Parody and Satire – Faith Mitchell

I was unable to find a work closely related to my cultural artifact that makes fun of it, so I opted to find a video that makes fun of something else instead. The video I found is an SNL skit about the song “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo (which I have linked/attached above). I think the humor in it functions as a satire because although the skit is about Rodrigo’s song, it isn’t really making fun of the song or Rodrigo, rather it is using the two to comment on something else: the idea of masculinity. The skit is about a group of men who are playing pool and acting all “manly” when one of the men puts on a song he likes, which just so happens to be “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo. This song is about a teen who is trying to get over a boy she likes who’s now with someone else; it’s clearly aimed at a younger audience, likely teenage girls. So, the other men in the room seem confused at first as to why he put this song on and act like they’ve never heard it before. As the skit goes on, the men reveal that they actually have heard the song before: they sing the lyrics by heart and are quite invested in both the song and the drama behind it. They say that they relate to the song and it makes them feel something. So, this satire uses conventions of the original to make fun of the idea that men can’t be feminine and can’t have emotion, in that the men play almost the entirety of “drivers license” and talk about the context behind the song. The men in this skit also become vulnerable, like Rodrigo is in her song lyrics. One of the men talks about a previous relationship he had with a woman named Gina, and another talks about writing in his diary, which he corrects to a leather notebook, then says he can’t read or write at all. The men try to maintain their “masculinity,” but in the end they cry and wrap their arms around each other as they belt the song together. Therefore, I think this satire is successful at commenting on the original concept/thing because it is centered around Rodrigo’s original song but then flips the script by showing that men, as well as teenage girls, can relate to this popular song and have feelings.