The Colbert Report: One Direction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ejgq0r0SEU

Stephen Colbert is known to satirize almost every aspect of society. In one of his episodes he decided to dedicate a segment to the amazingly talented, British/Irish boy band, One Direction. One usually dedicates a video or a novel to a beloved. Stephen Colbert decided to dedicate this segment to One Direction, not to express his love towards them, but to satirize their famous, hit song "What Makes You Beautiful". He begins by making fun of their name. He states how he does not want "a bunch of... telling America the number of directions we can go at" (Colbert). Then he starts talking about their number one song. He starts out by being sarcastic about the lyrics and how they convey a "great message" (Colbert). One part of the lyrics are "you don't know you're beautiful, that's what makes you beautiful" (One Direction). He contrasts between exaggeration and understatement because although he is exaggerating the simple meaning of the phrase, he is understating the whole song itself, by showing the audience that it makes no sense and is therefore pointless. He uses innuendo and verbal irony at the same time. He states, in a sarcastic tone, how the song gives advice to young women, but he implies how pointless and useless the meaning of the song really is. He uses distortion by twisting the real meaning of the lyrics and satirizing them. Colbert's main purpose was to instill common sense into the public that this hit song actually has no true meaning. He probably wants to change society's new idea of music and have people tell the difference between real and meaningless lyrics.