Does Satire Work the Same Way Now?

There are two reasons to scan through this opinionated feature article on the trouble people in Great Britain have had in satirizing Tony Blair. The first is testimony from Steve Bell on how he came to initially understand Blair which I think says a lot about how cartoonists think in visual terms; the second is a provocative statement by a critic that really nails an idea I haven't seen discussed before in terms of political cartooning. According to Steve Richards at the Independent, cartoonists are operating out of the same savage satirical framework as, say, 50 years ago, but the wider society no longer defers to people in power in a way that justified going after such figures in that way. I don't agree with his concluding statements that this makes such an act cynical, or his supporting statements that satirists hold more power. But I do think there's something to the idea that such cartoons reinforce rather than challenge the status quo, and at the very least, a shift in attitudes might change the overall effectiveness of such cartoons. Is it even possible to puncture a deflated balloon?
 
posted 3:14 am PST | Permalink
 

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