http://www.theonion.com/
In this modern age of electronic media and web-publishing, we are creating a new breed of readers. Literacy is not as simple as reading text in the world of cyberspace; we are becoming skilled at the interpretation of text that utilizes imagery, hyperlinks, multi-directionality, sound and necessary interaction. With this new brand of readership comes a necessitated skill for identifying messages in whatever form they may take. Identifying irony is a skill that most readers possess in its traditional forms, but is the interpretation of humor changing with the new language of hypermedia?
Among the many humorous sites and segments found on the web these days, The Onion has achieved a level of success that seems to indicate a new era of humorous rhetoric. Its deliberate imitation of “serious” news sites and mimicry of daily issues could be quite tricky for the untrained reader. But the emergence of new media literacy has also evoked an ability for individuals to “read humor” even when hidden in the clothing of sincerity. Although The Onion might be considered elitist because of its information-seeking target audience, it remains a significant marker of the level by which we as a culture are cyber-literate.
In this research, and with the sources I will list here, I aim to take a critical look at the actual construction of humor -- not only in The Onion, but in other sites who employ satire and parody in their repertoire -- in order to examine whether or not it promotes a higher degree of intellectual capacity when interacting with it. I also intend to create a critical backdrop by utilizing pertinent research that explore the rhetorical devices that construct humor, and then applying it to the analysis of The Onion.
electronic media
cyberspace
literacy
humor
elitism
rhetoric
