A Scottish women’s charity said Carpenter’s new album cover evokes “tired tropes” of women being “possessions,” while fans have defended her cover as satirical commentary on sexism.
Satire requires textual clarity. Like it can’t just be “bad thing that’s silly in some way, extra silly edition” it has to be self-defeating and ideally include its own refutation in explicit terms. It’s like how “I’m doing bad thing, but and here’s the twist, I disagree with bad thing, huh? huh? pretty clever right?” is generally a bad format outside of in-group contexts where stilted presentation and an established reputation ensure that it comes across as mockery instead of just doing the bad thing but in a funny voice.
And even then satire isn’t a converting argument, it’s not something you win people over with, it’s entertainment for people who agree with it. Its use as propaganda is more in reinforcing a position rather than spreading it, it’s a “point and laugh at the bad thing” at its shallowest or an exploration of why bad thing is bad at its deepest.
Satire requires textual clarity. Like it can’t just be “bad thing that’s silly in some way, extra silly edition” it has to be self-defeating and ideally include its own refutation in explicit terms. It’s like how “I’m doing bad thing, but and here’s the twist, I disagree with bad thing, huh? huh? pretty clever right?” is generally a bad format outside of in-group contexts where stilted presentation and an established reputation ensure that it comes across as mockery instead of just doing the bad thing but in a funny voice.
And even then satire isn’t a converting argument, it’s not something you win people over with, it’s entertainment for people who agree with it. Its use as propaganda is more in reinforcing a position rather than spreading it, it’s a “point and laugh at the bad thing” at its shallowest or an exploration of why bad thing is bad at its deepest.