Abstract
This pilot work aims to analyse the visual discourses, their underlying meanings and their relation to the wider society, of the award-winning actress and comedienne, Kate McKinnon’s performance/ impression of the democratic presidential nominee, former Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, and Alec Baldwin’s Emmy winning impersonation of President Trump on several sketches on Saturday Night Live (SNL) through the course of the Presidential Election 2016. Through a semiotic visual analysis of a comedy sketch (found on YouTube) from the season that aired through the election, this paper will look at the portrayals during the Cold Open debate sketches aired and how certain mannerisms were depicted on the show, as part of pilot for a larger study. This paper will also look at how this depiction conveys the societal and political environment of the time, as well as how SNL utilise the discourses present in the media at the time. This paper found that, while the semiotic approach to visual analysis was suited to the research aims of this study, the limitations of the method would potentially have to be countered with another research method that can look at the variables, such as a frame analysis, which the scope of this pilot research did not really allow due to the constraints.
Background
This research project is relevant as, even though the Presidential election is over and Donald Trump won, Alec Baldwin’s character is almost a regular on the show every Saturday during the filming season, highlight yet another thing the President has done during the course of the week. It is also relevant as the influence and position Saturday Night Live holds in American popular culture is very important and influential, making it very important to analyse, especially considering the rise of political satire in late night television shows in the United States of America.
Saturday Night Live has a long history of political satirical influences in their predominantly entertainment, which has become much more frequent since the 2008 Election. Therefore, SNL as a platform has the ability to influence their viewer’s beliefs, as well as the media’s coverage of a politician, given that most of their political programming is generally a commentary of the events of the time (Abel & Barthel, 2013; See also Leano, 2013; Peifer, 2013; Hakola, 2017). This pilot, and consequently the larger study it represents, aims to look at the representation of the democratic presidential nominee Secretary Hillary Clinton, played by the award-winning actress, and SNL series cast member Kate McKinnon and President Trump who was played by recurring guest star, Alec Baldwin, through the course of the 2016 Presidential Election, that ended on the 9th of November, 2016 with the Secretary conceding to the Republican and current President, Donald Trump.
This study has been modelled after studies conducted during the 2008 Presidential Election, with another regular cast member Tina Fey Impersonating Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin (See Leano, 2013; Peifer, 2013; Flowers & Young, 2010; Abel & Barthel, 2013; Day & Thompson, 2012). Loosely following the analysis conducted by Flowers and Young in 2010, which used a semiotic approach of visual discourse analysis. Much like this analysis, Flowers and Young looked at the various “visual and verbal dimensions of a series of political parodies that aired on Saturday Night Live in fall 2008, their impact on the governor’s image, and the soaring viewership on online video outlets [and] argue that in order to be literate of these parodies, viewers must understand the confluence of verbal, visual, and contextual elements” (Flowers & Young, 2010, p. 47). This study is particularly relevant here, as it considers body language, gestures as well as lines from the various campaign speeches and interviews that were given at rallies, national conventions and press conferences and analyses how they were converted into a particular image and frame in the impersonations (Hariman, 2008 in Flowers & Young, 2010, p.51). While, Tina Fey’s impression of the ex-governor Sarah Palin “resonated with audiences… while the show’s election-focused skits moved to the forefront of popular cultural attention”, Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin’s impressions have reached new levels of popularity (both have won Primetime Emmy awards for said impressions in 2017)- Secretary Clinton herself appeared on the show in 2015, while President Trump has expressed his dislike for Baldwin’s impressions many times on his favourite social media site, Twitter (Day & Thompson, 2012, p.178; Itzkoff, 2018).
Research Question
How does Saturday Night Live’s depiction of the nominees in the sample sketches of political satire and entertainment use the existing discourses/representations of the candidates that were present in the media through the course of the Presidential Election held in November 2016?
Rationale behind the methodology
This research revolves around visual analysis methods such as Visual Discourse Analysis, Frame Analysis, Visual Content Analysis, Semiotic Analysis, etc. A visual, which is “based on association… that of a mental image that involves a certain impression of the character or person”, has many deep polysemic meanings that depend on the site of meaning inference and ‘modality’ (technological, compositional and social) of said visual (Müller, 2007, pp. 12-13; Flowers & Young, 2010, p. 51; Gillian, 2012). According to Rose Gillian, Visual Discourse Analysis methods attempt to breakdown and simplify these sites where meaning is made- the site of production, the image/images itself and the audiences it reaches. As a method, visual discourse analysis aims to critically evaluate the context (especially the socio-political context and significance), historical significance, various connotations and the cultural role of texts being analysed in relation to the society and societal norms within which it operates.
A semiotic analysis aims to look at the various denoted and connoted meanings of texts and language, since this method believes that “the meaning of a word exists only within a language system, only in differentiated relations to other words in that system” (Deacon, et. al, 2010, p. 141; See also Hansen & Machin 2013, p. 174-203; Leeuwen & Jewitt, 2001, p. 93-118). However, for this analysis, these denoted (or more obvious, representational meanings) and the connoted (the broader, symbolic, more established and superimposed meanings created through cultural and societal associations), aim to analyse the first and second layer meanings of the objects, colours, positions, clothing and image shown in a visual text (Leeuwen & Jewitt, 2001, p. 97). However, this method of semiotic analysis, which has been propagated by social thinker Roland Barthes, rarely takes intertextuality (the process of combining ideas and texts in order to create a new meaning, which emphasised the intended meaning of texts) into consideration (see van Leeuwen, 2001, p. 117, for a more comprehensive analysis; Chandler, 2017). Multimodal Analysis another, albeit more modern method of semiotic visual analysis fills this gap as it takes the polysemic nature of visual texts into account. This method, which was suggested by Kress and van Leeuwan in 1996, takes a subject’s positioning gaze, classification, representation of action as well as the image’s relation to reality into consideration (See Hansen & Machin, 2013 for more). A method that would be appropriate for this study would be the strategy employed by Flowers and Young, were Semiotic Analysis and Iconography were combined to create the ideal method of analysis for the research (See, Flowers & Young, 2010, p.51).
Methodology
After the research question was created and finalised (as mentioned in the section entitled ‘Research Question’, this researcher went on the YouTube Channel of Saturday Night Live and went through the videos with the phrase ‘Cold Open’ in the title, or the descriptor. This phrase was used as the managers of the channel, as well as the creators and writers of SNL their political sketches about the election, and then the presidency under ‘Cold Open’ label. After this, since this paper relates to the representation of both the candidates in the election, this researcher narrowed the sample size by looking at the videos which included Alec Baldwin (as Trump) as well as Kate McKinnon (as Clinton)- restricting the sample size to the sketches about the Presidential debates held. This will be advantageous to the study, as there will be reports as well as the footage from the actual debates held that can be used as a reference for the discourses surrounding the candidates at the time; this has been taken into consideration with this pilot research.
The next step after this was finding the appropriate research method for this analysis. Given the nature of the text being analysed, this research was limited with the following options- Critical Discourse Analysis or an Audio-Visual Analysis. However, given that the text being analysed was in video form, this researcher settled on using audio-visual analysis to answer this research question, and provide an appropriate response for the study. Once the method of analysis was decided, this researcher then looked through the Research and Ethics Review form given by the institution, however, this paper does not require one because it does not involve the use any sensitive material and aims to analyse publically available data on the Internet.
For this pilot, the researcher has chosen to analyse a Saturday Night Live sketch entitled ‘Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton Third Debate Cold Open’ with Kate McKinnon as Secretary Clinton, Alec Baldwin as Donald J. Trump, and Tom Hanks as the debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News. The skit, which is 9 minutes and 49 seconds long, aired on the 22nd of October, 2016- only two days after the actual debate aired on NBC News (19th of October, 2016), and the skit received almost 22 Million views on YouTube (SNL, 2016). This particular clip has been chosen for the pilot because, according to this researcher, it includes many of the tropes, variables and factors that should be analysed with this larger research work. This skit was also chosen as it was the last debate held before the election on November 8th 2016, and therefore it provided the most recent, and hence, the most relevant example for this pilot. Keeping with the point made above, this pilot will refer to footage and news articles written about the events during the third and final Presidential Debate broadcast on NBC News.
While analysing the third presidential debate ‘Cold Open’ sketch on Saturday Night Live, this researcher watched the sketch a couple times, before watching the actual presidential debate that was broadcast on NBC News (available online on YouTube) as well as reading several articles written about the debate and the sketch two days later, on the websites of reputed publications such as Time, The New York Times, The Guardian, amongst others. This was done in order to create a context of comparison between the actual debate and the sketch- for instance, what certain character tics were used and exaggerated in the SNL sketch. This was also done as a method of creating an overall discourse outline for both the candidates in the wider context of the time. This would be the Email Controversy Secretary Clinton was dealing with, as well as the numerous accounts of sexual assault that were levied on Mr. Trump during the duration of the campaign. This was done because the researcher, while familiar with the events that took place during the election, preferred to have a framework to use in order to adequately analyse the data and produce a well-informed pilot and subsequently, research analysis.
However, given the limited length of this pilot research essay (approximately 3000 words), this researcher will attempt to analyse most of the 9 minutes and 49 second video, but there have been parts that were eliminated due to the limited size. This is because the intention of this pilot research is to measure the effectiveness of this method, and how it can be improved for the bigger formal analysis of the subject. For this pilot research, this researcher limited the methods of analysis to However, the larger study will include a more holistic and comprehensive analysis of the texts.
Design for a larger study
This pilot has been created and designed as a method of testing the effectiveness and relativity of the research method chosen to the research topic- specifically, if this chosen research method is appropriate for the research question and if it is the best one to analyse all the parameters stated in the research question. For the larger, more comprehensive study, this researcher will analyse four to six more sketches under the ‘Cold Open’ label- most of them including both President Trump and Secretary Clinton. This researcher will especially include the skit performed after the election (12th of November, 2016)- which addressed Clinton’s loss to Trump, the death of foremost musician Leonard Cohen (his song Hallelujah was performed by McKinnon and the rest of the cast), all while addressing the absurdity of the past Presidential Election, and addressing the times that will follow. This researcher will further consider including a couple stand-alone sketches featuring Baldwin’s Trump as the President, and McKinnon’s Clinton, during and after the election (especially the sketch that aired on the 3rd of October, 2015, with McKinnon and Secretary Clinton herself, playing a bartender named ‘Val’).
For the larger study, since, this research question takes the discourses surrounding Clinton and Trump that were prevalent during the time, this researcher believed a Visual analysis using the Semiotic Analysis method would be best suited for this analysis since the sketch will contain several symbols that reference certain unapparent tics, mannerisms, and/or idiosyncrasies of the candidates- which SNL aims to highlight, thus sparking a conversation about said tics in real life.
Analysis and Results
The pilot sample video comedy sketch has been analysed using the relevant academic theory of methods of research as well as the previous academic writings on related topics. In relation to the research question of this study, this pilot found that there were several markers in the sketch that indicated that the pre-existing discourses surrounding the two candidates were very much present in the clip analysed. However, given the small, somewhat representative sample used for this pilot study, this researcher cannot provide a definitive answer for this research question.
Looking closely at the Saturday Night Live Cold Open sketch, the first noticeable factor are the clothes Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon are wearing as well as the set-up of the set for the debate- both of which are identical to the Third Presidential Debate that was broadcast on NBC News. When Figure 1A and Figure 2A (which show stills from the SNL sketch) and Figure 1B and 2B (from the NBC News event), the similarities in the wardrobe (it is pretty much the same dress), including the moderators, Tom Hanks and the real; Chris Wallace, are dressed very similarly. This shows the attention to detail that SNL pays to the little details. As the earlier sections of this pilot have mentioned, this researcher very simply compared the SNL sketch to the actual debate that was held a few days before this sketch was broadcast, in order to provide a context to the following part of this analysis. Through the 9-minute, 49 second sketch, there were references (obvious and the less obvious) references made to the controversies and rhetoric present during the election- such as the many golden eggs dropped by Trump like “bad hombres”, the many allegations against Trump that came out during the election, and his outrageous views on Abortion, and Clinton’s unwillingness to answer a question about the WikiLeaks revelations about her during the campaign. Throughout the sketch however, the main rhetoric was that Trump was unfit for the job, and Hillary, while obviously the better candidate, was portrayed as being too opportunistic, elitist and very political- almost republican even.
Discussion
For the course of this pilot research, this paper has attempted to focus on the social and socio-political modalities in the sites of production in order to adequately investigate the research question. Since this paper aims to look at the socio-political discourses and symbols present in the texts being analysed (as discussed in the Methodology section), as well as its connotations, this paper added a semiotic analysis to the visual discourse analysis in order to create a balanced research. However, after conducting the analysis, this researcher found that Semiotic analysis often “shows a tendency to downplay the affective domain” regardless of the fact that “the study of connotations [should] include the sensitive exploration of highly variable and subjective emotional nuances” (Chandler, 2017). This, in relation to this pilot, means that semiotic analysis as a research method does not take the nuanced feelings and expressions of the characters and the emotions meant to come out during the sketch. semiotic analysis is not equipped to analyse the context behind some of the symbols used. For instance, this can be seen in Figure 3 where Kate McKinnon is holding up a Bingo Score card with all the more controversial things that Mr. Trump has publically said during run up to the election like “If she wasn’t my daughter” or “bad hombres” (as Trump said in the third presidential debate) (Blake, 2016). However, the scorecard itself could be taken a connotation of the fact that most people at the time, including the writers at SNL assumed that Trump would not win, and hence took the election as a game which would end in Clinton’s certain victory.
However, this researcher believes that, for the main larger analysis should include a visual discourse analysis as well, in order to include the socio-political and cultural contexts during the election- namely the WikiLeaks release of Clinton’s emails, or the more serious, allegations of sexual harassment against Trump, during the election, as well as the swarm of fake news that surrounding the campaigning. In conclusion, this researcher believes that this combination would work as between the visual analysis of the symbolism- such as the exaggerated fake tan on Baldwin, or the ‘entire planet’ laughing at Baldwin’s claim that he (as trump) believes that “no one has more respect for women than [he does]”, and even the fact that they represent two separate factions of the American political system (Republicans and Democrats) respectively which would add to the analysis.