Satire Analysis Essay

This essay will compare a satirical current affair programme; Brass Eye(1997, 2001), to two non-satirical current affairs programmes, such as BBC News (1922-) and Panorama (1953-). The essay will also delve into certain subjects such as the history of satire, the sub-categories of satire, for example parody, and the techniques used in both Brass Eye, BBC News and Panorama.

In its long development from ancient Greek theatre to the inky page, satire was a term reserved for a particular kind of humour that makes fun of human folly and vice by holding people accountable for their public actions. (Marc, 2009, ix) The certain tools of satire include irony, sarcasm, wit, caricature, exaggeration, distortion, and parody (Satire, 2016) and satire not only offers meaningful political critiques but also encourages viewers to play with politics. It also encourages viewers to examine it, test it, and question it rather than simply consume it as information or  ‘truth’ form of an authoritative source. By comically playing with the political, one can gain a greater sense of ownership over it and, in turn, feel more empowered to engage it. (Gray et al, 2009, p. 11)  Programmes such as Brass Eye (1997, 2001) and The Daily Show (1996-) are forms of satire and are subjected to a certain sub-genre of satire; parody.

Parody attacks a particular text or genre, making fun of how that text or genre operates. (Gray et al, 2009, p. 17) It also relies on fluency between similarity and difference and almost anything can be parodied. Brass Eye does use parody very well and in comparison to other news programmes such as BBC News and Panorama, it emphasises what they produce and create. However, Chris Morris (creator of Brass Eye) mocks news programmes in general, on an extreme level.

Chris Morris has worked with the genre of parody multiple times throughout his career with programmes such as The Day Today (1994) and Brass Eye (1997, 2001). Brass Eye was a six-episode series broadcasted in 1997, (with a one-off episode) that aired on Channel 4 and was created, starred and written by himself. As described by Leggott (2013, p. 2), Brass Eye purported to be a current affairs magazine-style show focusing upon specific topics of moral or social concern: animals, drugs, science, sex, crime, general ‘moral’ decline and paedophilia. (Leggott et al, 2013, p. 2) The show included well-crafted and often miniaturist spoofs of national, regional and international broadcasting of the late 1990s. The creator of Brass Eye and The Day Today, Chris Morris, is one of the most popular satirists and one of the most controversial figures in British comedy. He has also altered perceptions of current affairs broadcasting, moral panics and celebrity culture, and pushed conventional television genres such as sitcom and sketch comedy to the limits of possibility. (Leggott et al, 2013, p. 1) The episode of Brass Eye that I will be analysing is the 2001 special; Paedogeddon.

It was broadcasted on Channel 4 in 2001 and is the most complained about television programme in British broadcasting history. This episode was gaining controversy before the programme was even shown on Channel 4 and was suspended for three weeks until it was broadcasted. (Mills, 2004, p. 28) A press release for Brass Eye promised that it would ‘take media terrorism to a level never seen on British TV before’ which, when the six programmes had been aired, seemed nothing less than fair comment. However, this episode of Brass Eye led to outrage, complaints and tabloid front pages after the show dealt and showcased the topic of paedophilia in the programme in a way that only niche audiences would understand the comedy and find funny. The episode’s aim was to expose the power of the news which leads to build a viewer’s perception of an event or news story.

This certain episode was just like any other in the original series, a parody of contemporary current-affairs programmes. It tackled paedophilia with also showcasing the moral panic in parts of the British media. Various celebrities were duped into endorsing fictitious campaigns. Many famous people including Gary Lineker and Phil Collins who endorsed a spoof charity gave pieces to the camera spouting nonsense about the behavior of paedophiles and the threats they post to children. The aim of this segment was to show that celebrities are willing to give their voice to something they didn’t bother to question. (Mills, 2013, p. 105)

The use of celebrities also shows that viewers listen to powerful voices in the media, for example, this can be seen when other celebrities are on TV programmes which mains cause is to raise money for charity, such as Comic Relief (1988-) or Children in Need (1980-). This genre involves lots of celebrities who are the voice of reason to audiences when finding out about diseases in Africa, to children living in poverty in the UK. With the use of celebrities in these programmes in persuades audiences to donate money to the charity or the cause. This is exactly what Morris is parodying in this episode of Brass Eye with the use of Gary Lineker, Phil Collins and other celebrities such as Neil Fox (who ironically was arrested in 2014 for historic sex offences) and also featured Members of Parliament and included Lord Sebastian Coe (the president of the IAAF since 2015).

Brass Eye made it clear to the audience that parody was employed in order to achieve one of its primary goals of fooling someone else: the celebrities, politicians and other talking heads who make a living and maintain their positions of authority through their repeated appearance on television.  (Mills, 2004, p. 27) The original six episodes of Brass Eye were made by taking the conventions of television, while questioning the role of broadcasting and those who make a living off it in the process, making news programmes like BBC News or ITV News their main target. Brass Eye also made Panorama a programme to also mock as the show features current affairs, interviews and investigative reports on a wide variety of subjects. When watching back certain episodes of Brass Eye (including ‘Paedogeddon’) you can see these features throughout.

When making the programme, the features used such as the sophisticated graphics, fake ‘live’ broadcasts, historical narratives using archival footage, dramatic ‘reconstructions’, Vox-Pops and fake focus groups using real people, made Brass Eye popular and very clear to audiences that it was a comedy programme, as mocking these features which are used in other programmes such as BBC News and Panorama, were produced on an extensive level. These features made the programme popular as it showed audiences that the thought and effort that went into the production was very intricate and that Morris and his team wanted to get every detail to a tee.

When comparing Brass Eye to the introductory scene of a recent Panorama (2017) episode “When Kids Abuse Kids” there are many things that Panorama does that Brass Eye has mocked and exaggerates. Even though this is an episode 17 years later than when the Brass Eye special was released Panorama still produce the same qualities that programmes in the early noughties did. The first thing that is shown in the Panorama episode is the multiple uses of anonymous interviews with victims, when comparing to the Brass Eye special they have also used anonymous interviews but didn’t do very well when not showing the persons face. This has clearly been parodied on an extensive level. The second thing that is noticeable in Panorama is that the animation used to describe/show an event of something important happening. In Brass Eye this isn’t shown but this may be due to not having the availability to do this back in 2001 but it is also used in many other modern current affairs programmes which is used to make something seem less serious and to engage audiences. The last thing that I noticed in both of the programmes are the excessively long introductions to the show; by the use of graphics. In Panorama the introduction graphics are on the screen for 10 seconds, which in some cases is quite long but it is a convention in programmes of this genre. Chris Morris has certainly noticed this when creating Brass Eye, and The Day Today. In the 2001 special the introduction graphics are on the screen for 29 seconds, an excessive amount of time, just like Panorama and other news programmes. The Day Today also features a very long sequence which includes the introduction graphics.

Overall, Brass Eye was a niche in the genre of satire as it mainly focused on parody and mocked serious news and current affairs programmes such as BBC News and Panorama. Chris Morris, one of the most controversial figures in satire produced and wrote the programme in a way that made fun of these outlets on TV but also the subjects they delve into. Whether it be making fun of the graphics, the style and language that the presenters use or the way they present a certain subject to audiences, Chris Morris knew what was wrong and right in the media in 2001.

Bibliography

Gray, J. (2009) The State of Satire, the Satire of State. In Gray, J., Jones, J. P., & Thompson, E. Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era. New York. NYU Press

Leggott, J., & Sexton, J. (2013). No Known Cure: The Comedy of Chris Morris. Basingstoke. London. BFI.

Marc, D. (2009) Foreword. In Gray, J., Jones, J. P., & Thompson, E. Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era. New York. NYU Press.

Mills, B. (2004) Brass Eye. In Creeber, G. Fifty Key Television Programmes. London. Arnold.

Satire (2016). (2nd ed.) Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com.libaccess.hud.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acref/9780191800986.001.0001/acref-9780191800986-e-2368

Filmography

Morris, C. (Writer and Producer) & Shapeero, T. (Director). Paedogeddon in Morris, C (Writer and Producer) Brass Eye. (2001). London. England. Channel 4.

Rahman, T. (Director and Producer). When Kids Abuse Kids. In Rahman, T (Director and Producer) Panorama. (2017). England. BBC.