Humanities/Physics Satire Project
Our goal for this project, was to create a Rube Goldberg Machine and to connect it to a satirical piece we made. For the RGB, we were required to include six simple machines which are wedges, levers, incline ramp, a wheel and axle, a pulley, and a screw. We were also required to add a challenge step that could have been a warp box (a box that was closed off but kept the object inside rolling for 10 seconds before exiting it) a 360° loop, or a 720° spiral that could also be counted at the screw. The RGB had to complete a goal the end or else it wouldn't be a RGM, Ex: Popping a balloon. The pieces of the machine had to relate and be connected to our Humanities satire. The satire was required to be about something we had a strong opinion on. We were then to make a satire using two of any of the satirical devices; parody, hyperbole, understatement, juxtaposition, irony, sarcasm, caricature, double-entendre, euphemism, juvenalian.
Project Reflection
My Humanities satire was meant to criticize the school districts and why the decision to return to in-person learning right now is a bad idea. The satirical devices I used were sarcasm and parody. I chose these devices because I wanted my piece of work to be funny because I don’t usually make my work funny, just informational. So I thought explaining why we shouldn’t be returning to schools would be funny if it was sarcastic. The idea for it to be a parody came from a suggestion from my teacher, as I had still needed another satirical device, and it served to be even funnier in the end. Both of these devices together in the way that I had them also gets my point across quickly and efficiently, which, in my eyes, is always nice to have information that way.
Learning what a satire is was very interesting to me. It was interesting because I have seen multiple satires in my life and I didn’t know that was what they were called or that they were called anything. It also allowed me to know when I was looking at a satire, as I used to not know that somethings were satirical and I took them seriously. Having this knowledge is very nice to have and very reliving for when I see satirical pieces now.
I believe Satires are meant to send messages to people and get a point across more effectively than just going up to them and saying it to their faces. I think making a satire getting under someone’s skin and being more biting makes them more effective. Having a satire that is not very clear on it’s target or looks like it could be targeting more than one person when it’s not supposed to makes it less effective. At the beginning of this semester, we read a satire called “A Modest Proposal” by Johnathan Swift, it was about Ireland’s trouble of having too many kids with poor parents and a disgusting way to help stop this problem by selling the infants to be expensive food to eat and skins to be worn. It targeted rich people and poor parents and worked to make one feel disgusted and uncomfortable which got his point across. Later in the semester, we had a quiz on satire and in one section we were meant to choose between two different satires and identify the target, the message, and the two satirical devices used. I had chosen one about drinking and it was apparently meant to target alcohol producers, but it looked like it was meant to target alcoholics to me. It did not give any clues as to who it was targeting and was therefore not very clear on who was being targeted. Because I could not identify this, the satire was not as strong and didn’t get its point across, which is important for a satire to have.
For my performance in class, I would score myself as 8. I give myself this score because I felt I was often prepared for class, only missing some things sometimes. I have had trouble getting on task sometimes, but I felt that I was still able to quickly get on task and I often had things open before class started so I didn’t have to open it during class. It was usually a gamble if I could use my class time effectively, as I usually do my work in the evenings as I feel I work better at around that time, so I did not alway work during my actual class time, but I did still work then some days. I’m not usually very engaging in my class activities as I don’t like interacting with people, so I try to not be very noticeable, but I did still try to contribute my ideas and thoughts to the class. I listened to the teacher when I needed to, but sometimes I didn’t always. Most of the points I made fall under the 8 category of the self-assessment, which is why I gave myself and 8.
Learning what a satire is was very interesting to me. It was interesting because I have seen multiple satires in my life and I didn’t know that was what they were called or that they were called anything. It also allowed me to know when I was looking at a satire, as I used to not know that somethings were satirical and I took them seriously. Having this knowledge is very nice to have and very reliving for when I see satirical pieces now.
I believe Satires are meant to send messages to people and get a point across more effectively than just going up to them and saying it to their faces. I think making a satire getting under someone’s skin and being more biting makes them more effective. Having a satire that is not very clear on it’s target or looks like it could be targeting more than one person when it’s not supposed to makes it less effective. At the beginning of this semester, we read a satire called “A Modest Proposal” by Johnathan Swift, it was about Ireland’s trouble of having too many kids with poor parents and a disgusting way to help stop this problem by selling the infants to be expensive food to eat and skins to be worn. It targeted rich people and poor parents and worked to make one feel disgusted and uncomfortable which got his point across. Later in the semester, we had a quiz on satire and in one section we were meant to choose between two different satires and identify the target, the message, and the two satirical devices used. I had chosen one about drinking and it was apparently meant to target alcohol producers, but it looked like it was meant to target alcoholics to me. It did not give any clues as to who it was targeting and was therefore not very clear on who was being targeted. Because I could not identify this, the satire was not as strong and didn’t get its point across, which is important for a satire to have.
For my performance in class, I would score myself as 8. I give myself this score because I felt I was often prepared for class, only missing some things sometimes. I have had trouble getting on task sometimes, but I felt that I was still able to quickly get on task and I often had things open before class started so I didn’t have to open it during class. It was usually a gamble if I could use my class time effectively, as I usually do my work in the evenings as I feel I work better at around that time, so I did not alway work during my actual class time, but I did still work then some days. I’m not usually very engaging in my class activities as I don’t like interacting with people, so I try to not be very noticeable, but I did still try to contribute my ideas and thoughts to the class. I listened to the teacher when I needed to, but sometimes I didn’t always. Most of the points I made fall under the 8 category of the self-assessment, which is why I gave myself and 8.