Proposal

My proposal is to create and perform a collection of satirical scenes dealing with modern politics. In order to accomplish this, I will enlist the help of Mrs. Marlene Thornton, who has extensive knowledge of both acting and directing. I will also be working with 5 to 10 students (final number to be determined after the scenes are written) to perform and film these scenes, and I hope to have the parts cast by 2nd or 3rd week of November. In addition, I will be researching the role that political satire on television has affected the political views of the American nation. For this project, my end product would be a collection of scenes that will be shown during my presentation, and it is my hope that they provide entertaining proof as to my understanding of both satire and American politics. I hope to wrap up the writing of the scenes by October 20th and it is my hope that the roles will be cast by the second or third week of November It is my hope that the scenes can be performed to the general public shortly after Christmas break. The remainder of the time will be spent preparing and proofreading my project so that it is ready by the time I need to present. For the scenes, I will require several basic props (a desk, a flag, a podium etc.) that are already availible in the school's drama department. I will also require use of the Little Theater stage in order to perform these scenes and I might require the use of the TV-production room in order edit my video and presentation (I intend to discuss this with Mr. Meder after I determine which level of video editing software is necessary for my project). Finally, I will need to cast a group of 5-10 students to perform the scenes. Overall, I expect the total number of hours spent on the project to exceed the 30 hours required, but I cannot be sure of the exact number of hours necessary. In terms of research, I will be focusing on researching the effect that political satire on TV has affected the American political scene. I choose this topic because, like most Americans, I laughed my head off during the SNL 2008 election skits I was surprised as to how much I had remembered from the skits as opposed to the actual debates. While I first looking up ideas for my project I stumbled upon an article about how Tina Fey's line "I can see Russia from my house" was mistakenly attributed to Palin, which negatively impacted her political image. This led me to wonder how much the political satire of such shows as Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and other satirical programs influenced people’s political beliefs.

My essential question for this project is: how has television been used as a platform for political satire, and to what effect, if any, has it had on the way that Americans perceive their government? While I have not had any prior experience in analyzing political satire, I have participated in the Youth and Government program for the past two years, and I actively follow American politics both through TV and the web.

In terms of the research benefits, I feel that my research will prove to be an enlightening analysis for those who chose to read it. The political scene in America is constantly changing, and people need to be able to understand such changes if democracy is to work. My research will reveal to what extent political satire on the media affects both the voters and the government, thereby allowing others to understand yet another aspect of the political process.

Please see my annotated bibliography for my three potential sources. All of the relevant information required by this prompt is listed in that section.