Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Tragedy of Fidel Castro: Satire or Veiled Truth?

Satire is an interesting genre. For those of us who love it, we truly love it. For those who don't, they tend to hate it. Most satire requires the reader to know another story or work to get the full benefit of the book, movie, song, or painting. There was once, decades ago, a bank slogan that touted the personal banker relationship. The billboard asked in big letters, "What is the name of your banker?" Someone had written 'Shylock'. If one was not familiar with the play by  Shakespeare, one would never understand the satire in the graffiti. Some satire is funny, even without the benefit of knowing the whole story. "Young Frankenstein" by Mel Brooks, for example, had lots of humor even if you had not read the story by Shelley. I found the movie 'Galaxy Quest' so funny that I have seen it 7 or 8 times but I found it so funny because I was completely familiar with Star Trek and the interplay of the actors on and off the screen.  Today's story, "The Tragedy of Fidel Castro", served up to us by Joao Cerqueira, is a delicious satire which I believe will be more enticing the more you know about the story of Fidel, his obsessions, his passions, and his dealing with the United States of America, particularly John Kennedy.