TOW #15- Beard Hunk (SNL)

Saturday Night Live is well-known – and, in fact, only known – for its live, humorous skits. The writers often write satirical pieces to mock real-world events. For example, at the beginning of each show, there is a political skit (and over the last few months, they have all been about Trump). Last Saturday, SNL put on a skit that was clearly an attempted parody of The Bachelor. In the skit, the writers use repetition and parody to poke fun at ABC’s The Bachelor.

            Repetition is used to highlight the uniformity of the female contestants on the show. During each conversation that the “beard hunk” is having, a new girl interrupts and asks, “Can I steal him for a sec?” The girls proceed to sit down, turn to the beard hunk, and announce, “I like this.” Then, they go into their scripts. Through every girl saying the same thing, SNL claims that all the girls on The Bachelor are the same. They all have the same voices, make the same motions, and say the same things. In the skit, there are so many girls over just a few minutes who say the same thing, and by doing this, the writers get the idea of similarity stuck into the audience’s head.

            Mocking parody is used to mock the portrayed terrible lives of the contestants. On reality shows like The Bachelor and America’s Got Talent, the characters always make sure to very descriptively describe their life’s history. It seems that they always have had something horrible happen to them – a loved one has passed away, they recently lost a job – something along these lines. One of the contestants on SNL’s skit claimed, “I’m so lucky to be here – in fact, I’m lucky to be here at all. I was born eight months early. I was in an incubator for five years. The doctors spent millions of dollars to keep me alive and I survived.” This is obviously a preposterous scenario that I don’t think anyone has ever come close to. By making such a ridiculous claim to parody the contestants from The Bachelor, SNL calls out the characters from the real show, and reality TV in general.

            The writers are successful in making their argument: the contestants on The Bachelor always seem to be the same. Repetition of the girls’ opening lines introduces the idea of uniformity to the audience, while their absurd claims throughout the rest of the skit mock the general character of the real-life contestants.