Hello Blog 44 community I am finally back… but as it turns out so is O.J! And just in time for the PLP satire unit.

THE TASK

Create our own satire to better understand what a satire is, then share our discoveries on our blog.

THE PATH

Initially Jayden and I were really keen to make a parody interview featuring a pro baseball player from the Dominican Republic, and a pro player from California. Given that we are both avid baseball fans I figured we would be knowledgeable enough to play around with the topic. The purpose would be to compare both their upbringings in a comedic delivery that both entertained and shed light on the shady underground business that is MLB recruitment. At first we both thought this was the idea was the one, but we would quickly find out it wasn’t the home run we imagined.

As we were brainstorming ideas for jokes we realized that this sketch was  far too niche and a lot of references would go over the typical viewers head. Only those who shared our knowledge on the topic would be able to appreciate it, and at that point there is nowhere left to persuade them. What we had was a great idea for a comedy sketch but a poor idea for a satirical one.

My first step in coming up with a new subject was just reading the headlines most of which were either on Trump’s visit to Puerto Rico or the Las Vegas Shooting. However I wanted to avoid Trump and Gun Control because I figured both would be completely covered by others in the class. I then landed on the Headline  O.J. Simpson Released From Prison , an article by CNN. This caught my interest because it happened a few days after we were assigned this project and likely before most others had chosen their topic. It was also something I thought would be buried under the more pressing issues in the news, like Donald Trump’s jump shot.

My original plan was to present a script like a monologue you would see on a late night show so I started by doing research and formulating a script.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In writing my script I decided to change the format to a podcast because with the time I had left I didn’t think I could execute a good video, and I preferred the idea of a solid podcast to present my monologue. This meant I also used music, this time I used music I already had saved in Garageband.

This sudden change in format was because I took longer to write the script than I expected. I quickly learned that writing a satire is REALLY HARD. I still couldn’t tell you, the listener, if you’ll like it, if you’ll lose the humour in the message, lose the message in the humour or even find either in the first place.

Because of this, I have a new appreciation for those who are successful satire writers. It definitely takes a certain bravery to be passionate about a serious topic while simultaneously poking fun at it. I hope to further improve my ability to do so, as it is clearly among the most powerful forms of persuasion. In fact Oscar Wilde once said:

“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh otherwise they’ll kill you”

And now without further ado here is my podcast about O.J. Simpson’s release and what that proves about The American Justice System.

P.S. Notice the length…..comment below if you get it

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

– http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/01/us/oj-simpson-released-from-prison/index.html

– http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4945712/OJs-lawyer-calls-Florida-Attorney-General-stupidest-person.html

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/74th/interim/StatCom/AdminJustice/Other/Report_Appendices.pdf

-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_murder_case

-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_robbery_case

-https://lasvegassun.com/ojsimpson/