Page 159 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

CHAPTER 6

widely branded as unpatriotic; in fact, Clear Channel Communications,
which owns radio stations throughout the United States, refused to play
their recordings and sponsored events in which tractors ran over Dixie
Chicks CDs. But by the summer of 2005, Green Day’s antiwar song,
“Wake Me Up When September Ends,” was the number one music video
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requested on MTV. This shift is an indication of the decline in public
confidence in the Iraq war policy. 29
Sometimes, a popular genre can be an effective vehicle for social com-
mentary precisely because it is not normally ideological. To illustrate,
in January 2006, conservative Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly
appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. During the interview,
Letterman took an uncharacteristically serious political stance. The talk
show host declared, “See, I’m very concerned about people like yourself
who don’t have anything but endless sympathy for a woman like Cindy
Sheehan [the antiwar protester who lost her son in the war]. Honest to
Christ!” After O’Reilly replied that Sheehan had called the “terrorists”
in the Iraq War “freedom fighters,” Letterman responded, “I’m really
not smart enough to debate this point by point with you. But I have the
feeling that sixty percent of what you say is crap.”
Because fans of Letterman know that the host does not normally
engage in serious political discussions on his show, this exchange was a
powerful political commentary that effectively discredited O’Reilly.

Parody

A parody is a presentation that is designed to ridicule or criticize
the original presentation. Much of the humor in parody is based on
the audience’s familiarity with the formula of the genre being lam-
pooned. For example, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is a parody
of mainstream news broadcasts. The conventions of The Daily Show
are identical to mainstream news programs, which convey the message
that this is a legitimate news operation; an anchor sits behind a desk, a
back projection screen provides visuals, and there is appropriate theme
music. The Colbert Report is also a parody of mainstream cable news
programs.
Ironically, because these satiric news programs are free of “objective”
journalistic constraints, they are able to point out many of the absurdities
and ironies of the day’s events. For instance, in October 2005, The Colbert
Report focused on the media attention given to the avian flu outbreak.

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