The latest instalment of Newton Talks, a podcast project by Dr James Newton, Lecturer in Media Studies, has just been published. The episode features Dr Dieter Declerq, Lecturer in Film and Media Studies in the School of Arts.
In the podcast series, James discusses topics (mostly) related to cinema, television, and culture.
In this episode, James and Dieter discuss Dieter’s research on satire, and how his interest in the topic began by watching The Simpsons whilst growing up in Belgium. James and Dieter discuss satire’s limitations and paradoxes, as well as the distinctions between satire and mockery. The podcast also covers Dieter’s new research on satire and mental health.
‘[The Simpsons] was television about television. It was mocking other television; it was quite clever about being different from other kinds of television’, says Dieter. ‘I think, for a lot of reasons it’s an important television show. For me it’s because of the satirical worldview, going against the establishment at the time. I think for a teenager who’s in a Catholic school in Belgium, not having a very good time, that was really important’.
To listen to the episode, and others in the series, please see the page here:
https://audioboom.com/posts/7322154-newton-talks-4-dieter-declercq-satire-and-the-simpsons