There was not a dry eye in the room when Toyota aired its 2015 Super Bowl commercial featuring an emotional dad dropping his daughter off at the airport to become a soldier.
This past Saturday, however, emotions ran a bit differently when NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live debuted a parody sketch of the commercial about recruitment of young women for ISIS, featuring “Fifty Shades of Grey” guest star Dakota Johnson and cast member Taran Killam.
The sketch begins just as the commercial did, with a teary-eyed dad saying goodbye to his daughter, whom the audience assumes is leaving to join the United States Military.
Soon after, however, a pick-up truck filled with jihadists holding machine guns pulls up, and Johnson assures Killam that she will be okay, saying, “Dad, it’s just ISIS,” as the audience laughs.
Viewers took the Internet by storm, voicing their disapproval of the skit on Twitter and calling it “uncomfortable” and “in horrible taste.”
Public speaker Ed Tate tweeted, “Just saw maybe the most unfunny #SNL piece of all time. Is ISIS a really good subject for humor?”
Some argued SNL crossed the line of decency, mocking an organization and an issue that is not a force to be ?reckoned with.
On the flip side, another majority of viewers defended the sketch, stating SNL was doing what it does best: making fun of hard-hitting issues. Even Killam voiced his opinion on Twitter, stating, “Proud of this. Freedom to mock is our greatest weapon.”
ISIS has been responsible for multiple beheadings of American hostages. In response, the U.S. media has blown up these occurrences on national news networks, giving ISIS free propaganda its been trying all too hard to ?acquire all along.
American fear of ISIS is only growing, which is the exact opposite of what should be happening. Huffington Post columnist H. A. Goodman voiced what SNL has been trying to show to us all along, saying, “The more people laughing at ISIS, the less it will be able to market itself as the defender of a warped ?interpretation of Islam.”
If America gives ISIS the satisfaction of us fearing them, we will have already lost the war. The SNL skit also shines a light on a topic not many people are doing much about: the recruitment of young women into ISIS and other terrorist organizations. According to U.K.’s The Independent, at least 60 British women and girls as young as 15 years old have fled the country to join ISIS in Syria in the past year alone, and this is only ?accounting for one country.
Too many times there have been teary-eyed parents unknowingly sending their daughters off to be recruited to terrorist organizations, which was a big online ? criticism of the sketch.
The number of women who have been recruited to the organization is unknown, but the thought of joining is seemingly becoming more popular worldwide. It is important for people everywhere to be aware of what is happening with terrorist recruitment so they can inform themselves and stop these problems before they start.
We must not forget that SNL has been a staple of satirical humor for the past 40 years, poking fun at and making jokes of serious headlines and tense situations since its founding. Although the means in which they could have gone about mocking ISIS could have been different, SNL was just doing its job to make the heavy topics light and to keep people laughing.
“SNL’s skit was a prime example of how satire can highlight the insanity that fuels ISIS to commit its atrocities,” said Goodman. “If you didn’t laugh at this, then you don’t understand comedy and you’ve failed to appreciate the nature of satire. Satire, unlike a bullet, can actually kill an ideology.”
snvanden@indiana.edu
