1. Common Elements of Fairy Tales
1. A fairy tale begins with "Once upon a time...” 2. Fairy tales happen in the long ago. 3. Fairy Tales have fantasy and make believe in them. 4. Fairy Tales have clearly defined Good characters vs. Evil characters. 5. Royalty is usually present in a fairy tale, a beautiful princess/handsome prince. 6. There may be magic with giants, elves, talking animals, witches or fairies. 7. Fairy tales have a problem that needs to be solved. 8. It often takes three tries to solve the problem. 9. Fairy tales have happy endings – “they all lived happily ever after.” 10. Fairy tales usually teach a lesson or have a theme.

2. Satire:
A literary work that ridicules its subject through the use of techniques such as humor, exaggeration, reversal, incongruity, and/or parody in order to make a comment or criticism about it

3. Four Techniques of Satire:
Exaggeration: to enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen. (Hyperbole)
Incongruity: to present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings. (Juxtaposition)
Reversal: to present the opposite of the normal order (e.g., the order of events, hierarchical order). (Similar to situational irony)
Parody: to imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing
[movies that mimic famous blockbusters. “Vampire Sucks” parodies and pokes fun at “Twilight” which was a film adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s novel “Twilight”.]

4. Identify at least one example from the clip for each of the four techniques of satire.
Exaggeration: Princess Fiona fights and successfully defeats Robin Hood and all of his Merry Men without any help and without any weapons.
Incongruity: Princess Fiona uses her ponytail to deliver a knockout punch to one of the Merry Men. While frozen in a mid-air martial arts kick, Princess Fiona pauses to fix her disheveled hair before knocking out two of the Merry Men.
Reversal: The roles of the hero and the damsel in distress have been reversed. In this clip, it is Princess Fiona, the rescuee, who fights and defeats the foe.
Parody: The fight scene is an exaggerated imitation of the martial arts style and special effects used in movies such as The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

5. What’s the primary comment or criticism about society that is being made by the satirical techniques in this clip? Or, what’s the underlying lesson or unwritten moral in the story?
The traditional story of the knight rescuing the damsel-in-distress is not a realistic depiction of the roles filled by men and women in modern society.
Current Hollywood action movies like The Matrix have become ridiculous because they are too focused on special effects.

6. SATIRE AND SATIRICAL DEVICES
Satire—sarcasm, irony, or wit used to ridicule or mock
Satirical styles:
1.  Direct—satire is directly stated
2. Indirect satire is communicated through characters in a situation
Types of Satire:
1.  Horatian—light-hearted, intended for fun
2.  Juvenalian—bitter, angry attacking

7. Jonathan Swift
Born in 1667 in Dublin to English parents who fled during the Civil War
One of the most famous satirists of the Western literary cannon
Held political & religious positions in both England & Ireland, lending him plenty of material to write about—led to 2 major works: “A Modest Proposal (AMP) & “Gulliver’s Travels”
Returned to England during the Revolution & met Sir William Temple who helped him with his writings. Swift became a traveling minister after Temple died then found sympathy with the Tories and began to anonymously publish his writing pamphlets
Tories rose to power=Swift their editor until Whigs came back, so Swift fled back to Ireland once more and began his career as a real writer

8. “A Modest Proposal”
Acknowledges the conditions of impoverished Irish people with a dark sense of humor, which suggests a better way of life: BAYBEE EETING! (*gasp!*)
A classical form of Latin satire in which one takes an extreme position and never lets the audience in on the joke
People during the time thought they could offer easy cure-alls for society’s problems with a little pamphlet
Points out the de-humanization of poor people during the time who were basically statistics and not viewed as human beings
Embraces a tone: using only Irish-made goods, tightening up on personal spending habits, encouraging all Irish citizens to be more peaceful with their neighbors
Rhetorical style persuades the reader to the speaker and the Irish

9. Answer in Groups Were your initial expectations confirmed?
In what ways were they contradicted?
Describe how the various sections of Swift’s essay work together.
How would you characterize Swift’s overall tone in the essay?
What means does Swift use to develop his tone?
Who does Swift criticize in this piece?
What changes does he hope to bring about?

10. Let’s Create Our Own “Modest Proposal!”
Generate a list of social issues
Pick an issue then think of an outlandish solution to that problem
Write a paragraph, like Swift’s, in which you introduce solutions that are actually reasonable and workable only to explain why the reader should not speak to the writer of such indefensible solutions
(We’ll do more with this later—)

11. Hodgart on The Conditions of Political Satire
Richard Hodgart's Satire points out that "political satire requires special conditions for its appearance in strength:"
First, a degree of free speech either through design as in Greece or England, or through inefficiency as inlate eighteenth-century France and even in Czarist Russia.
Secondly, there must be a general readiness of the educated classes to take part in political affairs; this need not imply the existence of a democracy, but it does mean the spread of democratic ideas.
Thirdly, there must be some confidence on the part of writers that they can actually influence the conduct of affairs; and
Fourthly, there must be a wide audience that enjoys wit, imagination, and the graces of literature, and that is sophisticated enough to enjoy their application to serious topics.
According to Hodgart, such conditions "existed to the full in England from about to 1820, and they have reappeared since in other parts of Europe, usually in pre-revolutionary rather than revolutionary situations; and as commonly associated with nationalistic as with social conflict" (77).