Satirical Night Live - "A Sketch for the Women"

 Satirical Night Live 

1. 1. From popular magazines and newspapers, collect ads that reflect stereotypes about the roles of men and women ... write a report that discusses what the ads show about American values, beliefs, and attitudes toward gender roles.  

https://youtu.be/42_fVUFsN8M?si=D0snecg45KkxmA5a 

           Inspired by the Totino’s SNL skit we watched in class, I was curious to see if there had been other skits made about gender roles. There were many, and I picked this one titled “A Sketch for the Women” which features Scarlett Johansson and Aidy Bryant with a script written by Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney. Johansson introduces the skit by saying, “Now we haven’t read it yet, but they told us it features the entire female cast, and it includes important conversations about women’s issues.” You’ll soon understand why this opening statement was highly ironic.  

Mooney, “Ace”, talks about seeing a woman being harassed on the way here. He continues, saying “It just made me realize how hard it must be to be a woman.” Bennett and Mooney go back and forth, discussing how women are harassed online, paid less than men, and portrayed in the media, and repeating "It really just makes me [Mooney] so upset to think about!”.  

The irony here is that they’re claiming to be so concerned for women’s welfare, but they’re having this entire conversation without asking for input of the two women sitting right at their table. Throughout the skit, Johansson and Bryant repeatedly chime in in unison, “Thank you for saying that.”. The men then casually sit back and throw out a flippant, “You’re welcome.”.

      The use of humor and wit in this is to expose how artificial the men were. Yes, they pointed out society’s gender role flaws, but did they ever mention trying to do anything about it? No, they were content and satisfied after receiving recognition for their imitation of “concern”. 

The use of satire doesn’t stop there. At one point, Ace mansplains microaggressions: “There’s also so many small things that women have to put up with everyday that we don’t even realize. They’re called microaggressions. "He immediately follows this up by, “I mean look at this table. Probably every single one of these girls has a story [about microaggressions] to tell”. While humorous in this skit, the truth of how women are often dismissed by being referred to as “girls” in professional settings cuts through.  

“A Sketch for the Women” turned out to be not for the women at all – instead it served to show how inconsiderate men dominate and to expose “faux-feminism” in society. 

 

(They ended this skit by inviting Lorde on stage, only to butt in, cover her up, and begin singing before she could get a single lyric in).