Palin, <i>Saturday Night Live</i> , and Framing: Examining the Dynamics of Political Parody

Abstract

This work investigates dynamics of political parody through a framing analysis of Saturday Night Live sketches that spoof former Governor Sarah Palin. It is posited that parodies of political figures can be fruitfully understood as reflecting, refracting, and creating political realities, as suggested by the identification of 4 dominant frames in Saturday Night Live sketches. Furthermore, the author argues that the framing approach can serve as a point of convergence for contrasting epistemological approaches to political humor research.