The Art of Satire

[Hawkman]

I have just seen a short piece of film in which hamsters were forced to reenact the assassination of JFK. I mean they even had a police escort and a book depository and a hamster with a rifle and everything! Hell, they even blew the Kennedy hamster's head off. Now if you wanted to satirise a political assassination, what animals would you choose to make it funny? It is, according to a British standup comedian (who shall remain nameless, primarily because I wasn't paying attention until the hamsters turned up) a fact that animals are essential to satire. So chaps, put on your thinking caps and contemplate the assassination of some major political figure and then come up with an option for the appropriate species to play them and the most fitting creature to polish it off. Method, weapon, means, etc. should be made appropriate to the job at hand...

Looking forward to reading your suggestions.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Man, I thought I drifted toward the outer reaches of the contorted spectrum, but that is really twisted.
Caesar comes to mind and so does the obvious assassin; a Praying Mantis and I'm talking about the BIG kind...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=noJEvlbqJYY

The kind that must have taken a from the Food of the Gods...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cQVlAVqdZPo

[MANICHAEAN]

Hawk
I immediately thought of "Animal Farm," and though I can think of a few political characters that deserve to be wacked, prefer the genre of someone like the hit man in Frederick Forsyth's " The Day of the Jackel."
Take care.
M.

[Hawkman]

GG and Man: Thank you both for casting an eye over this, and for your thoughts. I was rather taken by your youtube clips GG! Shades of Them and the mantis was hilarious. The other one reminded me of Night of the Lepus although, as far as I remember, the giant rabbits weren't particularly interested in eating people but only in raiding supermarkets for lettuce. I confess that I share Man's sentiment about Day of the Jackal.

However, seeing as this is actually a serious discussion thread, perhaps one ought to discuss the moral and ethical implications of decapitating a hamster with explosives on BBC TV for the purposes of entertainment. The Program was Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. Granted it was on BBC2 and well after the watershed (22:00 - 22:30 GMT) but really, is it funny, and if it is, why is it funny? Now I grant you, a hamster with a rifle lurking in the window of a cardboard building is inherently funny, at least to me. The short piece of film was tacked onto the end of the program and followed a brief clip of interview with the man himself discussing satire and animals. It began with lots of hamsters running around a cardboard set, knocking over walls and generally sniffing around. At this stage the purpose was not clear. Then we began to see close-ups of stuffed hamsters mounted on little motorbikes escorting two hamsters in a rather crudely fashioned toy car. I confess that I was still a bit bewildered as to what was going on at this point as I wasn't really paying attention. The exploding hamster's head certainly made me sit up and take notice, especially as it was followed by a shot of a hamster with a rifle lurking in the window of the cardboard building. Only then did I become aware that I was watching Hamsters re-enacting the Kennedy assassination.

I suppose it is possible to satirise the Kennedy Assassination this far temporally removed from the actual event. Red Dwarf did so by postulating the consequences of saving JFK and then persuading the president that he really had to die, or civilisation (as we know it) would collapse around our ears. Eventually the president had to assassinate himself. It was a little feeble to be honest, but there were some good jokes along the way. However, one has to ask, did the hamsters have to die in order to make the world a better place? Even if the hamsters were stuffed or just merely conveniently made dead before being wired onto model motorbikes and toy cars, at some stage, one must ask if this callous exploitation of hamsters is morally acceptable. I did not see the standard disclaimer, you know the one, "No hamsters were harmed in the making of this film" nor that all the animal action was monitored by the United Nations or some equally ineffective international board of ethical regulation. Should we therefore conclude that the hamsters were all gassed before being forced act out this bizarrely sordid little skit?

Come on people, I invite you to share your thoughts... maybe even spare a tear for Hammy.


Live and be well - H

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Primarily breaking the ice with my Caesar - Mantis scenario hoping you might expound a bit which you did. I had pet hamsters, gerbils and a rat or two along the way which causes me to blanch at the imagery you shared not to mention the association with Kennedy assassination which took place practically in my back yard.

[Hawkman]

Well I guess rats would have made more of a political point, but somehow hamsters are too cute to be really political. Squirrels, at least grey ones, are all about charisma disguising the fact that they are essentially just rats that live in trees, and the do have a reputation for being vicious! However, red ones will forever be associated with road safety campaigning in my mind - a consequence of being a member of the Tufty Club at the tender age of 4 :D Now cockroaches are definitely politically viable as satirical mediators, and I suspect that no one save the most hardcore entomologist would protest at their demise in the service of some greater truth... But really, hamsters just don't fit the bill!

[AuntShecky]

You can't really attempt this without running the risk of being boycotted by PETA. Even if PETA "signed off" on the project, the hamsters or squirrels et al. would first have to join the Screen Actors Guild. And good luck finding a specimen willing "to stretch" into a role in which he or she portrays a treacherous human. It's way too demeaning --(for the animals.)

[The Atheist]

You can't really attempt this without running the risk of being boycotted by PETA.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Anything that upsets PETA has to be good. I'm thinking of buying a fur coat for my wife just so I can send PETA pictures of her in it.