The Daily Show

As do most from my generation, I honestly appreciate The Daily Show and what it tries to do. While it does inform us of what has happened in the world, and more importantly, how supposedly trustworthy news outlets respond to it, it also reminds us that not every event in life needs to be taken as seriously as cable news would have us do. I would love to use The Daily Show in my classroom. Here are a few ideas about how I could make that happen. 

Irony and Satire- 

1. Read Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

2. Discuss the definition of Irony and its connection to Satire

3. Students must watch the Daily Show and analyze a segment in terms of its use of irony in a short reflection paper. 

- Answer: What makes this segment ironic? What makes it the opposite of what one would expect? 

- Answer: How does this irony reveal a truth? Could this truth have been revealed more accurately without the use of irony? Explain your answer

4. Class Discussion- How is irony and satire effective in illuminating truths about social problems? 

I believe that this lesson would be an excellent way for kids to connect their own reality and experience to that of those living hundreds of years ago. It would also help them to understand that when they read something, they need to be on the lookout for cues that it might be funny, or might have been meant to be at least, so that they can become more critical and discerning readers of all types of texts. In the end, this is what The Daily Show helps us do: it helps us to take a more critical approach to the media messages that we are bombarded with each day. Thankfully, though most semblances of truth in journalism have dissipated, we still have a forum where someone is interested in providing contrasting (mostly humorous) viewpoints. 

Daily Show Simulation

1. Choose a news story that is prominent in the headlines this week. Follow the coverage of that story on at least 2 tv news broadcasts (1 network, 1 cable), 1 print publication (online or print edition), and The Daily Show. 

2. Analyze how The Daily Show is able to parody this coverage on its broadcast in terms of devices such as hyperbole and satirical language. 

3. Create your own video parody of this same topic. Try to get at the truth of the issue while still being humorous. 

4. Post this video to our class's wiki page. 

5. Review at least one of your classmate's videos. Analyze it in terms of its use of hyperbole and other satirical devices we have studied in class. Post this analysis as a blog post. 

This lesson would help the kids to see media and replicate it, therefore helping them tap into their own agency as filterers of information. Often, apathy is bred out of a sense that the establishment is big and untrustworthy that "resistance is futile". When the students see that not only are they able to take in news from different sources and analyze it, but then they are also able to understand it so well that they can make fun of it, they will feel as if they are actually participating in the process of media dissemination instead of constantly defending themselves from it.