Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2006 im Fachbereich Didaktik - Englisch - Sonstiges, Note: 1,3, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Englisches Seminar), Veranstaltung: Landeskunde: Britain and Europe, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The following essay will explore political and social satire in The Simpsons. This essay will prove Homer Simpson wrong saying in the episode "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" "...cartoons don't have any deep meaning. They are just stupid drawings that give you a cheap laugh". In this essay it will be argued that The Simpsons provides us with an in-depth satirical reflection on U.S. society and, to a certain degree, on Western societies in general. Furthermore, this essay will examine the view of creator Matt Groening and the other writers of The Simpsons that the programme skilfully incorporates the subtext that "[t]he people in power don't always have your best interest in mind" (Cantor 1999, p. 745). Armstrong (2005a, p. 11) emphasises in his article about "Satire as Critical Pedagogy" that satire is a vehicle through which political literacy will be developed and underlines that it is an important part of political education. Thus, the analysis of satire is a vital part of cultural studies and is accordingly examined in this essay.

This book examines the multi-media explosion of contemporary political satire. Rooted in 18th century Augustan practice, satire’s indelible link with politics underlies today’s universal disgust with the ways of elected politicians. This study interrogates the impact of British and American satirical media on political life, with a special focus on political cartoons and the levelling humour of Australasian satirists.

In the period of the American Revolution the colonies as a whole awakened to literary self-consciousness for the first time. Although native drama was still in its infancy and fiction not yet born, the literature of these years, surveyed by Moses Coit Tyler in his still valuable "Literary History of the American Revolution", reveals vigor and excellence throughout a wide range of genres familiar to the eighteenth century. An essential branch of this literature, scarcely better known today than when Tyler blazed the way long ago, is political satire. While literary and social historians have long recognized that personalities, issues, and events of the Revolution were held up to ridicule at the time, the present study is the first to explore this satirical record in detail. The focus throughout is on American aspects of the period 1763-1783, both intercolonial and international; so it is that most of the satires herein considered were written by Americans for Americans, so also that those treating of matters largely provincial or European in their implications are excluded. -- Preface.