Political Satire Through the Arts: Music

The Lonely Island song: 

Mark Russell song: http://www.markrussell.net/index.php/songs

   
     The Lonely Island and Mark Russell are both excellent sources of music as a medium for political satire. Language, tone, cultural connotations, and recognizing your audience all become key components in this version of satire. In this Lonely Island song, the tribute to George Orwell's 1984 and mention of it being a "cautionary tale" reveal how blunt they are about satire, which only adds to the credibility in their message: people tend to take the American political conspiracies too seriously. While Mark Russell combines his piano-playing, songwriting, and harmonic vocals to skewer the Democrats, in this case, President Obama. He accomplishes this through explicit references from Obama's most recent press conferences, including a sarcastic tone of "I'm doing fine" and bashing the prolonged war with Iran by saying, "If you think I'm bluffing, ask Iran".