British Satire in The Thick of It

Bibliographic Data

ID12780269
AuthorsLaura Basu (Utrecht University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume12
Issue2
Pages89-103
Publication date2014-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1540-5702 • E-ISSN: 1540-5710
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15405702.2014.888432
OpenAlexW2002409576
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

This article intervenes in ongoing debates around the democratic potential of new television satire through an analysis of the content and reception of The Thick of It (TTOI). TTOI is popular not only with a notoriously cynical British public, but even more so with the politicians and journalists that are the target of its ridicule. TTOI's politics are relatively radical, portraying the news media and politicians as forming a social apparatus which is rotten to the core, and thereby offering a challenge to liberal democracy itself. It is deeply ironic, then, that the show has been incorporated by this very apparatus. What does it mean for the show to be adopted so enthusiastically by the system it so aggressively derides, and what can it tell us about satire's relationship to cynicism, politics, and democracy? Notes1. 1In Zizek (Citation2007). He is quoting Simon Critchley, who is referring to the antics of anti-capitalist protesters.2. 2Bhavnani (Citation1991) and Buckingham (Citation2000) both argue that cynicism can be justified, but they stop short of advocating disconnecting from liberal democratic practices.3. 3The question of what might constitute "good politics" or "good democracy" is of course extremely complex and fraught. For a helpful recent overview and discussion of these issues see Agamben et al. (Citation2011)

Art · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Humor Studies and Applications · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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