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What Counts as Political Satire?

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Littledaylight View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Littledaylight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 6:31pm
Originally posted by jennifer.quail jennifer.quail wrote:

Originally posted by Littledaylight Littledaylight wrote:

Originally posted by manifestlynot manifestlynot wrote:

"Powerful examples of this genre lay down the bitterness and the revulsion and even the *nausea* of the reality of the political landscape late in the story, and it knocks you off balance."

I guess where I'm a little confused is that I'm not representing/exaggerating the reality of the political landscape. It's so hard to explain what I've done without spoilers. So I'll put a minor spoiler below in white text... highlight to read.

My story advocates gun rights by making fun of the notion that if guns were banned, the criminals would give them up. So it's an exaggerated version of a world where everyone cares about the law and thus gun banishment really does mean the complete end of gun violence and safety for all. 

That's also the reason I'm pretty sure I'll make people angry. Probably more than half the readers would support gun banishment. 

But does this sound like an effective political satire? I guess it does highlight the revulsion of the political landscape by showing how silly an idea is that many people support... Which goes to show how confused so  many of the people are. 

Assuming you execute the idea well, it sounds like political satire to me. The judge is not necessarily correct that it requires any nausea about some current situation. Satire requires a degree of highlighting ABSURDITY, where you take things to their logical most extreme version, whether darkly or comically. I can see where you could easily take your idea to its absurdist extreme and make it work as you're right, the concept DOES lead to absurd ends (I was wondering but now I think I get where you're going.) If the judges are fair (and you're probably right about the majority political persuasion, if you look at the number of variations on 'orange man bad' satires) then they'll look at how well it was satirical, not whether they agree with it or not. 
jennifer.quail thank you! I appreciate all the help. Lol... 'orange man bad'... To be fair, it would've been entertaining to write one of those satires myself, although I can't claim to agree with the argument.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Littledaylight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 6:33pm
Originally posted by manifestlynot manifestlynot wrote:

Originally posted by Littledaylight Littledaylight wrote:


But does this sound like an effective political satire? I guess it does highlight the revulsion of the political landscape by showing how silly an idea is that many people support... Which goes to show how confused so  many of the people are. 

It sounds effective to me! Airy and light overtones + very dark undertones + absurdity = effective political satire. I'm one of the readers who take the opposite view so if I'm convinced after reading it, you'll know it hit home Wink
Hahaha... Political satire can be fun to read/write no matter which side is taken. Anything can be satirized, after all. Thanks so much for the help! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Mystic Platypus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 6:52pm
Originally posted by BarbaraFL BarbaraFL wrote:

Originally posted by manifestlynot manifestlynot wrote:

One of the judges for my polisat last year said "With political satire, there has to be a solid punch after the initial sweetness of the sugar-medicine combination. Powerful examples of this genre lay down the bitterness and the revulsion and even the *nausea* of the reality of the political landscape late in the story, and it knocks you off balance. The goal of political satire is to provoke amusement, recognition and then repulsion and horror." I really liked that comment (even though he/she was saying it as a criticism because I apparently did not pack enough of a punch, lol) and think of it often when it comes to polisat.


Wow, that's great feedback. I don't think I lived up to it with my entry but this is really great information.

Edited to add: I LOVED Mystic Platypus' A Cure For Living Poorly from the story story comp and I think it does meet these criteria. I still think about that story!




Thank you so much! I'm proud of that story. I definitely think it's an example of this comp challenging us to create work we didn't know we had in us!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote OnyxLily Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 7:02pm
It doesn't have to specifically about politics, more just about a societal issue. I was worried about whether mine fit the genre in SSC R1 last year, and then won my heat! So I wouldn't stress about it too much.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Littledaylight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 7:54pm
Originally posted by OnyxLily OnyxLily wrote:

It doesn't have to specifically about politics, more just about a societal issue. I was worried about whether mine fit the genre in SSC R1 last year, and then won my heat! So I wouldn't stress about it too much.


Thanks, OnyxLily! I'm trying not to stress:)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote lisafox10800 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 8:14pm
So I’ve gotten pol sat three times here.

The first time I goose-egged with a trump fairy tale mashup.

The second time I just missed short story finals with an hm.

The last time I took first place in my heat.

The latter two stories have since been published. I’m including links here just to give you examples of how you can potentially address polsat.

Hope it’s helpful!

Population Management  (FFC semifinal 2018, published in The Satirist, original prompts were dog biscuit and childbirth center)


The Twinkie Fitness Aptitude Test (Short Story semifinal 2018, published in Unlikely Stories Mark V, original prompts were cheerleader and junk food, this was for ssc)

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Littledaylight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 9:06pm
Originally posted by lisafox10800 lisafox10800 wrote:

So I’ve gotten pol sat three times here.

The first time I goose-egged with a trump fairy tale mashup.

The second time I just missed short story finals with an hm.

The last time I took first place in my heat.

The latter two stories have since been published. I’m including links here just to give you examples of how you can potentially address polsat.

Hope it’s helpful!

Population Management  (FFC semifinal 2018, published in The Satirist, original prompts were dog biscuit and childbirth center)


The Twinkie Fitness Aptitude Test (Short Story semifinal 2018, published in Unlikely Stories Mark V, original prompts were cheerleader and junk food, this was for ssc)


Thanks Lisa!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LadyReeseKightkens Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 10:09pm
Originally posted by lisafox10800 lisafox10800 wrote:

Population Management  (FFC semifinal 2018, published in The Satirist, original prompts were dog biscuit and childbirth center)


The Twinkie Fitness Aptitude Test (Short Story semifinal 2018, published in Unlikely Stories Mark V, original prompts were cheerleader and junk food, this was for ssc)


Just read these two and now I'm more thankful than ever that I didn't get Political Satire for R1. However, now I'm really terrified of what might come my way for R2 Confused
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lisafox10800 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 10:11pm
Originally posted by LadyReeseKightkens LadyReeseKightkens wrote:

Originally posted by lisafox10800 lisafox10800 wrote:

Population Management  (FFC semifinal 2018, published in The Satirist, original prompts were dog biscuit and childbirth center)


The Twinkie Fitness Aptitude Test (Short Story semifinal 2018, published in Unlikely Stories Mark V, original prompts were cheerleader and junk food, this was for ssc)


Just read these two and now I'm more thankful than ever that I didn't get Political Satire for R1. However, now I'm really terrified of what might come my way for R2 Confused

Each genre has its challenges. The one thing I remind myself (And the thing my husband tells me when I’m tearing my hair out) is that this is supposed to be fun!

What did you get in challenge 1?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (4) Thanks(4)   Quote Schrifty Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 10:21pm
So, no idea if this helps, but this is the post I wrote a couple years back on the subject.  There's usually a ping in views this time of year so I doubt you're the only one who has trouble with it:


To sum up, you basically want to use a humorous situation to make a broader point about a political topic.  There's lots of ways to do it, and I don't know that it matters what stance you take on what topic as long as it functions as commentary.
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