Satire, a dying art?

[Svengoolie 3]

Ok first off let's separate satire of om parody.

Satire is Dr. Strangelove.  Tbat was the epitome of satire.

Parody is Meet the spartans, scary movie,  vampires suck,  ad nauseum.

Satire is hard,  satire requires wit and intelligence. Not a lot of peolle can do satire.

Parody is easy. Parody just requires snark and hatefulness.  Snark is so easy monkeys can do it,  and I think a lot are.

Itcs hard to name a good satire movie. Dr. Strangelove remains the apex of the artform 50 years after it was made .

So,  is satire  a dying art or just going underground? Can you name some good modern satires?

[RCMerchant]

the LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960)
BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959)
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974)
the FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967)
DEATHRACE 2000 (1975)

[Rev. Powell]

From this past year, THE DEATH OF STALIN and SORRY TO BOTHER YOU.

WAG THE DOG (1997) is a great slightly older (but still very relevant) political satire.

[RCMerchant]

The Hitler movie LOOK WHO'S BACK.
I thought GRIND HOUSE was satire.
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN too.

[Svengoolie 3]

I suppose "look who's back" counts too.

[RCMerchant]

Satire is a tricky thing.
The old Mad Magazine was satire.
And if a parody is good- (like AIRPLANE), then what the hell?
Then they're is DR. STRANGELOVE, a fantastic movie, which was a very dark humor.

http://youtu.be/N1KvgtEnABY
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[WingedSerpent]

The problem is "satire" has become a defense against criticism.   Anyone and everyone seems to claim to be satire of something when their called on their incompetence.  Like how CinemaSins claims to be satire of nitpicking critics instead admitting that their actually nitpicky critics and that their terrible channel isn't meant to be taken seriously.    And when Alex Jones was called out on his rants, he used the defense of he's satire of political ranters.

[ER]

"Election" was a satire I used to like at the turn of the century. That's not too far back, is it?

Interesting topic. I think maybe the current repressive thought-climate does not nurture satire. The wheel may turn, we'll see.

[Ted C]

Idiocracy (although time is showing it to be more prophecy than satire)

[TensionSplice]

I thought Starship Troopers (1997) and Starship Troopers 3 (2008) were entertaining satires. Starship Troopers 3 may not have got the best reviews, but it was on the noes enough that it seems to have managed to convince many viewers that it was earnestly promoting the type of fundamentalist religious beliefs that it was trying to skewer. It is also the only B-movie action/sci-fi religious satire that I can remember watching.

[Svengoolie 3]

The problem is "satire" has become a defense against criticism.   Anyone and everyone seems to claim to be satire of something when their called on their incompetence.  Like how CinemaSins claims to be satire of nitpicking critics instead admitting that their actually nitpicky critics and that their terrible channel isn't meant to be taken seriously.    And when Alex Jones was called out on his rants, he used the defense of he's satire of political ranters.

Yeah,  I got tired of cinema sins when they sinned star trek  2 because deforest Kelley was in the credits. 

[RCMerchant]

I thought Starship Troopers (1997) and Starship Troopers 3 (2008) were entertaining satires. Starship Troopers 3 may not have got the best reviews, but it was on the noes enough that it seems to have managed to convince many viewers that it was earnestly promoting the type of fundamentalist religious beliefs that it was trying to skewer. It is also the only B-movie action/sci-fi religious satire that I can remember watching.

I have to agree on STARSHIP TROOPERS.
By no means meant to be taken seriously.

[bob]

I'll be the first to mention Blazing Saddles, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, The Great Dictator and Network.

And I love Dr. Strangelove. This movie works on so many levels. It also showed me that when done right, anything can be funny even nuclear war.

The reason satire films are dying today is because of the crap Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have made.

[zombie no.one]

Best in Show, A Mighty Wind

I love Christopher Guest's mockumentaries (especially A MIGHTY WIND), but are they really satire? what hypocrisy and/or corruption are they actually exposing? IMO they are more like very deftly handled parodies.

I don't really agree with OP that parody is 'easy'. It may be easy to do it badly, but I think a parody can be just as sharp and intricately observed as any satire.

[Rev. Powell]

Best in Show, A Mighty Wind

I love Christopher Guest's mockumentaries (especially A MIGHTY WIND), but are they really satire? what hypocrisy and/or corruption are they actually exposing? IMO they are more like very deftly handled parodies.

I don't really agree with OP that parody is 'easy'. It may be easy to do it badly, but I think a parody can be just as sharp and intricately observed as any satire.

Interesting question. I think SPINAL TAP was definitely a satire on the music industry and selling out. Like Zombie, I'm not sure what A MIGHTY WIND is satirizing, though. I don't think it's much of a parody, either; I'd classify it just as a regular comedy. Haven't seen BEST IN SHOW.

I do somewhat agree with Svengoolie that parody is "easy," or rather, lazy. The jokes often write themselves, and show it. Well-done parodies can be very funny, however, like early Mel Brooks and the Zucker Brothers.

The difference between parody and satire: parody makes fun of a specific genre and it's tropes (AIRPLANE does disaster movies, BLAZING SADDLES takes on Westerns). Satire aims to make fun of human vice (DR. STRANGELOVE argues humanity's obstinence and paranoia will destroy it, NETWORK shows the cost of valuing profits above everything else). Satire is (usually) darker and moralizing.