Monday, July 14, 2008
(10:06 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
More Asymmetry of Parody
The proposed McCain New Yorker cover is yet another illustration of the asymmetry of parody. The Obama cover is of course all about the ridiculous lies that paranoid conservatives have made up, whereas basically everything in the McCain cover is true -- the only possible exception being the implication of extremely frail health. Obama is not really a Muslim terrorist married to a black radical, but McCain really is corrupt and really does love war.Of course, the Obama cover is really a liberal skewering of conservative paranoia, but it could easily be imagined as a sincere conservative attempt to skewer Obama -- just as with Colbert, the parody functions through decontextualized repetition. A conservative satire cannot take the same strategy -- it must introduce some exaggeration or distortion.
