“If you don’t like something, change it. If
you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
I
don't talk politics in my classes, for several reasons. But on a recent Thursday,
I was giving my English classes a lecture on Social Commentary, how to write it
and how to deliver it orally. We were talking about one of the ways to impart
social commentary: the humor piece. “Want to read satire that is sometimes so
subtle people don’t even realize it’s satire?” I asked them. “Take a peek at
theonion.com, and of course look up the well-known and brilliantly satiric Jon
Stewart and Stephen Colbert.” Then a student mentioned Alec Baldwin's portrayal
of President Trump on SNL and suddenly
The Great Divide opened. It was clear that I had both vehement supporters and
non-supporters of President Trump in this class.
I
had not anticipated a political discussion today. This was a complication I had
not foreseen in this lecture, but they were starting to snark at one another
pretty heavily and I needed to step in.
"Why
do you think Alec Baldwin portrays President Trump?” I asked.
“Because
he doesn’t like him,” was one response.
“Because
it’s funny,” was another.
“Because
he gets paid to,” was a third.
“Think about this,” I implored. “The
answer is the same whether you are a supporter of President Trump or not.
Whether you like him or not. This is what satire does. So, why, when it's not always funny, when it's sometimes downright painful, but when it's so spot-on, why?”
Silence.
They were
trying. They had those looks on their faces that students get when they are
trying to figure something out that is *just*
beyond their reach.
“Okay. How many of you have heard the story of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’?”
I asked them.
One student raised his hand. One. Really? Wow. So I told them a very
abbreviated version of the story:
Once upon a
time, an Emperor – a vain and silly man who loved all the best things – ordered
a new set of robes. The dressmakers who came to make his clothes fooled him,
though. They could spin material that was lighter than air, they said, so fine
it was lighter than a spider’s web. But people who were uncommonly stupid or
unfit for their post would be unable to see it. Who would ever admit they
couldn’t see the cloth? When the clothes were “revealed” to the Emperor, he
couldn’t see them (because they did not exist). But instead of admitting that,
and perhaps catching the dressmakers in their hustle, he was afraid people
would think him incapable of office. So he remained silent. Thus, all those
around him remained silent. He “dressed” in his non-existent clothes and went
out for a procession. Finally, it took a child to speak up. “But he hasn’t got
anything on!” the child said. “He’s naked.” The Emperor continued, with every
step realizing what he was.*
This is why Alec Baldwin portrays President Trump, I told my students. He
shows us precisely the behavior we closed our eyes to. He shows us what we
chose not to see. We saw the clothes that we pretended were there. Alec Baldwin
is the child in the crowd repeatedly telling us “But he hasn’t got anything on!”
President Trump, of course, is the Emperor.
*Credit to Hans Christian Andersen, "The Emperor's New Clothes," 1837