In Week 5 we covered satire which was mentioned in previous readings as being “often confused with parody” (Neale and Krutnik 1990). Focusing more on drawing on and highlighting social conventions (Neal and Krutnik 1990), but can also include parodic comedy. The readings reference a satire program we have often discussed in class Brass Eye (1997), we similarly wanted to replicate established conventions to comment on and subvert the societal expectations to receive accurate advice from programs that specialise in a topic.
Working in a group with Harper and Sam, we decided on creating a sketch that satirised Cryptocurrency personalities and the techniques they use to maintain the image of success necessary to sell their cryptocurrency investments. Drawing on inspiration from Last Week: Tonight (2014) and John Oliver’s commentary on Jim Cramer’s Mad Money (2005), in which he highlights Cramer’s consistent inaccurate predictions of stock market moves. This difficulty in predicting the stock market stemmed from the speed of which Cramer could cover the changes in the markets, often being outpaced by the traders on wall street. Thus Cramer relies on his personality to sell his investment advice, a trait shared with modern day “crypto-gurus”
To loathe the inherent gap of information between consumers and influencers within the crypto-sphere in a civilised way (Jun 2005) we used the comic device of Gooncoin’s volatility to undercut the authority of the assumed expert Crim Jamer, pointing out the lack of control those who provide speculative financial advice have over their subject. We strived to avoid sliding into straight parody, instead attempting to create a segment which is incapable of being produced at the scale of Mad Money (2005). We achieved this satire through our performances which we improvised after agreeing on a concept, then whilst editing the piece I included crude graphics of real life cryptocurrency prices to illustrate the volatility involved with cryptocurrency.