In today’s society, television has become the main source of information for many Americans. For the youth especially, satirical TV shows are showing more and more significance. One of the most prominent examples of this has become Stephen Colbert’s show, The Colbert Report.
The talk show starred the political humorist Stephen Colbert, who gained popularity as a former correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Stephen Colbert has become one of the most popular and influential political satirists in America today. His previous show The Colbert Report received on average 1.7 million viewers per night. The Colbert Report was pitched as a spin-off from and counterpart to The Daily Show that reports and analyzes politics, current events, and the media in a satirical way. The Colbert Report pokes fun at conservative personality-driven political pundit programs, most notably Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. The show focuses on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot”, is a caricature of televised political pundits.
Colbert’s report on the 4th of July is a disappointing reflection on the relevance of the Declaration of Independence in today’s society. A holiday that is indented to be a day of remembrance for the influential document that triggered the United States independence, is represented as a day of gluttony, drunkenness, and immaturity. At one point, Colbert sarcastically tells a story of a drunken man’s escapades on the holiday and states that his antics are “Just as our founders intended”(1:14). Clearly, this comment was made tongue-in-cheek.
In an even more outrageous and comical segment, Colbert shows a Jesus Graphic for “fourth of July under attack”(1:32). The clip has nothing to do with content, but features a cartoon representation of Jesus being shot at. This clip represents how the United States as a whole has a tendency to believe religion is constantly under attack. The fourth of July has nothing to do with religion, yet Colbert always ties holidays back to the “war on religion”.
This short clip is a disappointing, yet accurate representation of the relevance of the Declaration of Independence importance to today’s culture. In a video designated to talking about the holiday in celebration of the document, the Declaration of Independence is unmentioned. The founding fathers are mentioned once, in a satirical manor, however other than this one instance the clip merely speaks about sparklers, alcohol, and other irrelevant topics. This is a reflection of American society, and how the document that is arguably the most important artifact in the history of the United States is becoming slowly forgotten.
The talk show starred the political humorist Stephen Colbert, who gained popularity as a former correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Stephen Colbert has become one of the most popular and influential political satirists in America today. His previous show The Colbert Report received on average 1.7 million viewers per night. The Colbert Report was pitched as a spin-off from and counterpart to The Daily Show that reports and analyzes politics, current events, and the media in a satirical way. The Colbert Report pokes fun at conservative personality-driven political pundit programs, most notably Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. The show focuses on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot”, is a caricature of televised political pundits.
Colbert’s report on the 4th of July is a disappointing reflection on the relevance of the Declaration of Independence in today’s society. A holiday that is indented to be a day of remembrance for the influential document that triggered the United States independence, is represented as a day of gluttony, drunkenness, and immaturity. At one point, Colbert sarcastically tells a story of a drunken man’s escapades on the holiday and states that his antics are “Just as our founders intended”(1:14). Clearly, this comment was made tongue-in-cheek.
In an even more outrageous and comical segment, Colbert shows a Jesus Graphic for “fourth of July under attack”(1:32). The clip has nothing to do with content, but features a cartoon representation of Jesus being shot at. This clip represents how the United States as a whole has a tendency to believe religion is constantly under attack. The fourth of July has nothing to do with religion, yet Colbert always ties holidays back to the “war on religion”.
This short clip is a disappointing, yet accurate representation of the relevance of the Declaration of Independence importance to today’s culture. In a video designated to talking about the holiday in celebration of the document, the Declaration of Independence is unmentioned. The founding fathers are mentioned once, in a satirical manor, however other than this one instance the clip merely speaks about sparklers, alcohol, and other irrelevant topics. This is a reflection of American society, and how the document that is arguably the most important artifact in the history of the United States is becoming slowly forgotten.
http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/9lyyd3/4th-of-july-under-attack