Now THAT's Good Satire!
The Plain Dealer went with the, um, nicer illustration, the (stunningly original and heretofore unseen) GOP elephant on a throne of human skulls. The free paper went with the "edgier" one, which I'll describe here. Mr. Elephant tramples the American flag while holding a cross/Swastika in his trunk, as angel-like beings descend from above to club him into submission. I kid you not: I laughed out loud on second glance when I discovered that the elephant was actually peeing on the flag as well...in case you didn't get the obtuse symbolism already described.
No, what pissed me off was the news articles, a mishmash of press release and pithy quotes "exclusive" to each paper. Says the Plain Dealer of the show:
...a new series of politically charged drawings intended to "challenge the complacent and undecided," Hess said.
On first glance, his new work appears to mock Republicans and Christians. [Editor: No shit!] But [the gallery curator] insists that this "is not an anti-Christian show."
Rather, the exhibition is intended to provoke questions about our current social and political climate by satirizing the power held by extremists in ongoing debates over such issues as foreign policy, the environment and evolution.
Ah, the old "it's not about you...it's about the extremists in your party who make you look bad." Don't be offended. We love you, dear. But you need to be shocked out of your complancency, you innocent thing.My first response, filed under the "If I didn't have this damned day job" category, was to whip up a couple of sketches myself (yes, I can draw quite nicely, thanks) and send a press release around for a response. Hmmm, time to tap into my "artistic" self. I envision, say, the Democrat donkey raping a black woman handcuffed to a lead welfare check, except that his penis transforms into a six-foot long surgical instrument impaling a third-trimester baby through its skull.
Gross, I know, but "thought-provoking" -- and the promise of art world adulation and public funding is ever so tempting.
Now That's Good Satire 2006 Runner-Up: Showtime's Masters of Horror entry, "Pro-Life," in which pro-life nutjobs suck the guts out of a heroic abortionist's midsection while rescuing their pregnant daughter/sister...who then proceeds to give birth to the spawn of Satan, which the dispatches with a shotgun. Who knows: the demon you abort could be your own.
Interestingly, Showtime actually pulled one episode from Season 1: Torture maven Takashi Miike's "Imprint," which apparently featured just one too many aborted fetuses floating down the river in Old Japan.
