For this week’s blog, I’ve chosen to highlight a particular
sketch from the hit TV show Saturday Night live. The sketch shows comedian,
Kate McKinnon performing her own representation of Mrs. Hillary Clinton.
In a previous blog post, I described Clinton as a glass ceiling cracker because she is trying to break the confines that oppress powerful women in our country. She is viewed as powerful and the word powerful is synonymous with men in our culture. The SNL skit was spot on when depicting a pretend email sent from Hillary to her husband, Bill. In the email, Hillary addresses her husband by saying, “Dear Sir or Madam…” This gives viewers the idea that because Hillary is so successful, her husband doesn’t wear the “pants” in the relationship. Saturday Night Live is sustaining the stereotype that men can’t be married to a powerful woman without being considered less of a man than most.
The image that Hillary wants to portray is a woman who put her family
and work ahead of all other things. Why is it that because of her success and
her accomplishments that the media decides to shows her as a woman who puts
work above all else? It creates an image that women who want to make it to the
top, only care about making it to the top. When men are successful, they aren’t
painted as work-a-holics; they are just shown as men. Maybe it’s because people
just expect for men to have success and a family, while women are only supposed
to care about the family part. Unfortunately, Hillary will always be painted as
a selfish person who is willing to cut off vacation time and family time to
rise to the top.
The video did, however, show Hillary's determination. This could have been shown in a more positive view, but that's what comedy is for! While Hillary is known worldwide as ambitious and driven, there is still a long way to go as far as how we depict powerful women in the media. Women can still be powerful and maintain a family life.
Do you personally believe that the SNL hurt Hilary or help her? Yes, the can be seen as negative but at the same time, a person doesn't get to that status of being made fun of on SNL by not doing anything.
ReplyDeleteI think that the skit can help and harm her! While making fun of these stereotypes is supposed to be seen as funny and lighthearted, these jokes still perpetuate stereotypes that generalize powerful women.
DeleteLove the media and pictures you used! Since Hillary has announced her presidential competition do you think these former negative representations of her will end up harming her in the long run?
ReplyDeleteThank you! & yes, I do believe these negative representations will hurt Clinton in the end and will further perpetuate stereotypes against strong women.
DeleteHow do you think these representations will impact Hillary's campaign? What do you think Hillary's opinion of these representations of her is?
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed your post. I agree with your statement that women are often portrayed as only caring about making it to the top when they pursue their careers instead of family life. Do you think Hillary is changing this stigma? And what else do you think she could do to change it?
ReplyDeleteSNL is a popular show and caters to a certain youth oriented audience. Do you think that because SNL does so many Hillary sketches that more youth pay attention to her rather than another candidate?
ReplyDelete