...The artful way in which Toole composes the setting and uses vernacular associated with it allows for a stark comparison between the city of New Orleans, and the pompous Ignatius Reilly who inhabits it. These contradictions often lead to hilarity such as when Reilly is employed by Paradise Vendors and becomes a hotdog salesman and describes his day, “A vagrant petitioned for a hot dog. I waved him away and strode forth” (230). Once the reader realizes the hypocrisy of the statement, being that Ignatius is heading towards vagrancy himself, the utter ridiculousness of Ignatius’ statements are hilarious simply for the fact that they are extremely...
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...the director expands on those ideas by arguing why copyright laws are evil by applying that concept to different fields like medicine and plants. Due to the ridiculousness of copyright laws, mass appropriation should be allowed and such an act will benefit our culture because many new works could be created. The main premise behind Walking on Eggshells is the prevalence of appropriation. Examples throughout history were used like Picasso’s paintings being similar to old African paintings. Moreover, in television, cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny referenced famous people like Mozart to entertain children. Finally, in music, Daft Punk was essentially a fusion of the works of Mozart and Beethoven. With so many instances of appropriation, it is hard to punish everyone for committing it. Moreover, artists sometimes do not care about money, and so they are willing to let their music be downloaded for free or be remixed because they care more about sharing their art than making money. Simply put, we have all the music in the world for us to define ourselves and our culture. Rip! discussed a wide range of topics about appropriation and expanded on a lot of points Walking on Eggshells made. Rip! also suggested that appropriation should be something anyone can legally do. Rip! justified this by pointing out the ridiculousness...
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...Examining the Underlying Theme of Flattery in Catullus’ Carmen 13 On the surface, Catullus’ Carmen 13 is concerned with the theme of gift-giving among friends. In the poem, a penniless Catullus invites Fabullus, whom he mentions in Carmen 12 as a dear friend, to dine at his house – “apud me” (Line 1). However, attached to the invitation is the condition that Fabullus provides “bonam atque magnam cenam” (3-4), “candida puella” (4), “et vino et sale et omnibus cachinnis” (5). By the second half of the poem, Catullus offers in return the gift of love – “meros amores” (9), and an alluring perfume that the gods themselves had given to Lesbia. In bequeathing this to Fabullus, a cycle of gift-giving occurs in that a previous gift is being given to a friend in response to a gift. On the surface, Carmen 13 reads like charming and light-hearted dinner invitation. However, such invitations generally specify a date or a time.1 Furthermore, in other invitation poems, such as Philodemus’ 23 or Horace’s Epist. 1 and 52, the poet-host will apologize for being unable to provide luxurious food and wine. Catullus does the exact opposite in Carmen 13 by claiming poverty and requesting Fabullus to provide the furnishings. Thusly, this poem should be viewed as a pleasant half-joke of an invitation. It could very well be a procrastinated request of their meeting. Fabullus may have just returned from his political duties in Spain and desired to reconnect with his dear friend. Catullus thus writes this...
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...The Importance of Being Earnest Draft The opening scene of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ establishes the play as a Comedy of Manners as Wilde as immediately introduces some of the key ideas behind his satire of the middle classes, for example triviality and a lack of moral values. The setting of a flat on Half Moon Street immediately gives a sense of affluence. The description of the furniture with the adverbs ‘luxuriously and artistically’ deliberately focuses on aesthetic and makes no reference to substance or function, which reflects the superficiality of the upper classes whom Wilde will be satirising throughout the play. This introduces a sense of decorous pretence, which creates the perfect mood for Wilde’s comedy of manners. Algernon’s initial dialogue is a conglomerate of puns which immediately establishes him as a comical character and the archetype of the upper class bachelor. This is essential as Algernon is central to Wilde’s comedy of manners as he exemplifies the frivolity and hypocrisy of the upper classes, which Wilde will be satirising throughout the play. ‘…I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte.’ The use of the word ‘forte’ here is punning and ironical, as it can mean both a speciality, and a technique used by musicians in which the volume is increased to emphasise emotion. While Algernon did indeed play loudly, he claims ‘sentiment is my forte’, which is a reversal of the purpose of the musical...
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...He wrote it as a clear allegory in an effort to show how ridiculous the whole situation was. While reading The Crucible, the reader sees the absurdities in the accusations of obviously innocent people’s lives being ruined by witch accusations. The way that the trials were conducted showed the obvious abuse of power of certain individuals. This ridiculousness is what Miller wanted people to realize that was relapsing in the 1950’s. He used the idea of the tragedy of a witch-hunt to show the world that history was repeating itself once again. This is important to always remember history, which is very difficult when fear is involved. Fear clouds judgement, so in moments when fear is present, in an entire society, history tends to be forgotten and history ends up repeating itself. This is what Miller wanted to get across by using The Crucible to express his feeling of the ridiculousness of the McCarthy Era while living through...
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...“Duck Soup” Critical Analysis: Music and Mirrors What makes an action funny? Is it because there is a major consequence if a person messes up? Is it because the person has been hurt and not seriously? Or is it just the ridiculousness of the situation? These are questions that come up when anyone discusses humor. What exactly makes a situation funny is actually a combination of many factors. The truth is always easily mocked, which is why some comedy acts are so amusing. The Marx Brothers are very capable of doing Everyone has seen the big fuss that is put together whenever a visiting dignitary visits the United States. It is always so formal and stiff. The Marx Brothers turn this whole affair on its head. First, they mock the entrance of the man of honor. In real life the person is on time and makes a stately entrance. Although there is fanfare to welcome Groucho, the man himself is late. He enters, via fireman's pole, and asks what's going on. Then he proceeds to insult everyone there. Usually a real president makes some long-winded speech about how he is going to turn the country around, and rattles off a list of everything he's going to do. Groucho breaks into song about how he's going to completely make everyone's lives miserable. Everyone agrees to what Groucho's planning to do by singing back the lines he just said. This is a great way of poking fun at the government, since half the time it really can't keep every...
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...Miami Herald journalist Carl Hiaasen comments on dangerous collegiate Greek life in “FSU right to suspend the dangerous idiocy of Greek life on campus”. He shares his political stance in “Let’s give Trump the TV remote, no the nuclear button”. Lastly, Hiaasen scrutinizes those guilty of sexual harassment in “‘I’m humbled and troubled--especially since I got caught.’”. Hiaasen’s entertaining and sarcastic tone coincides with logical and emotional statements. As well as a strategic use of succinct sentences, to form a convincing case about dangerous college life, Trump’s uneasy presidency, and inconsiderate tormentors. Hiaasen’s ability to be jocular, reflects the ridiculousness he wants to magnify in these article subjects. Hiaasen unveils that fraternity deathly “horse play”, can easily be discontinued if university...
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...see that their son has escaped prison, to which they are indifferent due to the handicaps they wear. On television Harrison himself removes his handicaps to give the viewers a glimpse of the beauty in being different and to open our eyes to the travesty we know as equality. The characters enforce the dark and self-deprecating mood, whether it’s George’s affability, Hazel’s lethargy or Harrison’s disdain for this nation. The characters will take you on a rollercoaster of emotion. Egalitarianism is taken to the point of absurdity in this story, Vonnegut does a great job of infusing humor into his dystopian setting. Ex: he describes how handsome Harrison is, this results in him wearing a rubber nose and shaven eye brows. This ridiculousness is present throughout the story. This interjection helps to keep us the readers with a slim hope that something good may come of this nation he created. A must read for any reader that has ever wondered what would happen...
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...When ‘Cesario’ goes to woo Olivia, the speech that ‘he’ makes highlights the ridiculousness of this kind of adoration. He begins with “"Most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable beauty"”, but is forced to a stop because he doesn’t even know if he is addressing the right person, because he “"never saw her"”. The irony emphasises the satire of the way in which men woo women his sincerity is reflected in a different relationship in Twelfth Night, that of Orsino and Viola. Although Orsino has not known that his ‘man’ Cesario is really a woman, the relationship they have is much more sincere and based on truth and friendship, which means that when he realises the truth of the situation he asks her to marry him. Both the love depicted in Sonnet 130 and the relationship of Orsino and Viola would surely have the approval of the narrator of Christina Walsh’s A Woman to Her Lover, who wants “"co-equal love"” based on truth, rather than any kind of idealisation that makes the woman into an “"angel"” or a “"doll"”. His real love and real interest is his own poetry, and the name he is making for himself. This (much more modern) poem rather reflects Orsino’s own character in Twelfth Night: he is more interested in listening to music and Feste’s sad songs than going to make Olivia marry him. Viola partly wins Olivia’s heart by saying what she would do if she were Orsino, the first thing being to come and make camp outside Olivia’s house. This speech draws the reaction from Olivia: “"you...
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...Graciela Garcia 9:35 In the beginning of the course I believed that art had to do with like sculptures, paintings, or something someone is passionate about and sees what they do as art because of the love they have for what they do. I believed entertainment was something that had to do with like comedy like a show, or movie; for example Ridiculousness, the Kevin Heart shows, or Tosh.0. When I kept going to class and the lectures progressed I still viewed entertainment as something to do with comedy but also I saw it as something to do with drama. In drama where plays take place and emotions are brought out with the movement of your body language. Some people view plays as entertainment but it can also be seen as art for others. The ones who, to me, view it as both art and entertainment are the actors. They love what they do and they love to keep people entertained. I recently watched Titanic with my family and for the most part I thought that the writer of the movie wrote it more to entertain people because even though it tells the story about how the titanic sank, the writer also makes it a love story. The writer has to put some much work into what the actors say to each other so that the audience can feel what he wants us to feel. When Jack and Rose fall in love the audience knows it is something that shouldn’t happen because Rose is engaged to Cal but the audience is happy to see that because the writer of the movie makes Cal the bad guy and Jack the good guy. The...
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...As Jean-Paul Sartre once stated “man is a useless passion. It is meaningless that we live and it is meaningless that we die” (Jean-Paul Sartre). Numerous people question the meaning of human life and its importance. Whether we are useless to understand the world in which we inhabit and are succumb to violence. Throughout the short story “The Call of Cthulhu”, Herbert Phillips Lovecraft conveys elements regarding the theme of horror through topics of the fear of inexistence and violence. Society’s fear of inexistence produces the sense of horror as a result of the meaningless of human life. Reveling the ridiculousness of humanity, Lovecraft states that “the most merciful thing in the world is the inability of the human mind to correlate all...
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...challenging to show that she is really in love with him at the end. Then, Elizabeth basically laughs in Mr. Collins’s face when proposed to. She denies his request simply because she does not love him. However, Mrs. Bennett wants Elizabeth to marry him because he is next in line to inherit the family home. Elizabeth is different from other women of her time because she is not ditsy or superficial as many were then. A character who shows Austen’s satire is Mr. Collins. He is very pompous and he says that he only associates himself with people of a higher social class, which makes him better than everyone else. He also says he would rather face death than mess up the way society is. Lady Catherine is just the same as Mr. Collins. The ridiculousness of them both makes them easy targets to be made fun of. Lady Catherine is supposed to be a role model in the community...
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...satirical and astute essay “ The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History,” Jennifer Price illustrates how superficial American culture is and uses the history of the flamingo to make her claim . Price proves that the United States culture in the 1950s sensualized luxury through extravagance. Yet, her mocking tone conveys that she is criticizing U.S. culture. She conveys this through unique word choice in a comical and sarcastic way to create the comparison between the flamingo’s and the flashy American culture. In her essay Price comments on the irony of the flamboyant symbolism of the flamingo stating that “Americans had hunted flamingos to extinction...for plumes and meat.” Not only had they hunted them but had driven them to extinction....
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...“Although terrifying, many of the stories are also darkly comic.” Consider at least two of the stories from The Bloody Chamber in the light of this comment. * candidates must consider at least two stories here – they may consider more * exploration of the ways in which the stories may be considered terrifying, an aspect of the gothic – likely reference to the numerous instances of horrific violence, sexual depravity, supernatural powers, psychological fear etc * exploration of the ways in which some of the stories may be considered comic – “Puss-in-Boots” is obviously comic – other stories have moments of sardonic humour, often created by surprise or defiance of our expectations * Response to the word “darkly” in the question and its implications of black comedy – laughing at things which are not normally considered funny – expect some personal response here – sense of humour is very individual! * some candidates may discuss Carter’s language – her intermingling of the poetic and literary with the bluntly crude may be seen as a source of dark humour, equally her choice of structure may make her writing darkly comic – her use of juxtaposition – some readers have seen the absurd brevity of “The Snow Child” as comic and it is unquestionably “dark” Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ certainly embeds an element of terror within the collection. However, despite claims of horror apparent in the Marquis from the very start, it is also reasonable to argue that...
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...A copious portion of both scenarios relate to one another such as the accusations and false convictions. The correspondence between the trials that took place are enhanced by Danforth: “I have seen marvels in this court. I have seen people choked before my eyes by spirits; I have seen them stuck by pins and slashed by daggers” (236). Danforth asserts everything he has seen in the court, although he acknowledges that they are “marvels”. This example verifies that such astonishing ideas must not be taken lightly. Miller uses this parallelism to display the ridiculousness within trials for witches and communists. When presented with unbelievable lies, it’s difficult not the believe them. Miller wants his audience to understand that this is repetitive...
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