Well, many of snl’s political skits do fall under the frame mooop was explaining. Some of them I still find funny, but often times you have to start with the premise that the person Alec Baldwin spoofs is a braindead buffoon before you’d find those skits humorous. Now, for supposedly over half the US population, that’s true, but for the other half, it may not be, so it may not seem as funny to them.
And the tweet was just horrible. No matter how you look at it. Rail against his father for his policies if you want, he signed up for public ridicule, but bringing his young son into it is just nasty and unacceptable.
I find SNL hilarious, particularly the political skits. Sometimes they really nail it, particularly when they were doing the debate ones. I wish Alec Baldwin would figure out how to not stick his lip out so much, it’s much funnier when it’s more accurately portrayed. Every now and then they have a skit that isn’t funny, but just plain weird, and we fast forward through those ones. Saw Samantha Bee for the first time, found her hilariously witty, but it’s kind of one of those, “If we aren’t laughing, we’d be crying” shows, so I could only laugh so long.
This is exactly what I’m talking about that bothers me so much on my facebook feed.
Why keep bringing this up? You can’t do anything about it-you can’t get her fired, and you can’t make the kid feel better. All you can do is put it on your feed and keep getting outraged and mentally masticating on it over and over again.
Just stop it.
Please. *
Focus on things that you CAN fix and can make better.
Like my facebook feed this morning had a plea for diapers and bottled water for the victims of a tornado in south georgia over the weekend. One of my neighbors is gathering donations to bring down there this weekend. I was so happy to see that on my feed, and so happy to be able to help and do good.
This reminds me that I have to login to FB. Posts in FB don’t bother me much. I hide posts or unfollow frequent offenders. That take less energy on my part than getting indignant with objectionable posts.
“I used to watch the show but not anymore. I read somewhere that the ratings are actually falling down.”
^ That would be an alternative fact. In other words, not true.
"Fueled at least in part by the election, “Saturday Night Live” has enjoyed improved ratings in 2016-17 vs. last season. The show’s 18-49 rating through 11 episodes is up 10 percent vs. the same time last season (2.2 vs. 2.0), and viewership is up 14 percent (7.4 million vs. 6.47 million).
Add in a week of DVR and on demand viewing and the ratings bump vs. 2015-16 increases to 28 percent (2.8 to 3.6) in the 18-49 demographic and 27 percent (8.49 million to 10.81 million) in viewers."
I share your desire to have some activities in my life that are untouched by politics or bickering. I have two types of uncontroversial pastimes: working with a group that helps kids with special needs and tough exercise classes. The former often involves working one on one with special needs kids and their families. The latter I am breathing so hard I can hardly talk, nor can the people with me.
The people I am with are often people I would not agree with politically, but we manage to get along during these common efforts.
What has helped me is working out. Since mid December, I’ve lost 15 lbs and I feel better. I have also been spending time in the evenings reading and I’ve created a to do list of things I need to get accomplished so I am crossing off things one by one. I also try to stick to a schedule or routine and wake up in the morning with the intention of having a productive day. That keeps me mentally focused and moving forward. As we move towards spring I hope to feel more fit and energetic so I can enjoy the warmer days.
What is funny is people saying “what is being presented about Trump isn’t true” (or like this past weekend, that I thought was funny, Putin reassuring the American people that since Russia is the most expensive purchase they have ever made, they will take good care of us), is that SNL its whole entire time has been about satire. Chevy Chase doing his Gerald Ford fumbling down the steps or portraying him as a clueless dolt were satire, pure and simple (I admire Gerald Ford that unlike some people, he could laugh at himself, I believe he was in an episode, his press secretary was on and did a skit with Chase, and I seem to recall they had Ford recorded saying “Your fired, Ron” (and later on Ford made several appearences after he was out of office with Chase, and roared when Chase did his thing), and Ford was not a dumb person. Nixon was a big topic for satirists, so was Reagan, and anyone remember what the Jimmy Carter years were like on SNL, like parodying one of Carter’s “energy” speeches, with him and members of his family powering it on an exercise bike, including Ms. Lillian? Or Dana Carver doing Bush Senior, “wouldn’t be prudent”? That is the point about satire, drunk Mormons works as a satire because Mormon belief forbids alcohol, so it is ludicrous, whereas given the stereotypes about the Scotts and Irish or Welsh with drinking, it wouldn 't be funny. To be honest, given how politicians of all bents are satirized (SNL didn’t exactly portray Hillary all that well, they lampooned her quite a bit, not to mention what they did with Bill Clinton and his peccadillos).
It is both funny and sad hearing those saying “SNL was funny back in the day” when they were doing exactly what they were doing back then, I think this represents something that is indicative of the entire country, people have become so divided and so antagonistic in their beliefs they cannot laugh any more at something that is opera buffe, I think people seeing a political candidate skewered, instead of seeing the satire in it, see it as a reflection on themselves and who they support rather than making fun of the very human behavior all people have that can be parodied. I voted for Bill Clinton but I laughed at when SNL made fun of him, I laughed when SNL had satire of Obama, the same way I laughed at Dana Carvey doing George Bush senior or Reagan, for what it was, satire and silliness.
The problem I have with SNL is that a lot of the jokes seem too manufactured and rehearsed. It’s engineered comedy, and that works fine for some people. I just don’t find people making strange faces/dressing up/talking goofy to be all that funny… it comes across like they are ‘trying’ to be funny, and that’s not really funny IMO.
Back to the OP – I have found social media very helpful both in feeling less isolated in my reaction to our current President’s behavior, and in understanding people who are pleased by it. Without those interactions, I will have a much harder time figuring this all out.
But good news stories? Union plumbers descended on Flint to install water filters in subsidized housing. One of my son’s friends succumbed to brain cancer but did it on her terms, wih all her family collected against obstacles big and small that should have kept them apart. I picked up the tab for groceries for the college students in line behind me who were counting change …
Nobody is framing the Barron remark as from an actual SNL show. But it shares the propaganda-not-satire feature of many of the show’s skits.
Satire has to be an exaggeration of something, not the manufacturer of something. A Mormon at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting isn’t funny because they don’t (as far as the general public is concerned) have an alcohol problem. What would be funny in that vein would be the waiting room at a Mormon substance abuse clinic. Two guys sit there, strung out and ragged. “What’s with you?” “Folgers. How 'bout you?” “Coke…Diet Coke.” That’s funny cuz it exaggerates their ACTUAL caffeine prohibition that is more or less unique to them.
Chevy Chase played Ford as a clumsy accident-prone guy, much more than a clueless idiot, which had an element of truth, cuz it seemed like he was always falling down, hitting someone with an errant golf shot, etc., but he wasn’t stupid. Baldwin’s impersonation rings false because he plays him as a clueless idiot, which he isn’t. Egomaniacal, immature, power-hungry, greedy, ostentatious, lecherous…there is no shortage of traits he could exaggerate, so playing him as stupid comes off as calculated propaganda instead of comedic satire.
I agree, must depend upon the eye of the beholder.
I watched an interview with Chevy Chase once. He was completely against Ford’s politics and playing him to make him look as stupid as possible. I do not think Ford was considered a clumsy person, he apparently was quite an athlete, and they took a couple of situations and made a mountain out of a molehill…to try to make him look bad.
I think Baldwin is playing, “Egomaniacal, immature, power-hungry, greedy, ostentatious, lecherous,” but exaggerating the stupid part is a little much. If they can get as close to reality as possible, it’s funnier. Tina Fey was awesome.
Interesting that a thread that was supposed to be about positive stuff rather than all the negativity worked its way toward one of the sources of all the negativity.
