Last week, this blog talked about the return of "Saturday Night Live" followin a 12-week long writer's strike.
Apparently that show which featured guest host Tina Fey and a surprise cameo from Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has started a bruhaha, which might help the ratings of this week's show with Ellen Page of "Juno."
The controversy stems from the fact that Fred Armisen, a non-African American actor, played Sen. Barack Obama in a skit lampooing Obama's race for the Democratic nomination with Sen. Hillary Clinton.
In a "Washington Post" article about the matter by Paul Farhi, there was a quote from Maureen Ryan of "The Chicago Tribune" (a conservative newspaper no less) about Armisen's depiction of Obama:
"Call me crazy, but shouldn't 'SNL's fictional Obama be played by an African-American? I find 'SNL's choice inexplicable. Obama's candidacy gives us solid proof of the progress that African-Americans have made. I guess 'SNL' has further to go on that front."
Hannah Pool of the English newspaper "The Guardian" went even further, according to Farhi's article, by saying that the skit had minstrel overtones.
But, as Farhi pointed out, some people were not as critical including "TV Guide" which saw Armisen's Obama as a surprisingly subtle mimicry.
I can see both sides of this. For starters, I feel that in comedy unless something is outright offensive (and that varies according to each person) there has to be a degree of platitude. I've noticed that many people on the far right or far left tend not to have a sense of humor, so they don't seem able to make compromising accomodations.
On the other hand, as someone is half-Turkish, I have been taken back by depictions of Turkish characters played by non-Turkish actors which did not seem accurate even if the character was not a stereotype simply because there was an artificial feel to them.
I saw the 'SNL' skit in question, and while it was noticeable that Armisen is not black, his portrayal of Obama did not seem like a particularly funny one, but he does seem to be a figure who is hard to impersonate-which should help him politically, as it seems like politicians such as Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Mitt Romney are easy targets.
The other interesting item for this Leap Day is that (well I saw the headline from the right-leaning "News Max" publication) Rush Limbaugh-of all people- is 'endorsing' Hillary in the Ohio Democratic Primary. Hmmmmmmm...............
Useful Links:
Posts
1 comment:
The fairy tale is over.
Obama's pixie dust is wearing off.
A few in the corporate media are finally starting to reveal some details about this man's judgment.
I speak of Obama's long association with his spiritual advisor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Obama says he didn't know Wright was far, far left. While that is hard to believe, it says that Obama is not a very discerning judge of character. And it shows poor judgment for a presidential candidate to allow such an extremist to serve on his campaign.
Rev. Wright says AIDS was created by the US government to kill black people.
Come on!
"I didn't know about that man, Rev. Wright." Is that what Obama is telling us?
But there is more to come.
Obama's friend, William Ayers, is an unrepentent terrorist.
An Obama fund raiser, Rashid Khalidi, supports terrorists.
Wait till these tidbits come out. Maybe they won't release them till after Obama wins the nomination.
These associations with radicals show that Obama does not yet have the judgment nor the experience to be at the top of the ticket.
Post a Comment