Allegories & Satires

When art, thought, commentary, expression contrary to "officialdum" becomes a dangerous activity - allegory and satire always sprouts up as green truth.

Photo by Fikri Rasyid on Unsplash

How do you fight back when you are banned from speaking candidly about things?When a tyrant has her finger on the delete button? When a dictator demands allegiance and only “good” news? When your phone is filtered and only contains “purified” thoughts that are sanctioned? When people aren’t allowed to voice their opinions in public and even much in private?

Well, the answer throughout history, written and unwritten, has always been allegory. Humor, jokes and satire too but they’re more vulnerable to persecution, too close to the bone.

Allegory, from Latin by way of Greek, is “veiled language”, essentially, it means - “meaning under meaning”. One thing is presented but underneath, it means something, it references something altogether different.

Probably the political allegory most people are familiar with is Animal Farm. You know, the story about a bunch of talking animals and the revolution they begot? A work aimed at the stupidity of people who continue to believe in revolutionary rhetoric, imperial grandeur, totalitarian promises despite the reality on the ground.

Maybe some will be familiar with Pilgrim’s Progress - a work clearly aimed at the hypocrisy of the Catholic church of the time. Or others know of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave - a swipe at how people are spoon-fed, misled about reality. Also, a critique of our modern, evil, marketing prowess. Of course, the “Great Code”, the bible, is busting with allegory.

Allegory is a special form of art. It presents truth indirectly - in a grand metaphor. It has been present wherever the conditions warranted. Greek myths are a form of allegory, presenting stories that underneath told a truth about their current times. Medieval England was awash with allegorical plays (sometimes called “morality plays”) meant to challenge the existing overlords and beliefs of the day. Everyman is one, from the Dutch play - Elckerlyc. Shakespeare’s poetry and plays were rife with allegory - extended metaphors that scored political points. A Winter’s Tale is a prime example.

Jonathan Swift is perhaps in English, the greatest political allegorist. His Gulliver’s Travels obliquely railed against the nepotism and elitism of this day. Also, A Modest Proposal while satire, borders on political allegory - biting at how we always buy into political/governmental schemes to “fix” the world.

The Wizard of Oz was a political allegory - the yellow brick road meant to be the fantastical “gold standard” of the day. Under Soviet communism, poets wrote in allegory and “tongue in cheek” - many paid their lives for it, like Mandelstam.

Allegory isn’t only set as “fantasy” but also comes in the form of a possible future. The future is used as a playground to comment on today.

Much of the Soviet excellence in science fiction writing comes from it being a genre where writers were free in the allegorical form to protest politically and put their ideas out there to the general public. Western science fiction writers like Heinlein, Douglas Adams and Asimov also used Sci-fi to allegorically present their ideas about contemporary society and its problems.

Comics, graphic novels, and manga nowadays, have a certain allegorical nature. Superheroes are pure allegories standing for many things - so too, Planet of the Apes - an allegory, pure and simple. A tale-telling another tale.

And that brings us to today. Today - the world is more focused on the “real” than any form of fiction or allegory. It’s really an unallegorical world. Technology is reality focused. So much of our media is reality-based. About real people, you know - reality TV. Our forms of media are direct, without subtlety. Non-fiction books rule the bestseller lists. Even murder mysteries, literature, poetry has become very stony, solid, “is what it is”. I fear we’ve lost our own abilities to imagine and metaphorize.

However, now in a world of media dictatorship, in a world where governments have declared they are the caretakers of proper thought - allegory I think will make a comeback. I’m waiting for the next Jonathan Swift, the next Clements, Menchen or even Gore Vidal or Douglas Adams.

Here is one artist, and storyteller who is rising to the challenge. He doesn’t have much of a following and whatever you think of the allegory - it is beautiful in a way. Challenging us to think about what we’ve done in the last couple of years during the pandemic. Watch and think about the allegory he’s presenting …