Trina DasGupta is the founder and CEO of Single Palm Tree Productions, a media company dedicated to using entertainment as a vehicle to help build global understanding.
When I spoke with Trina about this panel—“America Meet World: How Global Satirists See Us”—the passion she has for her work was undeniable. Rather than trying (and inevitably failing) to match her ardor and focus in an article, I have decided to share our conversation in an edited Q-and-A format.
Q: What is the focus of the panel?
A: American pop culture is all over the world. Because of this, the world has a very good sense of what’s happening in the states, but the reverse is very rarely true. For this panel, we are bringing together three top (And she really does mean top. These guys are outstanding.) political satirists—Saman Arbabi, David Kibuuka, and Anuvab Pal—to reflect on both how the world sees American politics and how American politics affects the world.
Since what’s happened with the movie “The Interview” and North Korea and the terrible tragedy in Paris, we are going to start with that and back the conversation out a little bit to focus on the role of satire globally and the impact it has on culture and politics. Then, we’ll really hone in on American politics and the upcoming election.
Q: Why is political satire important? What is its role?
A: One of the reasons I think political satire is so important is because it is a way for people to question the things that are happening in their lives with a great deal of both nuance and poignancy. Also, people’s lives are hard and life is complicated, and I think people just want to be entertained. So, political satire gives people the ability to talk about things that are happening in society but in a way that they can also laugh about what’s going on.
Q: What are some of the negatives of political satire?
A: There can be unintended consequences, and I think Paris is a very clear example of that. The challenge is that art is designed to provoke, but then there can be consequences to that provocation. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done, by any means, but I think that we’re at a time right now where it’s a really delicate balance. You make a choice about what’s the point that you’re trying to convey, but the goal, really, is to point out the absurdities of it. And I don’t think that’s a negative. But I do think that the people who do this art today have to be very aware of the consequences and decide whether or not they care about them.
Q: Why bring this panel to SXSW?
A: What this panel is reflective of is really what my production company does. Our goal is to use comedy as a vehicle to help people and cultures come together and for people to experience new ideas through a medium that I really, fundamentally believe has a unique way of helping people both think and be entertained at the same time.
Also, we’re not just a media company. We have a technology platform, we do live events, we do video, we’re working on TV shows—we do a lot of different things. And what I think is really great about SXSW is that all of those different genres converge there. So, SXSW is just a great home for us and a great place to have this conversation.
When, Where & More:
Saturday, March 14
5-6 p.m.
Austin Convention Center
Room 9ABC
500 E. Cesar Chavez St.
More information on this panel can be found here: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2015/events/event_IAP39631.