In this week’s reading by McClennen, she discusses the idea of using satire to educate. In it, she distinguishes satire with pseudo-satire, and that true satire’s aim should be education. The writer also points out South Park and The Simpsons as satire that “do not lead to productive political debate.” I think this is not always the case. Although it is hard to see the immediate political impact of a message in a cartoon, it does present us an insight into an issue in an interesting manner.

Recently, South Park had an episode dedicated to the online shopping giant Amazon. Its depiction of the working conditions in Amazon warehouses has been described as being exactly the same as real life. In the montage, we are shown the robotic nature of task while the song “16 tonnes” play; the song itself is about the life coal miners. Through this, the viewers are given an insight into what goes into their Amazon orders and are encouraged to think a certain way about the working conditions in these warehouses. In this sequence, I believe South Park was able to achieve satire in its ability to inform the audiences.

In the studio this week, I had the chance to operate the cameras as well as the audio desk. Important processes I’ve learned when on the camera is to check the comms and also that the red light on the camera is working. It is important to have my headset on at all times to hear what the director is saying. During a run, I would have to listen closely to what the director is saying to know when my camera is being switched to next. At the end of the shoot, it is also important to not switch the cameras off. At the audio desk, I had to control the microphone audio of the speakers.