Saturday Night Live Influence
The Influence of Saturday Night Live
On August 29th, 2008 Senator John McCain announced his decision of electing Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential Candidate. This declaration provoked controversy amongst many of the United States citizens and while the majority of the people supported McCain, there were still a select few of both the republican and democratic parties that were bewildered by his decision. They view Sarah Palin as ignorant and someone who could not play any significant part in running the United States government, and their scrutiny of her soon reached the public via television. Although entwined with humor, the Saturday Night Live vice Presidential debate clip is an example of the doubts society has on Palin’s experience. …show more content…
Through humorous satire the Saturday Night Live spoof, intending to be seemingly harmless, effectively influenced the votes of many young Americans.
Through the use of irony, Saturday Night Live is trying to amuse the audience and arouse the viewer’s interest to get them to pay deeper attention to both Palin and Biden’s views, with high hopes that the listener will not take Palin seriously. After explaining the generic conservative view of how two homosexuals should not be allowed to get married, Sarah Palin states “marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers.” By saying this, she is referring to her fifteen year-old pregnant daughter who is arranged to marry her teenage boyfriend. Those that do not know about the background or family of Sarah Palin might take this quote literally, when in reality this is not what Palin actually believes. Although this specific comedic remark is not to be taken seriously, it happens to skew Palin’s views and may confuse some of the viewers who are not familiar with these candidates and their political views. This can be used effectively due to the fact that today’s American public is increasingly busy and overworked. Many Americans come home from an exhausting day at work and want to take a break from it all and they may prefer to watch something that will make them laugh rather than make them think. Although these spoofs on the election have truth to them, when something is turned into humor it attracts more people and these negative characteristics of the candidates are more top of mind.
As today’s population continues to grow, each day the number of potential voters grows with it. The number of young voters is considered one of today’s most important topics of society. Having the ability to swing the decision of the young, newly registering voters could make or break a shot at the presidency of the United States. There are countless organizations and associations devoted to raising the number of young registered voters. With this negative comedic attitude towards Governor Palin the way these Americans votes’ are swayed could have a great impact on the election, especially considering the many adults and young adults that are tuning into Saturday Night Live. Many of the young and undecided voters who are making up the audience of Saturday Night Live are not also tuned into the campaign. Lauren Feldman, a professor from American University, tells a reporter that, “The power of late night comedy to influence voters really lies among those voters who are currently undecided and are potentially less tuned into the campaign.” Since Saturday Night Live is on prime time television it targets those younger voters, making it much easier to sway their political views knowing that most are not watching the actual debate or the news to become informed. Just because a young to middle age citizen is registered to vote, does not mean that he or she has the time to seriously consider each aspect of the presidential election. Whether the voter is a student or a dedicated worker, the presidential debate may not be on the top of their list after a long day of class or work. It is much more appealing to a younger audience to watch their favorite late night comedian when they come home rather than a drawn out and potentially boring presidential debate. The use of satire on the presidential candidates and their run-mates is an easy way to appeal and influence the younger American public.
The way Saturday Night Live takes a small misstep by a candidate and twists it into something more detrimental is often misleading on whether it is truthful or not because of the satire. During the SNL skit, Queen Latifa asks, “Governor Palin, What is your position on healthcare regulation?” Tina Fey, playing Governor Palin, replies: “I’m going to ignore that question and instead talk about Israel!” Although Saturday Night Live and other forms of media may seem like they skew what the candidates say, it is for the most part completely truthful with even some quoted dialogue. The quote above is a prime example of how the media slightly alters what is truly said in the debate to add humor but it is not the least bit false. In the Vice Presidential debate Palin did not actually say that she was going to ignore the question she was asked but instead just started on another topic; which is almost identical to the Saturday Night Live skit. Late night comedy shows such as this one are also effective in that they attract viewers that may not even know the difference between the “real” Sarah Palin and the “fake” Sarah Palin, Tina Fey. The resemblance between the two is amazingly striking and it is hard to differ between the two, in looks and how they carry themselves. This misconception may also affect the McCain/Palin administration with a negative turnout.
Saturday Night Lives’ moderator Queen Latifa, playing the role of Gwen Eiffel is another major contributor of how this spoof on the vice presidential debate could effect voters decisions.
In the beginning of the skit after introducing the candidates Queen Latifa said “and finally we would like to remind our audience due to historically low expectations for Governor Palin; were she simply to do an adequate job tonight, at no point cry, faint, run out of the building, or vomit, you should consider the debate a tie.” This quote is a particular example of how weak and unskilled NBC’s Saturday Night Live is trying to portray Sarah Palin. Although NBC’s Saturday Night Live seems to be picking on the republican candidates more than the democratic it is not necessarily because they favor the democratic candidates but because Sarah Palin and John McCain give them more to work with. Throughout the entity of the skit Queen Latifa makes cringing faces after each of Sarah Palin’s answers to the questions she is addressing her with. This once again goes back to the undecided viewers who only watch the late night comedy shows and have no knowledge of the actual debate as a whole. They are likely to make negative assumptions about Sarah Palin and not Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate Joe Biden because Sarah Palin is more targeted than he and they make her seem more
idiotic.
Saturday Night Live has been doing spoofs on the election and the presidential candidates year after year and this is not the first time it has had an impact on the presidential candidates. Presidential Gerald Ford had a very klutzy reputation of which he was never able to live down because of Chevy Chases’ relentless impersonations. These impersonations on Saturday Night Live are much like Tina Fey’s of Governor Sarah Palin. If in the past the same sort of impersonations had left a lasting impression of Gerald Ford, why would one think that Tina Fey’s are not giving Sarah Palin a negative status that will affect the voters of the current presidential election? History shows that these Saturday Night live skits have an effect of the presidential candidates.
The Saturday Night Live Skit’s are intended to amuse and entertain its viewers, not to manipulate they way they are going to vote. Through these spoofs on the election Saturday Night Lives’ audience is at an all time high, meaning more and more voters are either finalizing their decision on these skit’s or are being proven that the decision they are making is the right one depending on who they are planning on voting for. Whether for John McCain or Barack Obama these skits’ will have an impact on the outcome of the election. There will continue to be American citizens that refuse or have no interest in following up on political news and the actual presidential and vice presidential debates and only watch the comedic portrayal of Governor Sarah Palin. Saturday Night Lives’ skits’ are prime examples of how comedic sketches may depict Palin as ignorant and folksy which may in the end effect the voting outcome for John McCain.
On August 29th, 2008 Senator John McCain announced his decision of electing Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential Candidate. This declaration provoked controversy amongst many of the United States citizens and while the majority of the people supported McCain, there were still a select few of both the republican and democratic parties that were bewildered by his decision. They view Sarah Palin as ignorant and someone who could not play any significant part in running the United States government, and their scrutiny of her soon reached the public via television. Although entwined with humor, the Saturday Night Live vice Presidential debate clip is an example of the doubts society has on Palin’s experience. …show more content…
Through humorous satire the Saturday Night Live spoof, intending to be seemingly harmless, effectively influenced the votes of many young Americans.
Through the use of irony, Saturday Night Live is trying to amuse the audience and arouse the viewer’s interest to get them to pay deeper attention to both Palin and Biden’s views, with high hopes that the listener will not take Palin seriously. After explaining the generic conservative view of how two homosexuals should not be allowed to get married, Sarah Palin states “marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers.” By saying this, she is referring to her fifteen year-old pregnant daughter who is arranged to marry her teenage boyfriend. Those that do not know about the background or family of Sarah Palin might take this quote literally, when in reality this is not what Palin actually believes. Although this specific comedic remark is not to be taken seriously, it happens to skew Palin’s views and may confuse some of the viewers who are not familiar with these candidates and their political views. This can be used effectively due to the fact that today’s American public is increasingly busy and overworked. Many Americans come home from an exhausting day at work and want to take a break from it all and they may prefer to watch something that will make them laugh rather than make them think. Although these spoofs on the election have truth to them, when something is turned into humor it attracts more people and these negative characteristics of the candidates are more top of mind.
As today’s population continues to grow, each day the number of potential voters grows with it. The number of young voters is considered one of today’s most important topics of society. Having the ability to swing the decision of the young, newly registering voters could make or break a shot at the presidency of the United States. There are countless organizations and associations devoted to raising the number of young registered voters. With this negative comedic attitude towards Governor Palin the way these Americans votes’ are swayed could have a great impact on the election, especially considering the many adults and young adults that are tuning into Saturday Night Live. Many of the young and undecided voters who are making up the audience of Saturday Night Live are not also tuned into the campaign. Lauren Feldman, a professor from American University, tells a reporter that, “The power of late night comedy to influence voters really lies among those voters who are currently undecided and are potentially less tuned into the campaign.” Since Saturday Night Live is on prime time television it targets those younger voters, making it much easier to sway their political views knowing that most are not watching the actual debate or the news to become informed. Just because a young to middle age citizen is registered to vote, does not mean that he or she has the time to seriously consider each aspect of the presidential election. Whether the voter is a student or a dedicated worker, the presidential debate may not be on the top of their list after a long day of class or work. It is much more appealing to a younger audience to watch their favorite late night comedian when they come home rather than a drawn out and potentially boring presidential debate. The use of satire on the presidential candidates and their run-mates is an easy way to appeal and influence the younger American public.
The way Saturday Night Live takes a small misstep by a candidate and twists it into something more detrimental is often misleading on whether it is truthful or not because of the satire. During the SNL skit, Queen Latifa asks, “Governor Palin, What is your position on healthcare regulation?” Tina Fey, playing Governor Palin, replies: “I’m going to ignore that question and instead talk about Israel!” Although Saturday Night Live and other forms of media may seem like they skew what the candidates say, it is for the most part completely truthful with even some quoted dialogue. The quote above is a prime example of how the media slightly alters what is truly said in the debate to add humor but it is not the least bit false. In the Vice Presidential debate Palin did not actually say that she was going to ignore the question she was asked but instead just started on another topic; which is almost identical to the Saturday Night Live skit. Late night comedy shows such as this one are also effective in that they attract viewers that may not even know the difference between the “real” Sarah Palin and the “fake” Sarah Palin, Tina Fey. The resemblance between the two is amazingly striking and it is hard to differ between the two, in looks and how they carry themselves. This misconception may also affect the McCain/Palin administration with a negative turnout.
Saturday Night Lives’ moderator Queen Latifa, playing the role of Gwen Eiffel is another major contributor of how this spoof on the vice presidential debate could effect voters decisions.
In the beginning of the skit after introducing the candidates Queen Latifa said “and finally we would like to remind our audience due to historically low expectations for Governor Palin; were she simply to do an adequate job tonight, at no point cry, faint, run out of the building, or vomit, you should consider the debate a tie.” This quote is a particular example of how weak and unskilled NBC’s Saturday Night Live is trying to portray Sarah Palin. Although NBC’s Saturday Night Live seems to be picking on the republican candidates more than the democratic it is not necessarily because they favor the democratic candidates but because Sarah Palin and John McCain give them more to work with. Throughout the entity of the skit Queen Latifa makes cringing faces after each of Sarah Palin’s answers to the questions she is addressing her with. This once again goes back to the undecided viewers who only watch the late night comedy shows and have no knowledge of the actual debate as a whole. They are likely to make negative assumptions about Sarah Palin and not Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate Joe Biden because Sarah Palin is more targeted than he and they make her seem more
idiotic.
Saturday Night Live has been doing spoofs on the election and the presidential candidates year after year and this is not the first time it has had an impact on the presidential candidates. Presidential Gerald Ford had a very klutzy reputation of which he was never able to live down because of Chevy Chases’ relentless impersonations. These impersonations on Saturday Night Live are much like Tina Fey’s of Governor Sarah Palin. If in the past the same sort of impersonations had left a lasting impression of Gerald Ford, why would one think that Tina Fey’s are not giving Sarah Palin a negative status that will affect the voters of the current presidential election? History shows that these Saturday Night live skits have an effect of the presidential candidates.
The Saturday Night Live Skit’s are intended to amuse and entertain its viewers, not to manipulate they way they are going to vote. Through these spoofs on the election Saturday Night Lives’ audience is at an all time high, meaning more and more voters are either finalizing their decision on these skit’s or are being proven that the decision they are making is the right one depending on who they are planning on voting for. Whether for John McCain or Barack Obama these skits’ will have an impact on the outcome of the election. There will continue to be American citizens that refuse or have no interest in following up on political news and the actual presidential and vice presidential debates and only watch the comedic portrayal of Governor Sarah Palin. Saturday Night Lives’ skits’ are prime examples of how comedic sketches may depict Palin as ignorant and folksy which may in the end effect the voting outcome for John McCain.