After reading some articles from the website: http://www.theonion.com
“Real” news compared to the “fake” news on the onion has turned into a topic with a very thin line in the middle. With titles like “Foot-Long Hoagie Used as Ruler” to “God Promised ‘Big Surprises’ In Store For hurricane Season” how can you do anything but sit back and laugh. There is a saying about making jokes about horrible events too soon. The onion makes these jokes in such a way that you are more informed about the event then you might have been before. Plus you may actually even believe the article more then the news program on the presidential elections you just watched.
“Tornado Violence: Are Tornadic Images In The Media To Blame?” is a great example of a version of something you might actually hear about in the paper or on the news. Eliminated the tornado part and just speaking in terms of violence in the media. The onion takes issues to such an extreme that it leaves you thinking. This is the goal. Through this article alone I started questioning whether or not the media puts out these statements that it is there fault about violence just for the attention of it all? Good or bad publicity is still some sort of plug for advertising. Even if the cover of the magazine says “Top Story: Media Lies About EVERYTHING!” You would probably put up the news paper or leave it on the channel and watch it. So they win either way. Either you are watching them so closely for them to mess up and trick you, or you are being sucked in and tricked
Then there are even more shocking articles that make me ponder about our society’s standards for news and life. For Example, “Nation’s Homeless Less Important Than Ever.” Where There are actually examples about how approximately five million homeless citizens are less important now than they have ever been. This is a little intense for a joke. I am able to see the humor but in some cases I guess you have to look to the onion for news that might just be too harsh for people to hear.
The Onion. Feburary 2008. America'sFinest News Source. www.theonion.com
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1 comment:
these are better examples - you've taken the time to anchor your work with specific articles from the onion - but you need to unpack them in greater detail. this might mean that you devote more time to one article and use that article to make your argument explicit. at the moment, the structure seems a bit too loose.
you're right, though: it is incredibly difficult to weigh what kind of impact the onion has on its reading public precisely because of the ways in which humour/irony complicate our reception of the stories. some go too far; others don't do enough. you seem optimistic about the project of satirical fake news. what is it about the onion that creates this feeling of promise?
keep writing,
i.
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