Satire

[poliphilo]

The new Channel More4 (or Mofo as I think they'd like us to call it) kicked off last night with a brilliant comedy drama about the Blair government. It was lotsa fun and Bernard Hill (Theoden in LOTR) was amazingly good as former Home Secretary David Blunkett.

But does satire change anything? Has a government ever been brought down by it?
Britain has a robust tradition of political satire going back to the 18th century and in all that time we haven't had a single revolution. Instead of hanging politicians from lamp posts we point the finger at them and snigger.

So satire acts as a safety valve, protecting those in power.

Comments

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I think of British political satire going back a lot further than the 18th century. In fact, I can't think of British politics without thinking that there must have satire to go along with it!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I reckon that open political satire (the sort that names names) only became safe (or relatively safe) in the 18th century.

I'd say (but not with any great confidence) that the first great satirists were Pope and Swift.