Contra Theodor Adorno, it is mercifully untrue that the writing of poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. Nevertheless, modes of artistic expression do rise and fall as history shuffles from one corridor ...

In a National Rifle Association (NRA) TV ad from February of this year a man stands in front of a TV screen that airs a series of clips. Among them is a shot of John Oliver saying the words “National ...

In two recent posts, I touched on both nonverbal and verbal types of formal humor. In this one, I continue our review of the latter category by discussing two styles of humor seen quite regularly in ...

“I was just kidding,” is probably one of the most common refrains uttered when someone gets busted. Even President Donald Trump tried to back out of his infamous “pussy grabbing” comment saying it had ...

With shows like “The Chair,” a fresh group of storytellers are using college life to explore — and lampoon — privilege and identity. A photo collage created with images from “The Chair” (2021) as part ...

Horror movies have always been one of the greatest outlets for satire. The genre plays into this literary element because it depends on keeping up-to-date with the pulse of society to best capture ...

Half-baked thoughts, then, toward an AWP presentation that won’t be: Jokes, the good Dr. Freud said famously, are often “hostile.” (That, or obscene: the jokes of “exposure.”) Aggressiveness, satire, ...