General Discussion
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(1,865 posts)Thanks! !
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)oasis
(49,376 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Grammy23
(5,810 posts)What has he ever done to you?
But seriously, this cast has given just a little humor and hope to this whole debacle when we needed it! Keep up the good work, guys! Thank you!
LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)Its a great way to vent together and also get a bit of a break from just feeling a perpetual rage/depression.
But we should be reminded that SNL, and even Colbert, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, and other comedians using the plethora of material at their disposal to use to ridicule Trump and the GOP, doesn't do much to change minds. Dubya was ridiculed relentlessly on SNL and managed to stay for a full two terms.
Sometimes I think that while it makes us all feel good, and gives us a laugh, it also creates caracatures of real life dangerous powerful individuals. It makes them and their actions into jokes. When in fact the laws they are striking down and the ones they are proposing are not funny and will continue to happen. I think there is a false sense of accomplishment in the act of applauding these talented comedians as some kind of real productive influence on Washington. When its mostly here to give the choir a laugh or two.
Grammy23
(5,810 posts)But it is a fact that we need some comic relief. This has been so stressful for so long....months and months of uncertainty. Just when we thought it was going to be over, the rug was pulled out from under us. So some levity and satire from time to time at least breaks the tension and helps us laugh...even if briefly! The seriousness comes rushing back all too quickly.
DK504
(3,847 posts)Mid-West so they can understand what they have done, to themselves ('cause that all they really care about), to the country and the world.
SNL started the bitch slapping Shitter-lini, they helped every one else let loose on these traitors. Thank you SNL!
Locrian
(4,522 posts)IMHO - (not popular) - they're part of the problem.
It's a distraction from the real issues - and it normalizes them.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)I think its a bit of both when I think about it. It does get information out there. Like Jon Stewart's old show, some people never even hear about the issues Trump is affecting if they didn't hear a sketch satirizing it on a comedy show. I think it also shows them that there is an alternative position held by a lot of people. I think some living in the 'heart of America' only get RW hate radio and Fox News to tell them what is going on.
But the flip side is that it creates caricatures, light funny versions, of very real dangerous, powerful individuals. Sure it ridicules them, but mostly their personal mannerisms, any funny way they look or hold their face or speak. The SNL actors become entertaining versions of the real thing and to some extent overshadow and hide the real version. And this caricature version is a stripped down simplistic version that hardly skims the surface of what is beneath. The caricature humanizes and defines the real persons in ways to get a laugh only. Make no mistake, SNL is going for laughs first, messaging later.
Alex Baldwin makes Trump into an idiot. Much like they did with Bush Jr. He's even somewhat sympathetic in a way in that he is portrayed as a bumbling fool who just can't help it. Continuing in the traditional comedic vein of the big goofy white male like Homer Simpson etc. And we don't hate Homer at all. We wouldn't want to be his neighbor, like Flanders, or his co-worker, but he becomes a safe character to laugh at from a distance as a harmless fool.
Locrian
(4,522 posts)Spot on, especially re the whole Homer Simpson etc.
Yes - it can be "fun" but it's not particularly illuminating. It's not humor meant to speak truth to power - just get laughs.
And everybody loves Alec Baldwin - there's some sort of transference with that with caricature where you end up less focused on the deeds and more on the laughs.
Javaman
(62,521 posts)El Mimbreno
(777 posts)demmiblue
(36,841 posts)bettyellen
(47,209 posts)TNLib
(1,819 posts)iluvtennis
(19,851 posts)Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Nitram
(22,791 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,877 posts)flamingdem
(39,313 posts)He has said that he's done playing Trump, but nooooooo, he's just brilliant
2naSalit
(86,565 posts)niyad
(113,274 posts)question everything
(47,470 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)👍🏾