Bruun Vaage's Use Of Satire In 'The Boys'

Abstract The Boys, an Amazon Prime series, was an intriguing addition to mainstream satirical television as it criticized American politics and society through the fictional lens of a superhero universe. Unfortunately, a disconnect between how fans perceived the show and its intended social commentary became prominent. In essence, this research examined the extent to which character engagement influenced this disconnect. Allegorical characters in The Boys do not benefit from Margarethe Bruun Vaage’s conclusion that we less readily consider the moral consequences of fictional characters. The way satirists construct their characters is ultimately what allows viewers to understand the social commentary, so the intersection between fiction and

Analysis of this subreddit revealed that, given the fictional universe of superheroes and the supernatural events in The Boys, engagement with its allegorical characters interferes with the show’s intended social commentary.

Introduction. Creators of satire have kept their craft alive and gained the interest of broader audiences by fictionalizing “inspiration” from the real world to make a statement for change, whether discreetly or not. Although media production is ultimately backed by the fame and profit that can come from a well-constructed narrative, still of primary importance is the need to evoke change through social commentary. Though satire can exist without comedic elements, comedy tends to be a naturally occurring aspect of satire, as it is imperative for viewers to also mock the absurdity being presented to them. Satire has been linked to elements of comedy such as irony and hyperbole because it allows viewers to escape from the real world while still actually being in tune with it. The early 2000s comic book The Boys, created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, was adapted into

Methodology Fan forums provided me with an opportunity to understand how and why character engagement with these allegorical characters interfered with social and political commentary. I used Reddit to analyze unfiltered and authentic conversations surrounding The Boys. I searched for phrases such as “favorite/least favorite character” or simply searched for divisive characters’ names such as “Homelander” on the subreddit thread, r/TheBoys. Do most people have a similar favorite character? What was the reasoning that fans gave for their opinions? The range of my analysis consists of existing Reddit discussions, as I did not create new posts or initiate replies to pre-existing comments. I deemed this evidence to be generalizable to The Boys viewers as a whole because there are a vast 968,000 members on r/TheBoys. This was important in understanding why, for some, the show’s message was received clearly and why, for others, it was not immediately received. However, this research was not without