Resource Guide for the Classroom: "Rock Out with Your Schnoz Out: The COVID Play"

Satire

According to The Encyclopedia of Humor Studies Volume 2 edited by Salvatore Attardo, the idea of modern satire “dat[es] from the 19th century” and is largely a modern creation (661). There is some debate about when satire became popular, mostly because the definition hasn’t been static. In ancient Rome, satire was “a form of poetry, most specifically associated with the Roman poets Juvenal (ca. 60-130 CE) and Horace (ca. 65-8 BCE). At this time, satire is considered to be an Ancient Greek invention because of the works of Aristophanes and Menippus. However, the main purpose of satire has largely been "...the provocation of laughter [with] the critical purpose of exposing moral, social, and intellectual failings (661). In modern times, satire has shifted to being primarily concerned with making people laugh in order to satisfy modern standards for political correctness (663). In other words, the “modern understanding [of satire] often make political and social failings central to satire” (663). 

During the pandemic, many comedians used satire to critique governments' and individuals' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, in This is Your Captain Speaking, a short play filmed in May of 2020, the director James McLindon, uses the metaphor of a plane crash to satirize common reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic by those of different political leanings. Likewise, within Rock Out with Your Schnoz Out: The COVID Play, satire is exercised in the scene "Checking Out (Mask Avenger)." This scene describes the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on so-called "essential workers." Towards the end of the scene, an ode describing the heroism of essential workers is read. This ode, praising the braveness and necessity of essential workers, also describes how essential workers provide their service without proper compensation: “Without job security, sick pay, or guaranteed health insurance / You still stand by to meet our every demand…/ We couldn’t live without you, / But we won’t pay to keep you, / Yet you carry on!” The worship of the essential worker juxtaposed with their lack of compensation is undoubtedly satirical in nature.