This thesis is an examination of Shakespeare's 1603 satire Troilus and Cressida that looks at illusion and the value given to it by means of war, Helen of Troy, and ultimately the two lovers themselves. Although it is depressingly obvious throughout the drama that life is an illusion, it is also obvious that there is a need for that illusion, and an equally profound necessity to have the illusion debunked. The first part of the thesis examines the impact of war on Troy. This part concentrates on the myth of the hero, who like Falstaff presents himself to the world as heroic but is actually a coward. The theme of a person who presents himself as one thing but is another recurs throughout the play. Shakespeare did not have a monopoly on this insight. The paper details how two of Shakespeare's contemporaries, Galileo and Cervantes, also addressed this problem. The paper continues with an examination of the convictions and distortions played out by the less than perfect military council and by the insidious politics of the major characters and their flawed commitment to unreliable leaders. The thesis examines the emotional traps the characters set for themselves as well as the bad advice they listen to in order to set themselves free. The paper keeps returning to the theme of illusions, their danger, and their usefulness. The end focuses on the title characters themselves, as well as the homoerotic relationship of Achilles and his live-in lover. The conclusion attempts to sort out the real from the fiction. The play ends, or so it appears, with the familiar story of two men fighting over a woman. It has come, like many other plays of the period, full circle. The characters seem at peace with themselves, or at least at peace with the haunting and perpetual idea that life is indeed an illusion with both a necessity for that illusion and an equally valid necessity to have that illusion debunked.

Background: In the age of Millennials, when traditional advertising no longer holds the same power as before, an interesting trend has developed. Controversial politicians are on the rise and for-profit companies are starting to realize the opportunity to reach the hearts of Millennials with the use of political satire in advertising. Problem: Political satire in advertising has not yet been properly conceptualized and the related studies focus rather on its effectiveness in terms of virality. However, this controversial format of advertising needs to be studied in terms of consumer attitudes and several studies here provide mixed results depending on other considerations. Purpose: This thesis aims to explore attitudes of Millennials towards political satire in advertising used by for-profit companies together with related considerations and so to answer the question whether this format could be effective among the generation of Millennials. Method: The research takes exploratory qualitative design and combines two data streams. Data in the form of Facebook comments at the page Zomri where the satirical ads were posted were reinforced by data from three focus groups. Thematic analysis was then used to analyze them and compare them with the developed theoretical model. Given the controversial topic, ethical considerations were emphasized. Results: The findings confirm the need for a more complex perspective on political satire in advertising and validate the developed theoretical model. This format of advertising is capable to  induce positive attitudes towards the ads, but more considerations play the role in attitudes towards the brands owned by for-profit companies. These include credibility of the company, message-specific factors and consumer-specific factors.

The relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong has not been smooth since the 1997 handover. The relationship has deteriorated further in the past decade, and at the same time the Chinese government has been tightening its grip on Hong Kong with a series of national policies. With this backdrop, some among Hong Kong's media have adopted video political satire as their way of reporting, thereby pushing video political satire into the limelight. Political satire in Hong Kong has a long history, but it did not receive much attention until the emergence of video political satire in the digital age. Hong Kong media that supports both the pan-democratic and pro-establishment camps utilise political satire as a political weapon to criticise and delegitimise the opposing camp. This study has modified Hallin's sphere as its theoretical foundation, and the sphere of legitimate controversy is understood as the battlefield between the pro-establishment and pan-democratic camps. Political satire is used as a weapon to jam the discourse of the opposing camp in the sphere of legitimate controversy. This study investigated the influence of online video political satire in post-handover Hong Kong, in light of the increasingly intense relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong. Six long-held ideological struggles have been used as analytical tools to identify the embedded packages. This study has achieved three research objectives: it has identified the changing face of political satire in the digital age, namely, the shift from political cartoon to video political satire; it has displayed the difference in production synergies from individual-based producers to institutional-based producers; and it has challenged the assumption that political satire is subversive in nature by uncovering the ideological packages of different political camps. This thesis has chosen four policy cases as case studies. These policies are highly related to China and are controversial. This study employed quantitative content analysis, qualitative content analysis and interviews with relevant stakeholders. Results showed that video political satire has room to include more varied information than the political cartoon, including the effect on audio and visual elements. Video political satire also has higher spreadability as it is distributed online, whereas the political cartoon is dissembled via newspaper. The different production synergies (from individual-based to institutional-based) are constituted by individual freedom and the self-positioning as a journalist. This study could link video political satire study in Hong Kong to a wider scope of foreign political satire research, which mostly focuses on individually-produced political satire works. This study also revisits the concept of culture jamming, and has developed an advanced concept called discourse jamming. Unlike cultural jamming, discourse jamming neither assumes that political satire is subversive nor that it is an "eye-opener" which jams mainstream culture. Discourse jamming is a more flexible concept, indicating that political satire can be used by both the pan-democratic and pro-establishment camps.

A multimedia novel of speculative fiction exploring the mental health crisis in America.

Hanns Eisler routinely expressed his discontent with the state of music and society in the late 1920s in Die Rote Fahne—an organ of the Marxist revolutionary organization, the Spartakusbund, to which he often contributed. His 1928 essay “Man baut um,” among the most notable of these writings, declares that the high expenditures in art—such as the construction of a fourteen-million Mark opera house—to be the result of capitalist greed rather than a reflection of the desire for musical performances, as had been suggested. Although the cost of the new venue is the subject in this satirical passage, this contains a secondary accusation. With a grotesque sense of amusement, he suggests that schoolchildren are certainly content to go without breakfast because they understand the importance of the opera building. In doing so, he sheds light on the human consequences of material desires. Caustic accusations regarding various aspects of musical culture are a common occurrence in Eisler’s writings, particularly in the years surrounding his break with his teacher, Arnold Schoenberg—1924-1927. During this time, not only did Eisler become increasingly vocal in his printed critiques, but his ideologies became apparent in his compositional style as well. This thesis contends that two of his musical parodies between 1924 and 1927, Palmström (1924) and Zeitungsausschnitte (1925-1927) contain satirical criticisms of contemporary musical consumption and content, which are paralleled in his published prosaic critiques.

This essay is an analysis of Aldous Huxley’s novel Crome Yellow and how it can be read as exposing social hypocrisy and tracing social flaws through England’s religious history. The analysis uses narratology as a tool for exploring how the author can be perceived as offering a perspective on religious history that might have been controversial in his day. Crome Yellow is Huxley's first novel and is written in the tradition of Satirical literature which can be traced back to the seventeenth century and writers such as Jonathan Swift and Charles Dickens in the nineteenth century. As Crome Yellow also has autobiographical tendencies, it has been read as revolving around Huxley's own experiences and perspectives, revealing a vulnerability that none of his later novels seems to have done. Though Huxley was drawn to the religions of the East, the novel refers to the Christian religion, making a distinction between Catholicism and Protestantism. This distinction pertains directly to the characters and narrative structures in Crome Yellow and can be seen as a key in what Huxley might be conveying through the novel. The aim is to demonstrate how the novel can be read as the author’s tracing of his religious roots.

Dame Rose Macaulay possessed two qualities, a comic spirit and an intellectual pessimism, which made her one of England's finest modern satirists. Her satire has limitations. First, because of rapid and rather prolific productivity, some of the satire is repetitious. Second, the reader who enjoys satire is already aware of many of the flaws and incongruities of society. He has probably ridiculed them himself, so he may not find the satire as fresh and original as the author hoped it would be. Much of Miss Macaulay's satire is delightful and keen but occasionally she stoops to the trivial. In spite of these shortcomings and the fact that sometimes the humor seems so broad as to be almost forced, the presence of the comic spirit and the intellectual pessimism--her insight into both the comedy and the tragedy of life--gives much of her satire great appeal and universality.

The Decorruption is a feature-length fiction film directed by María García, made as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. The film is a political satire, which tells the story of a country plagued by corruption, where a rebellious government employee discovers that death is the only solution to the problem, so she sets out on a killing spree against the corrupt. The film was produced on a microbudget (under $50,000) level, following the program’s guidelines. It was shot in Ecuador with non-professional actors and a minimalistic production style. This thesis is a record of the film’s progression from development to picture lock, in preparation for distribution.

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