WRITING ADVICE #17. *SATIRE*
Back from a break.
Send your writing-related questions to: itsottessab@gmail.com. Each week I'll pick a question at random and answer it here.
Dear Ottessa,
Can satire still be effective when the audience doesn't know that it's satire—and does that ambiguity make it funnier or more dangerous?
xoxo,
Ted Bundy
Dear Ted,
First of all, thank you for the question. It reminds me of an interview you gave the night before you were executed. One might see your performance as a satire, but I’m not sure that was your intention.
There is no black and white answer to your question, or at least not in a way that I think begets really good narrative art. It really depends on what you, as the author, want to be saying, i.e. what you are critiquing/exposing, and how you are doing it.
Yes, satire can still be effective when the audience doesn’t realize it’s satire—but its effectiveness shifts. In this case, it's no longer just critiquing its target; it's exposing the audience's willingness to accept absurdity as truth. That can be funny in a dark, uncomfortable way, especially when the satire holds up a mirror without announcing itself.
