Satire In The Media

Satire is the effective use of humour, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose and criticize stupidity, often in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Satire is used to make a point that stands out, that will be noticed by the public. Evidence of satire living on television is on the news show “The Project”, as their slogan says, it is the news delivered differently, utilising satire to engage its audience. The media use satire as a way to get out information in a manner that will entertain the viewers and stay tuned. This is shown in the “Utopia” episode “Very Fast Turnover”, as the dreamer Jim wants any idea that will amaze the people of Australia whether it is feasible or not.

In “Utopia” the Australian government

Rationalising the absurd is displayed when Rhonda asks ‘What’s stopping us?’, which is exactly the point, everything is stopping them because it isn’t possible. Staff members call experts to ask for their opinions and assistance in the “very fast train” proposal, they are rationalising the absurd, trying to rationalise the proposal even though it's impossible. The experts are lead to believe that the staff members are stupid because they don’t understand that it is not possible.

Hugh: “Hypothetically, let's say we went 600 kilometres per hour”

Hugh: “Yes, I understand the laws of physics.”

Farce is used as Scott is mocking and comparing the “very fast train” to a commercial aircraft. He states that it doesn’t make a noise. Their research on the project is almost laughable and

Satire emphasises the institutional practices in the episode such as the many staff changes and safety audits, which leads to inefficiency. A staff member named Stuart has only been on the job for 3 months and is already looking for a new job, this highlights the irony in the fact that he is a long-term planning officer, but is only there for the short term. This is an example of the very fast turnover of the staff in the workplace. The Silver Emu is a perfect representation of symbolism; an emu is perceived to be fast, efficient and clever, and silver is usually associated with to signify wealth and higher class. The decision to use the words silver and emu shows the absence of any investigation into meaningful names. The staff don't care about the name, they only care about announcing appealing projects. This aspect is shown in the many parts of the project, such as the miscommunication within the workplace. The fact that the public is so eager to go with an idea with a fancy name, but with little concern about the reality and practical side of the project emphasises the government intentions in the public. The authorities create momentum simply through advertising. It's not ‘What’s Next?’, its what’s now, and that is that on television satire