Cultural Text: SNL

When I think about culture, I think about the things that interest us, make us cry, make us happy and make us laugh.  I find it fascinating that we all different from each other, but that we can have so many things in common.  We look at our society today and we all have similar problems, worries, goals and interests.  I think about television and how through satire, it seems that we can all relate in one way or another.

Saturday Night Live is THE BEST example.  I am not a devout watcher, but when I do watch it, I cannot help but laugh, poke fun at myself and just say "I so know what they mean!"  I feel like we can all relate to what they are laughing at or joking about.  It blows my mind that at the end of busy week at work or school, we as a nation can get together and tune into a single show that will make us laugh at what happened during the week.

Saturday Night Live consists of sketch comedy and satire.  They take any issue or current pop culture and poke fun at it.  The show consists of many comedians and American Stars.  When it came out in the 70s, when this show first aired, there were so many things going on.  The country was changing, revolting and warring.  People were going against each other and the government and it seemed like there just needed to be an outlet.  I feel that Saturday Night Live enabled people to stop what they were doing for a moment and just laugh!

This show IS culture.  It takes everything that we as a nation calls our culture and makes fun of it.  It takes what is currently popular and makes us wonder, "why the hell we enjoy that so much?!"  It can also take things that we were so worried about during that week and make us feel a little more at ease.
We go to watch this show to wind down, take a breath and laugh.  Almost anyone who watches can relate and understand that sometimes, you just need to take a step back and laugh at your own culture and way of life.