You can mock Hillary for 'evolving' on different opinions as if principled people at creation have all their views decided on for all time.
But SNL is nothing like her: it doesn't evolve at all. Maybe this is why for years this show has done so lukewarm in the ratings.
There was a time when I used to watch it most weeks. But that was before cable tv when our choices for decent tv were much fewer.
I've never been able to figure out how SNL gets away with its treatment of women. I mean everyone from Hulk Kogan to Don Imus have been destroyed by one inappropriate comment and yet SNL keeps churning out the same sexist crap year after year.
It goes beyond 'sexist' I'd say that there is true hatred of women in the sensibility of this show and its often very hard to decipher humor. So misogynistic rather than simply sexist is what I'd call it.
What do I mean? Well, just that the portrayals of women are just relentlessly and violently unflattering. What I notice is that the show always shows women as ugly which is strange to say but true. I mean sexists at different times have questioned woman's intellectual or moral worth but strangely just the aesthetic appearance of women on the show is just awful .
If this were really their appearance you'd wonder how the race even procreated at all.
Now to HRC. SNL has always been extremely hostile to her in their portrayals. As opposed to President Obama who they put in skits that nevertheless never make him pitiful or terrible.
This is an interesting divide on SNL. They have always been pretty good on race issues but miserable on gender issues.
The nadir is last night's skit of the debate. There has been a lot of talk of Larry David's portrayal of Bernie which was funny. It poked fun at him but I don't know that it totally took away his humanity.
With HRC, however, the minute she got on she was lampooned by the stereotypes of the worst Hillary bashers. She is shown obsessed with who she is going to pretend to be on the night.
Then when the question of her email comes up, her face looks stricken as if the very word will shatter her. Regarding the debate, Matt Yglesias had observed this:
"Anderson Cooper tried and failed to bring Clinton down."
"Anderson Cooper shares the apparently widespread view among American journalists that despite her decades in public life, Clinton is just teetering on the brink of total collapse if faced with one more personal jab."
http://www.vox.com/2015/10/14/9528881/2015-democratic-debate-cnn
The SNL skit seemed to believe the same thing-she was going to be totally shattered by the word 'email' but then Bernie bailed her out. Actually she had answered the question well and turned it around on Kevin McCarthy and Trey Gowdy before Bernie's admittedly chivalrous gesture.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/larry-david-surprises-crowd-as-bernie-sanders-in-snl-democratic-debate/
Look, I get that this is supposed to be humor. But the fact is that this portrayal of HRC here was totally one dimensional. What makes stuff funny is some kind of resonance that It's so funny because it's true!
But the HRC impression didn't work and usually doesn't precisely because it is so nasty and one dimensional. Here is another example where HRC is portrayed as being one thing: cold.
If this is not blatant sexism I don't now what is.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/hillary-clinton-election-video-cold-open/2858428
But SNL is nothing like her: it doesn't evolve at all. Maybe this is why for years this show has done so lukewarm in the ratings.
There was a time when I used to watch it most weeks. But that was before cable tv when our choices for decent tv were much fewer.
I've never been able to figure out how SNL gets away with its treatment of women. I mean everyone from Hulk Kogan to Don Imus have been destroyed by one inappropriate comment and yet SNL keeps churning out the same sexist crap year after year.
It goes beyond 'sexist' I'd say that there is true hatred of women in the sensibility of this show and its often very hard to decipher humor. So misogynistic rather than simply sexist is what I'd call it.
What do I mean? Well, just that the portrayals of women are just relentlessly and violently unflattering. What I notice is that the show always shows women as ugly which is strange to say but true. I mean sexists at different times have questioned woman's intellectual or moral worth but strangely just the aesthetic appearance of women on the show is just awful .
If this were really their appearance you'd wonder how the race even procreated at all.
Now to HRC. SNL has always been extremely hostile to her in their portrayals. As opposed to President Obama who they put in skits that nevertheless never make him pitiful or terrible.
This is an interesting divide on SNL. They have always been pretty good on race issues but miserable on gender issues.
The nadir is last night's skit of the debate. There has been a lot of talk of Larry David's portrayal of Bernie which was funny. It poked fun at him but I don't know that it totally took away his humanity.
With HRC, however, the minute she got on she was lampooned by the stereotypes of the worst Hillary bashers. She is shown obsessed with who she is going to pretend to be on the night.
Then when the question of her email comes up, her face looks stricken as if the very word will shatter her. Regarding the debate, Matt Yglesias had observed this:
"Anderson Cooper tried and failed to bring Clinton down."
"Anderson Cooper shares the apparently widespread view among American journalists that despite her decades in public life, Clinton is just teetering on the brink of total collapse if faced with one more personal jab."
http://www.vox.com/2015/10/14/9528881/2015-democratic-debate-cnn
The SNL skit seemed to believe the same thing-she was going to be totally shattered by the word 'email' but then Bernie bailed her out. Actually she had answered the question well and turned it around on Kevin McCarthy and Trey Gowdy before Bernie's admittedly chivalrous gesture.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/larry-david-surprises-crowd-as-bernie-sanders-in-snl-democratic-debate/
Look, I get that this is supposed to be humor. But the fact is that this portrayal of HRC here was totally one dimensional. What makes stuff funny is some kind of resonance that It's so funny because it's true!
But the HRC impression didn't work and usually doesn't precisely because it is so nasty and one dimensional. Here is another example where HRC is portrayed as being one thing: cold.
If this is not blatant sexism I don't now what is.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/hillary-clinton-election-video-cold-open/2858428
One of the best SNL skits though had HRC looking pretty good! Don't you remember the debate between Sarah Palin and HRC? That was a classic! HRC was portrayed as the "straight woman" in the skit: intelligent, hard working, competent... but most of all FRUSTRATED... that she was sharing a debate stage (that she should somehow be equated with, in terms of qualifications) with such an air head.
ReplyDeleteI had an idea for a self-mocking SNL skit just yesterday: I was imagining Adolf Hitler as a modern candidate. Would he host SNL? Lol... imagine Adolf doing a skit. Would the cast all gather around at the end of the show while the music played?
I guess Trump is as close as we get. I'm loving him again though now that he started razzing Jeb again. LOL.
ReplyDeleteYes, ur right that was a good one. They do have a history I mentioned though and last night really wasn't funny as there was no real resonance about it.
Sure funny is funny but what's funny does have some correspondence with something that's really there. It was kind of weak. LOL
I meant you're right about the Plain debate. I
ReplyDelete