Professor David Peimer
Satire and Subversion, Part 1: Make em Laugh
Summary
Professor David Peimer argues that satire is one of the most remarkable and profound qualities of the human imagination. He discusses what satire is, how it works, and why we need it. Throughout, he shows a variety of clips and examples, both well known and lesser known. Part 1 of 2.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.
It’s a really interesting comment. I’m not that up on law. I’d need to ask Dennis or somebody to help with that. Maybe, I think it’s about if you actually quote their phrase, I’m not sure if you quote their phrase or something. You know, again, it’s context.
I honestly don’t know. I think there’s an erosion of notions of democracy, human rights, constitutions, parliament, executive powers. There’s an erosion that we are part of it that’s the zeitgeist of our times. You know, the blurring of boundaries, which for me is really the fault lines, which are already deep in the culture just coming out again, you know, the boogeyman always comes out in the dark at various times at night, you know, the monster. Which is already in us, in our culture anyway. Can we sustain satire? I think that it is under danger, you know, of being eroded. I really do. By the left and the right PC and the right stuff.
Oh, that’s brilliant. It’s a great idea. I think it speaks to an underlying plea for tolerance. I think that’s what it really does. Whether it’s class difference, whether it’s racial, religious, it’s all about superior, inferior hierarchy, colonisation, whatever. I think it speaks to underlying intolerance.