A social commentary is some form of media that makes a critical observation about society, usually by portraying the aspect of society it sees as flawed. It hopes to invite change to society, at the very least by bringing it to the public sphere. Music, art, books, news, TV, and movies all can act as social commentaries
Use this post to share about a social commentary we did not talk about in class. What does this commentary find wrong about society? What methods does it use to persuade the audience? What sort of change does it hope to invite or inspire?
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An example of a social commentary would be the rally against the education budget cuts in New Jersey. When the teachers from schools around the state as well as from Mendham protested against the new proposal, it showed an example of social commentary. Teachers did not think it was fair that the cut was going towards them, rather than another budget category that the state funds. The teachers stood in one popular town from each county and protested against the bill, showing the public how they were angry and disliked the proposal.
The teachers protesting proposes that the teachers from all over the state do not want the government of the state to cut the education budget. These teachers disliked how the budget was being cut in the education department, rather than another budget that the state funds. They find this unfair and not right for the state to do.
An eample of a scial commentary was the recent health care bill and all of the media following that. The media only showed the bill as being historic and a giant step forward. They were putting it into a brighter light than most americans were. The bill was polled amongst the people and it showed that a good percentage of American citizens were against this new bill. The US government ignored these polls, however, and signed the bill anyway. The following of this bill by the media is a social commentary on how we shouldsee the bill as helpful and take us away from the manu drawbacks of the bill.
An example of a social commentary can be found in the popular teen movie called "Mean Girls". Through satire, the movie portrays many different situations found in real life high schools. One of the central ideas of this movie is peer pressure. The main character feels pressured to change herself and her views in order to fit in with the popular crowd. This happens often times with teens striving to find their place in a new school. It also leads to the message to just be yourself and find friends who like you for you.
Another part of the movie which serves as a social commentary are all of the different cliques within the high school. Also very much exaggerated, many schools around the world contain the same principle of different crowds. Many people often change themselves in order to become a part of a clique, which becomes the main theme in the movie. The treatment of girls towards those who are different is also argued int this movie. All in all, the movie portrays, in the end, a clique-free environment where no one is pressured. The ideal situation that all high schools should strive for.
An example of a social commentary would be Dr. Seuss poems. These poems use allegories to make statements on anything from nuclear arms races to industrial pollution. These topics were all relivent in the time of their writing, and most are still relivent today.
For example his book "The Butter Battle Book" talks about an arms race. These 2 groups build bigger and more powerful weapons, trying to over power the other. It ends with 2 people holding "big boy boomeroos" standing on a wall, and a small boy wondering who will drop theirs first. The open ending is a statement in itself. It says that the whole world has their finger on the trigger of weapons pointed at everyone else. Everyone just waiting for a reason to use it.
An example of a social commentary would be Saturday Night Live. As this is a hilarious show with great actors and actresses featured on it, it also shows many controversial topics that some may be afraid to talk about. For a more specific example, when SNL features the 'weekend update" it often covers many issues that are discussed in the news, like when the election was taking place. Although it greatly made fun of each candidate, it did sometimes show many flaws to the arguments that they made. Saturday Night Live is actually a very well thought out show, where it ties in comedy to the actual issues that are going on in the country. While most of the show is just aired for laughs, the show does have "social commentaries" within it.
Social commentaries come in many forms. Very often they come in the form of political cartoons, an example of which we were given in World History class. In the cartoon, two small Indian's were each carrying an extremely overweight Europeans. One wore the shirt "British East India Company" and the other wore a shirt saying "Corporate Globalization". The latter was asking the first which way to the Governmental future, and the first pointed to the left. Also pointing to the left was a sign that said "colonial past, globalization, famine, and genocide".
This political cartoon was a social commentary in many aspects. IT criticized Britain's unfair treatment of Indians by having extremely small Indians carrying extremely large British people. It also was a commentary on Corporate Globalization. The author of the cartoon seems to think that the "future" of corporate globalization is really going back to the ways of the colonial past. He also seems to think that corporate globalization leads to famine and genocide, such as the famine and genocide the British East India Company caused.
a social commentary can be two different things depending on which word you use in the definition. It can be a 'statement' about the state of society, or it can be a 'critism' about the state of society. Charles Dickens was a writer who used loads of social commentaries, namely, the treatments of children/orphans, stereotyping the poor, and critism of the justice system. In the play, The Pirates of Penzance, the social commentary is about policemen, and it is saying that all policemen are stupid. All policemen are not stupid, but enough of them were at the time so that they could be made fun of.
An example of a social commentary would be the movie WALL-E. This is a movie about the earth becoming so polluted, that the humans have to live on another planet, and only robots are left. This is a quite obviously speaking out against polluting our earth. This movie is supporting global warming and serves as a warning to all of us what will happen to our earth if we keep treating it as we do. Although this movie is a pixar romance, it is a very good social commentary of what will happen if we keep polluting and trashing our earth.
An example of a social commentary is the book "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. One thing that this book criticizes is technology. The man's wife is in her own world of her cyber "family". there are TV screens all around the room that she is always talking to. she doesn't know how to do anything else except be absorbed by the technology. Something else that is a social commentary are the firemen and how they don't know why they are burning books but they are just taking orders as if nothing is wrong. This shows that sometimes people obey orders without carrying who they are hurting, even if they do know they don't care. people do whatever is necessary to keep their job and get payed. The last point that Ray Bradbury criticizes is how the government is everywhere and how they know everything. The electronic dog belongs to the firemen and shows them everything that is happening in people's homes. He is showing how government intrudes in personal privacy.
A good example of a social commentary would be the tv series, "The Secret Life of an American Teenager." this tv series shows what life could be like as a teenage parent. It shows the ups and the downs of what highschool life is like. In this show, it shows a regular teenage girl who get's pregnant. This is very scary for her but she get's through it with the help of family and friends.
Most of the events in this tv series is very exaggerated and show things either much better or much worse than what they really would be like. This makes the show more exciting but makes you think of things differently.
This show also shows what families are like in general. How even if some families may seem perfect, there may be many problems going on. This could be with parents cheating, divorces, etc.
Although this is a slightly old social commentary, I thought that it was still an interesting piece of artwork. In doing my research on social commentary art, I found one painting that had to do with the Swine Flu. It had the Statue of Liberty with an american flag covering her mouth and nose as if it was a surgical mask.
This social commentary is bringing up the Swine Flu scare in America, and I think it also has a double meaning that is going along with the health care bill. The image is saying that all people coming to America and living in America need to be careful and take all caution to stay healthy and away from the Swine Flu. The other meaning could also be about the health care bill and this picture could mean that since the Statue of Liberty symbolizes America and all the free American people, then everyone living here should get health care no matter what. It persuades the audience by using such a symbolic American icon: The Statue of Liberty.
An good example of a social commentary is a man named Michael Moore. He is " an American filmmaker, author and liberal political commentator." He tries to encourage people to vote in presidential elections, however, he criticizes much about political situations and icons, such as; George W. Bush, globalization, large corporations, capitalism, etc. He comments on whatever topic he feels needs attention and he gets his point across with criticism.
He use two specific methods when presenting his ideas to his audience; "psychological means of strategy, and cinematic techniques of persuasion. These methods are what Moore uses to create a scheming effect."
As said before, he does this to encourage people to vote in elections. However, to some people he doesn't really encourage anything other than facing reality and stop hoping you'll come out of bad times, because you can't.
An example of a social commentary would be the book "To Kill A Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee. The book can be interpreted as a commentary on racial issues, especially given the date of its publication in the 1960's when racial inequality was a rising issue. The book is widely taught in English classes with lessons the emphasize tolerance and denounce prejudice. To persuade the audience to make a critical observation about these wrongs of society, Harper Lee creates strong characters such as Atticus Finch, and portrays him as a moral hero and a model integrity for lawyers.
One social commentary that is not all to well noticed is that old people are somewhat excommunicated with everything that has to do with media. This is because it is presumed that old people remind everyone of death, which whether or not true is fairly harsh. SO, the elderly usually will not do something that someone younger can do, which ranges from voice acting, radio, to the big screen. To specify, Joan Rivers is an example. She is a staggering eighty years old, but through intensive botox and other facial rejuvenation methods, she cuts down around twenty to thirty years. She has worked at such great lengths for her appearance just so people can find her sightly (and ironically her contract states the she can't be filmed anywhere closer than seven feet), this social commentary tells just how shallow society can be at times.
A good example of a social commentary is in the fllm "Avatar" by James Cameron. The movie shows humans' lack of connection with nature as the American military infiltrates the planet of Pandora and takes down "Home Tree" without concern for the natives living in it. James Cameron shows his humanitarian opinion when the avatar, Jake Sully, betrays his own planet and drives them out of Pandora because he fell in love with their way of life. Cameron also talks about the influence of the Iraqi war on the film, and shows how Americans should think about the repercussions of their military actions before involvement; This is shown in the movie with the number of Na'vi casualties resulting from the American attack for the natural resources on their home planet.
An example on a social commentary is the tv show 24. It shows that we, meaning humans, are too dependent on technology. It shows this by having CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit) being literally crippled by an EMP, which disabled all of their communication, surveilance, and electronics. Because of this, the bad guys got away. It seems as if the show is trying to prevent something like this from actually happening by showing us that we are too dependent on electronics and technology.
An excellent example of a social commentary could be the movie Avatar. This excellent movie fits the exact criteria for a social commentary.
This commentary was all about how the Americans kick the native americans out of their rightful homeland. In the movie, once again the Americans are kicking out other species just for own selfish purposes. the methods its uses are extreame violence, and sympathy i guess. the director made you feel bad for the species that was being taken over, you you can almost feel the same pain as them. i dont know if this movie was intended to change things in the funture, but i believe that it is used more to raise awarness of the past.
An example of a social commentary is political cartoons. Political cartoons appeal to many audiences because even though they stand for something that matters in our world, they are presented in almost a childish fashion that makes people want to see what they are saying. Political cartoons are usually pointing out flaws of our politions and what the cartoonist deems as wrong in our society. They often try to persuade us to like or dislike a specific political figure such as John McCain or Colon Powel.
A social commentary we did not talk about was shown in the movie "Mean Girls". In this movie, they showed that everyone was alike, beauty is only skindeep, and not to put yourself over others. Lindsey Lohans character goes to a new school from Africa and is torn between her less popular friends and the popular girls she was spying and playing tricks on to be friends with. She gets confused about whats the most important in life, and learns after treating her true friends as if they are her lowers. This shows that people should never put people down even if they are bigger, or aren't like everyone else.
An example of a social commentary we did not talk about is the movie District 9. This movie takes place in a futuristic society were aliens live segregated from the humans in the district called district 9. This movie is a social commentary because it looks upon our society and highlights the racial tensions that have take part throughout our history.
One example of racial discrimination is that the aliens are forced in to these camps or district 9 which can be compared to the treatment of the south Africans during the settlement of the Europeans. This movie also highlights the social classes within our world: the elites (humans), the privileged, and those that serve the elite (humans) ,and privileged (aliens).
Since the aliens are treated horribly and are tortured they can be compared to the horribly Nazi prosecution of Jews, or the discrimination of slaves in Civil America. In conclusion this movie is a great example of a social commentary because it demonstrates the racial struggles that our society has had.
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