Saturday Night and the Challenge of Conversations About Identity

The famous comedy show Saturday Night Live Celebrates its fiftieth anniversary^y Season but movie Saturday night The production is depicted as barely making it to the air. The film follows creator Lorne Michaels, depicting the chaotic final hours leading up to the events of the film SNLFor the first time. And entertaining like Saturday night Perhaps its deeper message of getting identity right is powerful.

Great expectations

At first it bothered me that the title of the movie was Saturday night. This is bad marketing! I believed. Fans won’t recognize him by his title. Even when I learned that the show was originally called Saturday night I wasn’t convinced. But once I saw the movie, I understood. The “streaming” take there is certainly much better, and the film parodies the original title several times, but using the original title provides an advanced set of expectations for the audience.

No, you’re not seeing a series of classic sketches (Peacock’s first season or you can Buy it here). No, you don’t see what led to the decision to add”He livesOr any other superficial explanation SNL. You’re watching a complex docudrama that revolves around the ninety minutes before the first episode airs. You may not know all the cast names, or all the sketches or Easter eggs, and that’s okay — maybe even fun — because you’re there to see how a revolutionary, now-iconic show barely aired.

Formatting versus summarizing

Both the movie and the show break conventions. Since Lorne Michaels (played by Gabriel LaBelle) is the producer and creator, he is constantly bombarded with questions throughout the film. Michael’s network counterpart, Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), is a company man who constantly asks Michaels what the show is about. For the majority of the story, Michaels can’t put the premise into words. But the movie knows exactly What it’s about, the filmmakers have a unique way of telling their sure story.

Director and writer Jason Reitman and co-screenwriter Gil Keenan introduce us to the important characters front and center, And even in the end. These anti-cookie-cutter introductions are among many devices that immerse the audience in tension, comedy, and panic.

Other techniques for generating tension include the use of still cameras to race after the characters and as a film critic Christy Lemire notes“A huge set and a lot of overlapping dialogue, it’s a lot of walking and talking in the corridors and there’s a wonderfully propulsive kind of chaotic energy that’s very exciting.” Likewise, the plot drives comedic pressure to the show’s little-known premise.

No one is settled on a set list or script, the crew quits or is hired minutes before broadcast, and contracts remain unsigned. And it gets crazier: the lights are on, the drugs are flowing freely, and someone is laying bricks on the stage minutes before the live broadcast begins. But amid all this anxiety, there is a basic question: What is the show about?

Identity question

During the film’s third act, co-producer Dick Ebersol catches up with Michaels in a stairwell, and as with the majority of the film’s conversations, it’s incredibly tense. But I would argue that it is among the most important scenes in the film. Sitting in the theater, I knew I had to write this article, and I knew exactly what it was going to be about.

Ebersol again presses Michaels to explain who the show is, but very quickly we find Ebersol explaining his identity. Without giving too much away, it’s a tangible moment where Michaels realizes that the network wants them to fail. Michaels has to make some tough decisions — which sketches to air, who should host Weekend Update — and most importantly, How to subvert the system while being part of it.

But if you don’t know who you are, how do you know what you’re fighting for?

It seems that Western Christendom has begun to wake up to the concept of “identity” in recent years. Certainly the Bible has been informative for a much longer time (Genesis 1:27; Romans 8:15, 12:2; Galatians 3:26), but in the wake of identity politics, Christians are responding. Unfortunately, as Ben Zhang explains Christ and the culture warsChristians have responded poorly in three ways: emulation, argumentation, and/or ignoring. But as I mentioned in my words 1983 vs 2023 articleChristians, already desiring a positive response to their evangelism, began to use identity politics buzzwords (through the lens of Scripture) to effectively express the gospel.

Communication is difficult, especially when the content is important. As the Irish proverb goes: “Say less and say it well.” When asked what SNL Going around, Michaels keeps shaking his head and repeating, “Wait until 11:30.”

Controversial content

He wanted Michaels Saturday night To be a revolution in what comedy, social commentary, and what television allowed. Michaels has spent years assembling his team of extremely funny people with keen sensibilities. John Belushi (played by Matt Wood) is always quarreling with the establishment far from exiting the show. Saturday night It was a circus and Michael was a lion tamer. But the metaphor runs deeper than that: Michaels respected the unpredictable brilliance of his talent while delivering a vision of social upheaval.

Earlier this week, I saw a meme that said: “God is not going to rewrite the Bible for your generation. Stop trying to change the Bible when it was written to change you!” It bothered me, not because it wasn’t true or because it condemned me, but because it was short-sighted and self-serving. Self-interest One quick picture sums up years of actual relational work being done for the Kingdom of God.

The meme content may be real and clever, but it alienates the people we were hoping to connect with. Such statements confuse scholars who were not trying to change the Bible, and corner the very small group who admit it. He was Their intention, once again to assure those who have left the church that nothing has changed and that they have made the right choice, frustrates all the work being done by biblical Christians of the “younger” generation. I worry that those who make unnecessary alienating statements don’t really understand the essence of Jesus’ message. It’s one thing not to understand the content you’re communicating, but it’s another thing to understand it but have difficulty conveying it.

It would be a huge mistake to respect Michaels for having achieved success SNL While he does not even understand his own creation. But the Creator an act Know your audience and content; However I struggled to sum it up because it had never been done before.

We Christians are always in danger of failing in evangelism either through misunderstanding or miscommunication (or both). Ten years ago I would have stressed the need to understand the content: It is a serious problem when people call themselves Christians without a consistent or balanced view of the Bible. But if uninformed Christians keep the gospel to themselves, they do not cause widespread social harm. Nowadays, I’m more concerned that we don’t know our audience but we keep talking anyway. like George Bernard Shaw said“The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it is happening.”

Resent the hell out of this conversation

It blew my mind when I realized Saturday night It was communication About communication. The portrayal of the film’s characters is a great example of the messaging technique in film. Christy Lemire again: “Cory Michael Smith is Chevy Chase and… Dylan O’Brien is Dan Aykroyd… he copies these actors that we think we know. And they’re not – I don’t think they’re even trying to be relatable as people, but more importantly, they’re fun to get to know.” Like, ‘Ah!’ That’s who I know!’”

Part of the genius was casting actors that the audience might not recognize (or know well), since a key element of the show is casting a group of unknown actors. So the filmmakers and actors were intent on paying homage to the show while effectively speaking to audiences fifty years later. Each generation must know the past while having the freedom to forge its own path. Most importantly, this applies to Christianity: each generation makes decisions to ignore or acknowledge different parts of its tradition, and decides how to communicate these truths to their peers.

Throughout history, many Christians have agreed with a set of “doctrinal” truths, chief among which are: the deity of Jesus (and the Trinity), that Jesus saves them from sin, salvation by grace through faith, the resurrection of Jesus, and the inerrancy of the Bible.¹¹ In essence, this (should) become our identity, as well Colossians 3:3 He says: “[Y]You have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Simply throwing truth at an existing platform (e.g., an aggressive social media meme) does not mean we have closed the gap between our faith and current culture. If we really want to communicate these truths, we must present them balanced Theological perspectives and making Accessible. But doing both requires humility, not simply taking a shortcut or ranting about our favorite controversial issue.

Three things come to mind that we should start doing. First, stop speaking Christian language when trying to reach the unchurched (this starts with pastors). Second, listen more and talk less. And third, thinking and speaking from our perspectives before Start actual conversations with someone who doesn’t believe the same things we do. If these “necessities” seem intended for individual and personal conversations, that’s because they are.

Most of us should not reach audiences around the world. We do not have the humility or local cultural acumen to communicate well, nor do we conduct a risk assessment or understand the consequences of conveying a critical message across global platforms like social media. The vast majority of Christians need to realize that we live in domestic bubbles (with loops of confirmation bias), while understanding that personal relationships are within everyone’s reach. Think personal conversations rather than global connections.

Two points of clarity. First, I’m not saying we should mirror the culture (remember how every 90s youth group room looked like an MTV TV set?). In the same way that Michaels subverted the sketch comedy model from within the established NBC machine, we can creatively use current culture to explain dogmatic truths.

And second, I’m not saying that you should plan every conversation, or not use tools like the Internet, or be afraid to participate because you don’t have a theology degree. No, this is where the Holy Spirit speaks through us using cultural references (as Paul did in… Acts 17:16-34). Michaels kept repeating, “Wait until 11:30,” because he was confident in the establishment even if he couldn’t turn the revolution into a passable intro or memorable meme. Likewise, we can trust that God will use the solid foundation He has built to speak to people in ways we cannot imagine or express.

1. There are many lists, here are several of them: “Diocese of Lansing”What do Catholics believe?“,” TGC“Levels of belief“Karam”Basic doctrines of Christianity“,” and “GotQuestions.org”What is doctrine?” ↩︎