Analyzing News Satire

Instructions: After annotating your selected article, answer the following questions
thoughtfully. Always include evidence from the text to support your analysis, and focus on
digging deep. Please use a different (not obnoxious) font color for your answers.

Article Headline: Disney Unveils New Mass Grave Where Fans Can Be Buried Alive With
Favorite Characters Forever
Publisher: the Onion
URL: https://www.theonion.com/disney-unveils-new-mass-grave-where-fans-can-be-buried-
1848561746

1.What are the underlying assumptions or unwritten attitudes in the piece?

The underlying assumptions or unwritten attitudes in the piece are that Disney fans are so
enamored with Disney, and these fans would do anything to make everything Disney in their
lives. These people live and breathe Disney, so they would do anything to spend the rest of
their lives with Disney, shown through the quote “‘We know that people absolutely love the
joyous experience of our theme parks, so why not let them spend eternity with Mickey,
Minnie,..”. Some people don’t just enjoy Disney movies, they seem as though they are
enamored with Disney to the point of obsessiveness. This article is somewhat calling out these
types of people while being sarcastic.

2. What foolish, flawed, or wrong human action or aspect of society is being lampooned?
The foolish, flawed, or wrong human action or aspect of society that is being lampooned is that
fans become too attached and enamored with fictional characters, leading to them forgetting
that these characters aren’t realistic. People start believing that what they see in movies and
on TV can happen in real life, and they start idolizing these unrealistic people and characters.
They only see the facade; they don’t see anything that is behind it, which is one of the reasons
why they would be willing to “line up and await their turn to be thrown into a hole in the
ground where, as the dirt is shoveled over their still-living bodies, they can slowly suffocate and
die with the likes of Hulk…”.

3. What would the author’s argument look like stripped of its humor?
Stripped of its humor, the author’s argument would “factually” state how Disney is building a
grave without conveying the idea that Disney isn’t actually building a grave; it is false and is
meant to convey to some hardcore fans how they shouldn’t worship fictional characters.
Without the humor, the author’s argument wouldn’t get across, as the articles is targeted to
helping these hardcore fans realize that they are too enamored with the fiction world, and they
need to focus on living in the real world instead.

4. What characteristics of news does the satirist use to skewer the target?
To skewer the target, the satirist uses a photograph, a headline, and quotations. The headline
explains that Disney is building a mass grave, the photograph “confirms” it, and the quotes
from the CEO of Disney support it. All of this shows how Disney is planning on building a mass
grave for die-hard fans who want to be buried alive with fictional characters.

5. In what ways do these techniques disarm the intended target or sweeten the criticism to
make it acceptable to its target?
These techniques disarm the intended target because, through the satire, they are able to see
how foolish it is that they are so enamored with fictional characters, and how incredulous it is
that they would go through such lengths for these characters, such as getting buried alive. It
helps expose the ridiculousness of hardcore fans when it comes to TV shows, movies, fictional
characters, or large corporations, such as Disney.

6. What is the goal of the satirist (i.e., how does the satirist wish society, the individual, the
body politic, or an institution to change or amend itself)?
The goal of the satirist is to compel society to not worship fictional characters and to not
compare themselves to fictional characters. The satirist wants to show hardcore fans how
ridiculous they are in doing anything just because they are so enamored with a certain film, TV
show, or company, such as Disney. The satirist wants people to live more in reality so that they
don’t end up making mistakes believing that what happens in fictional worlds will happen in
reality.

7. How effective are the methods of this particular satirist?

The methods of this particular satirist are very effective as the satirist is able to show the
ridiculousness and incredulousness of how hardcore fans are willing to do anything for fictional
characters. It also shows the connection of how some people are so devoted to fictional worlds
and characters that they would be buried alive just to stay in those fictional worlds instead of
reality.