Abstract

Humor has been a way for people to approach tough topics for many years in American media. One show well known for it is Saturday Night Live. This study approaches analyzing episodes of Saturday Night Live with Butler and Goffman's theories of performance with a focus on how gender is presented and performed. Gender has been presented differently over the years on the long-lasting program. Stereotypes about women and men are present in each episode. This study also looks at how actors perform the characters and how that is a performance of their characters performing in the social interactions of each sketch. Each character does everything they do to create a view of themselves they wish others to see. Gender is a pert of this performance, but gender is also performative and something that is constantly happening because of how we were raised.

Advisor

Kardulias, P. Nicholas

Department

Sociology and Anthropology

Disciplines

Gender and Sexuality

Keywords

gender, Saturday Night Live, humor, social interaction, performance, gender performativity

Publication Date

2014

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2014 Jordan C. Turner