Satirical comedies aim to offend the audience to cause a change. These types of film use humor to communicate with the audience to change society through things like sarcasm, satire, parody, irony, and other techniques to reach the goal. The purposes that most satirical comedies are pushing forward to are political statements, social movements, and just for fun. “There are times where it is in bad taste or misses the mark” with the film’s purpose which is becoming more common because of the audience losing their sense of critical thinking with the film (Kitto 2013). “Satiric discourse has a message: its aim is to persuade” and the films persuade to point out their purpose (Bonnstetter 2011).
Making a political statement is a common purpose in many satirical comedies. By using parody or irony, etc. the director can show the audience just how crazy the political situation they are describing is at the time. The humor comes from the fact that the audience knows that it is outrageous, exaggerated, or completely false which leads to the critical thinking that should be taking place through the audiences’ understanding of why it is funny. Politically based humor, particularly in the case of satirical comedies, functions as criticism of society or government. Satire is the method to deliver the message, or purpose, and basically is “a section of society or politics is deliberately mimicked and mocked in order to poke fun” (Kitto 2013). In the case of Duck Soup (1933), a great example of the Marx Brothers making a political statement is the scene where Rufus T. Firefly, or Groucho Marx, is seen in a different military uniform each time he is reentered into the scene. The uniforms are from various time periods and countries. They are saying that so many wars have taken place and another is on the way. Each time the costume changes so does the absurdity of the situation the characters are in while at war. The city becomes more and more destroyed and no one is safe because even Mrs. Teasdale’s house is bombed. War affects everyone, even the rich and powerful of the world, and war is just a way to destroy everything. War is a pointless action that societies often use to gain something. The Marx Brothers say enough of this foolish behavior with the war business, but it is ironic because they go to war to express just how silly war can be.
Another common purpose of satirical comedies is to recognize social movements and make commentary on its issues in everyday life within the social realm. Films make the audience ask questions like who, what, and why, “by asking the audience to consider whether a satiric film places its targets on an equal level with its makers and whether the filmmakers are condemning or correcting a behavior” is an important factor in the purpose of social movement. In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), the scene in the bathroom with Austin Powers and the Texan who are costuming in completely stereotypical clothing and behave stereotypically. A lot of films use stereotyping, but this level of extremely stereotyping is making a point. People classify Austin Powers in the same category as a James Bond who is smooth and gets all the women when he is a big goofball. He is dressed in outdated and outrageous clothing from the 60s. People judge him in each of the movies because it is pointing out people being mean. The Texan is exactly the same way compared to Austin Powers in the case of fitting in and he is classified as a hypocrite. The Texan is seen as stupid because he is outrageously dressed and he apologizes for Austin being English. The film points out hypocrisy in the everyday world around the audience and is asking them to change that problem.
As with any other type of art, a satirical film’s purpose can be just for entertainment or can develop a dialogue between the audience and the director of the film. Making fun of people and their faults is another purpose of the satirical comedy. The film can criticize human beings just because the director wants to because since film is a form of art, this is an opinion. Most satirical comedies will have a more definite purpose such as a political statement or commentary on a social movement or behavior. This makes artistic satirical films a bit of a rarity. An example in one of the four movies being discussed would be a scene from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997). In this scene Dr. Evil is explaining one of his attempts to kill Austin Powers and his female companion of the movie, Vanessa Kensington. Dr. Evil represents the crazy boss because he is the head of a corporation, which Number 2 runs for him, and he is always making outrageous demands expecting them to get done. In this scene Scottie, Dr. Evil’s son, is explaining why this is a ridiculous idea because Scottie is speaking for the audience in the film since they cannot speak in the film. In the end, the boss is not satisfied and the audience has expressed their concerns on why his ideas are not workable. The research is the scene where Dr. Evil discovered that he does not have shark with laser beams attached to their heads causing a wrinkle in his plans.
Satire is still a very common form of comedy, but the meaning of satire is being lost and just seen as being funny. Satire has a distinct purpose in society which “to offer a constructive social criticism or to shame society into improving” (Kitto 2013). In the downward spiral of today’s society, satire is missing its mark by fault of “the delivery of the message,” according to Michael Kitto (Kitto 2013). Bringing back meaning to the satirical comedy is a must and should be something that film makers and audiences need to work on together. Making a more clear message for the audience can be helpful as well as the audience taking back their responsibility to think about the meaning a film can bring.
Film Genres 