JAN 201 - Can Comedy Save Democracy? Understanding and Making News Satire

Type: Hybrid

Course Meeting Days & Times: MTuWTh, 6:00 PM-8:30 PM

Instructor(s): Dailey, Keli

Email: kld5@stmarys-ca.edu

Fee: $35

Course Description: Satire = making fun of something to expose its truth.

This course provides instruction in analyzing and creating satirical broadcast news and digital media. It teaches you how to decode and challenge it as an engaged audience member, as well as prepare it for presentation. Our goal in this course will be to define this genre, explore its evolution, identify its public impact and importance, determine whether it’s an agent of journalistic information-dissemination, suggest improvements in areas such as ethics and diversity, and gain experience in creating news satire.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS COURSE:

• What is satire and why it matters

• The important democratic effects of informative comedy

• The basics of writing a joke

• Using your point of view to make jokes with meaning (topical humor or social commentary)

• How to deconstruct comedy (sketch, standup and satire)

• The difference between parody and impression

• How satire is an age-old form of media criticism and holding powerful accountable

• How to perform a short news parody

• The importance of visual satire (i.e. cartooning)

• The impacts and limitations of news satire today

The second meeting day of each week will be an asynchronous online engagement session (students must complete real-time tasks e.g. quizzes and online engagement) in lieu of meeting in person).

Prerequisites & Notes
None

Credits: 3