Saturday Night Lear: "SNL” Cast as Today's Shakespearian Fools

By Jack Wolfram, Emory University

Recently finishing its forty-fifth season, NBC’s live television variety show Saturday Night Live (SNL) has developed a reputation for disregarding the comedic boundary “lines” that are rarely crossed when discussing certain issues concerning the sociopolitical world, current events, and pop culture. Over the past several years, SNL casts predominately focus the majority of their satirical skits and sketches on the inherent character of powerful, high-profile entities. Due to the live broadcast nature of the show, SNL actors are notorious for taking full advantage of this unique comedic platform where very little dialogue is censored. These comics’ performances every Saturday night resonate far beyond the simple guffaws of entertainment.

Issue XIContent EditorsDecember 17, 2020television, late-night, show, Shakespeare, King Lear, SNL, classic, literature, fool, First FolioComment

A Story of Shifting Stone: Pygmalion in the Renaissance

Grant K. Schatzman

The metaphor of living artwork is interestingly appropriate to the history of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The explosion of translation in the Renaissance turned the dusty tomes of Greece and Rome face up once more, but it is for very good reason that the movement is called a “rebirth” rather than a “rediscovery.” It is no surprise that Renaissance writers “rebirthed” Pygmalion with a new interpretation for every cultural criticism and moralization.

Issue VI, ArchivesContent EditorsApril 5, 2016Renaissance, religion, mythology, Pygmalion, Shakespeare, classic, language, art, historyComment

How Quickly Nature Falls Into Revolt

By Mike Strumpf

When the first folio edition of William Shakespeare's works was published in 1623, "it was not clear whose idea the collected volume was or even what was the precise motivation for it" (Proudfoot, Thompson, & Kastan-1998, 8), but the inclusion of two actors that worked with Shakespeare in the publication process underscores the importance of accuracy of authorial intent in the volume.