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Dagnostaw Demski
effect of upbringing and taming of the originally wild, crude nature." In this sense,
refinement reguired character building, self-improvement, and an attitude of readi¬
ness for reality change and for curbing the wild nature, not for leaving" it unaltered.
‘The new ideal slowly began to exclude the new elites from the old folk practices,
eliminating such practices from the public domain or pushing them to the outskirts
of large towns. What seemed normal in the earlier times, what everyone was pre¬
pared to participate in, now seemed entirely deplorable. This is an ongoing process
even in present day—however, it keeps being filled with new contents.
Humor and satire also served as the measures of discipline and, thus, were a part
of a “culture of refinement.” As I mostly discuss here the caricature illustrations of
that period, some introductory remarks are necessary. It is especially relevant for
the following discussion to differentiate between satire and humor. Each possess a
distinct nature, perform different functions, and serve a different goal. Satire serves
to shatter the peace, to disturb normalcy, to rouse from lethargy and apathy. Pro¬
gressive satire is often used, but there is also satire with radical tendencies. Neither
evoke laughter nor joy. They are constructed via disparate means: by derision, irony,
sarcasm, parody, and so forth.
Satire often fights against stereotypes, striving to protect their victims or ex¬
ploiting the power of obsolete stereotypes. In the first instance, the goal is to lib¬
erate from the stereotype and to create room for new situations and new possibili¬
ties. In the second instance, the targets of the attack are the traditional ones, and
the old, generally known and still vital, patterns, which limit the possibility for
a change in the social field, are reproduced. Neither of them evokes a smile, but
rather they offer a momentary sense of a deeper understanding, and sometimes
of wisdom, with respect to the insight/becoming aware of life’s complexity and of
the inequality within the tight confines of obsolete stereotypes. Progressive satire
is commonly known, and those on a civilizing mission use it with enthusiasm.
Humor plays out the stereotypes by departing from the intention to “shake” peo¬
ple, to awaken them by way of bringing to their attention the repetitiveness of the
dramas or tragedies in which we all participate. Humor juxtaposes the images and
representations of reality in such a way as to make various elements of the current
discourse on a given subject visible. The difference between them involves function.
Both may be used in a unique presentation of the Other, in a way that corre¬
sponds to the author's intentions. The problem of Otherness is the central theme of
this examination, but due to the satirical sources discussed here, other notions also
M The author provides the example of the statue of Charles V’s victory over the savages (Ibidem: 58).
5 Taylor wrote about it in the context of taming the aristocracy, internal calming, and domesticating
the elites in the face of the birth of a modern state. Such transformations were significant also in relation
to a more widespread and ambitious attempt to transform all the social classes with the help of new dis¬
ciplinary measures—economic, military, religious, and moral—which, as the author claims, has con¬
stituted a distinctive feature of European society at least since the seventeenth century (Ibidem: 59-60).