Humour – the “rubber sword” that makes a point without drawing blood

This term Year 10 English students have been learning about the power of humour to raise awareness about serious societal issues. They explored a range of texts, from print advertisements to satirical articles, analysing the way that techniques of humour can be used to expose concerning societal behaviours and attitudes, such as negative stereotyping based on race, religion, gender and sexual orientation. 

One of the initial class tasks required students to create a humorous print advertisement for an imaginary product designed to combat some form of prejudice or injustice. Not as easy a task as it might first appear! How to humorously represent racial stereotypes without seeming racist? How to challenge misogyny in a way that combats rather than promotes the use of sexist comments? Some wonderful products emerged (see some samples below), from cologne to cure homophobia, to hand sanitiser to ‘kill 99% of racism’.

To correspond with their recent study of World War II and the Holocaust in History, the unit culminated in a close study of the film Jojo Rabbit, a satirical representation of Hitler and Nazi ideology. Presented through the eyes of a young member of the Hitler Youth brainwashed by propaganda, the film aims to ridicule Hitler and his beliefs, exposing him as ignorant and raising awareness about the dangers of blind fanaticism.