Satire is the 'safest' way to contradict another person’s statements/ actions/ beliefs through use of humour, irony, exaggeration, and ridicule. Satire highlights key topical issues in society and identifies their flaws. It inspires some, and it'll offend some. Such is life. It's not easy being the perpetrator of a damaging ideal, only to have a mirror held up with the ugliest parts of our humanity reflected back.
Thank You for smoking, released in theatres March 2006, is dark satire disguised as a light comedy. It follows the professional life of Nick Naylor, a charismatic spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies whose main priority is not to prove that “if it's your job to be right, then you're never wrong.” Thank you for Smoking satirizes the stupidity and how oblivious the general public is through amplifying the flaws in: education, media, and the American Flag.
Ironically, Nick Naylor’s speech in the opening classroom scene highlights the hypocrisy of education principles: both the teacher and Nick are equally guilty of cynically manipulating the children in class. In the classroom Nick treats the child as if she were an adult, this highlights how stupid adults are too. Nick Naylor exposes hypocrisy in education by manipulating the students in the class to question authority by telling them “who says?” The scene where Joey challenges his Mum about the trip to California he asks whether “is it possible that you're taking the frustration of your failed marriage out on me?” amplifies the irony about how we give kids a choice we end up creating monsters. The double irony is we need monsters in our society but we don’t like them. Education claims to help children with their creativity; however, they only persuade and manipulate children to think the same way. Nick Naylor exposes the hypocrisy in education by telling students how to think; in many ways this is no different to the speech from Eat Your Greens by Barney Spritzenburger. It is no different because in Eat your greens, the irony comes from the speaker presenting himself as a role model; however, he is a hypocrite much like the teacher from Thank you for smoking. The Speaker from Eat your greens displays a poor perception of a “Nice guy” The character really believes this, but the writer and the reader don’t which is ironic. Education claims to help children and with their creativity; however, it only manipulates, persuades and forces them to think the same way. Thank You for Smoking is tailor-made for exposing the media. …show more content…
Nick Naylor’s hypocrisy is exposed by Heather Holloway’s focus news article; through the article it amplifies the irony of the media and how it manipulates the general public. In an opening scene Nick Naylor highlights that “Most importantly [they] have got spin control.” This shows ironically that the media openly manipulates the general public. Nick; however, is manipulated by Heather Holloway but ironically feels cheated; the same way he is able to cheat the public everyday. Ironically, this amplifies how the media is able to seamlessly manipulate the public. Swimming with Sharks: A Primer, written by Richard J Johns, targets the same kind of shark-eat-shark world of the corporate ladder that Thank you for Smoking exposes; it relates to how Nick Naylor was exposed by Heather Holloway and how she
Thank You for smoking, released in theatres March 2006, is dark satire disguised as a light comedy. It follows the professional life of Nick Naylor, a charismatic spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies whose main priority is not to prove that “if it's your job to be right, then you're never wrong.” Thank you for Smoking satirizes the stupidity and how oblivious the general public is through amplifying the flaws in: education, media, and the American Flag.
Ironically, Nick Naylor’s speech in the opening classroom scene highlights the hypocrisy of education principles: both the teacher and Nick are equally guilty of cynically manipulating the children in class. In the classroom Nick treats the child as if she were an adult, this highlights how stupid adults are too. Nick Naylor exposes hypocrisy in education by manipulating the students in the class to question authority by telling them “who says?” The scene where Joey challenges his Mum about the trip to California he asks whether “is it possible that you're taking the frustration of your failed marriage out on me?” amplifies the irony about how we give kids a choice we end up creating monsters. The double irony is we need monsters in our society but we don’t like them. Education claims to help children with their creativity; however, they only persuade and manipulate children to think the same way. Nick Naylor exposes the hypocrisy in education by telling students how to think; in many ways this is no different to the speech from Eat Your Greens by Barney Spritzenburger. It is no different because in Eat your greens, the irony comes from the speaker presenting himself as a role model; however, he is a hypocrite much like the teacher from Thank you for smoking. The Speaker from Eat your greens displays a poor perception of a “Nice guy” The character really believes this, but the writer and the reader don’t which is ironic. Education claims to help children and with their creativity; however, it only manipulates, persuades and forces them to think the same way. Thank You for Smoking is tailor-made for exposing the media. …show more content…
Nick Naylor’s hypocrisy is exposed by Heather Holloway’s focus news article; through the article it amplifies the irony of the media and how it manipulates the general public. In an opening scene Nick Naylor highlights that “Most importantly [they] have got spin control.” This shows ironically that the media openly manipulates the general public. Nick; however, is manipulated by Heather Holloway but ironically feels cheated; the same way he is able to cheat the public everyday. Ironically, this amplifies how the media is able to seamlessly manipulate the public. Swimming with Sharks: A Primer, written by Richard J Johns, targets the same kind of shark-eat-shark world of the corporate ladder that Thank you for Smoking exposes; it relates to how Nick Naylor was exposed by Heather Holloway and how she