focuses particularly on the emergence of popular online news parody The Onion. He observes the ways in which the website avoided violating decorum and invited citizen participation by exposing the news as overly manipulated and over-produced. He juxtaposes an examination of the lacking state of American awareness of global cultures against the realities being presented by an “unbiased” media in order to reveal the teaching quality readable in the embedded satire within The Onion by the fact that it “both constructs and participates in a public discussion of values.” Achter also examines the elements of what he calls “carnivalesque”as the website directly mimics the seriousness and dramatic overtone of news media coverage. This mask only superficially cover the fact that the material is sarcastic to the ultimate degree, fully aware of its targets.

Achter’s thorough exploration of humorous rhetoric acts as a call to attention for citizens’ relationships to power. He includes pertinent comedic rhetorical research in his examination of the parody/satire in terms of overall understanding of our modern condition, and he looks into the effects of the mock-information source as a type of message that audiences have learned to use as reflective tools. This cultural, theoretical, and methodological approach to the role The Onion plays offers an acutely sensitive media communication take on its significance as a comedic enterprise.

carnival
satire