DEFINING MIXED RACE ON TELEVISION: AN ANALYSIS OF BARACK OBAMA AND SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Amanda Joy Davis B.A., California State University, Sacramento, 2004 THESIS Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in COMMUNICATION STUDIES at CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO FALL 2011 © 2011 Amanda Joy Davis ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii DEFINING MIXED RACE ON TELEVISION: AN ANALYSIS OF BARACK OBAMA AND SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE A Thesis by Amanda Joy Davis Approved by: __________________________________, Committee Chair Michele Foss-Snowden, Ph.D. __________________________________, Committee Member Carmen Stitt, Ph.D. __________________________________, Committee Member S. David Zuckerman, Ph.D. Date iii Student: Amanda Joy Davis I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis. , Graduate Coordinator Michele Foss-Snowden, Ph.D. Date Department of Communication Studies iv Abstract of DEFINING MIXED RACE ON TELEVISION: AN ANALYSIS OF BARACK OBAMA AND SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE by Amanda Joy Davis This study uses a semiotic approach to textual analysis to examine social constructions of Barack Obama’s race in televised sketch comedy to discover how this construction contributes to the process of hegemony regarding society’s treatment of mixed race. Polysemy will be explored as a key contributing factor. The television program chosen for this study is Saturday Night Live (SNL); the program will be examined for visual and linguistic references to Obama and mixed race. The absence of mixed race references will also be analyzed for their contribution to the show’s overall message. This study argues that while SNL mentions mixed race, it ultimately adds to the hegemonic treatment of mixed race individuals. That is, it identifies Obama as monoracial, ignoring his mixed race heritage in favor of a neat, pre-existing category. While SNL had the opportunity to step outside of the typical dismissal of mixed race and defend their choice of actor to portray Obama, and refer to him as mixed race on a consistent basis, they opted instead to categorize him as monoracial. In doing so, SNL v upholds the silent treatment given to the mixed race community, forcing a monoracial identification based on appearance, a hegemonic course of action. , Committee Chair Michele Foss-Snowden, Ph.D. Date vi PREFACE As a person of mixed race, with a relationship to both dominant and oppressed cultures in the United States, issues of culture, ethnicity, and race have always been salient in my everyday life. These issues are personal to me and my experiences within these contexts have been both troubling and enlightening. In many ways, I have felt the need to categorize myself based on my race due to the pressures of socially constructed racial images. Television provided many of these images for me, but I had trouble aligning myself with the images due to their lack of mixed race representation. However, I feel lucky about the way television has challenged me in this way. As a result, I have enjoyed a multiracial perspective that has accompanied me on my lifelong journey of personal exploration into my identity and culture. These factors, an accumulation of my life experiences, are powerful in influencing my approach to everything, including this research. Therefore, this thesis cannot avoid being a personal work, subjective as a result of my own perspective that guides my focus. Though my research is most certainly guided by my individual perspective, the evidence I have investigated and presented in the following pages provides support for this work’s statements and conclusions. While it is important to be as objective as possible in seeking truth in scholarly research, I believe in the power of a researcher’s personal, unique perspective in establishing the character, integrity, and meaningfulness of research. vii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my beautiful, mixed family. To Taron, thank you for your love, friendship, and unwavering faith. To London, you are a true blessing in my life. To Debra, thank you for teaching me the power of a resilient spirit. And to Azaleigh and Benjamin. Far away, but always close to my heart. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Michele Foss-Snowden for her support and dedication as my chair and advisor. Her guidance from the beginning of this journey has been invaluable and I am so very thankful. I would also like to thank Dr. Carmen Stitt and Dr. S. David Zuckerman for their patience, their interest in my ideas, and commitment to the completion of this project. I would like to thank my family and friends for their unconditional love and support. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Preface............................................................................................................................... vii Dedication ........................................................................................................................ viii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ ix Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................9 Television Studies ....................................................................................................9 A Critical Cultural Approach .................................................................................13 Social Constructionism ..........................................................................................19 Constructing Race and Mixed Race on Television ................................................22 The Comedy Genre: Sketch, Parody, and Satire ....................................................28 Saturday Night Live and the Presidential Parody ..................................................33 Barack Obama: A Mixed Race President ..............................................................36 Critical Questions...................................................................................................39 3. READING TELEVISION: A METHOD ......................................................................40 Textual Analysis ....................................................................................................40 Semiotic Analysis ..................................................................................................46 Sketch Collection ...................................................................................................49 x 4. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS ......................................................................................53 Visual: Obama, the Image ......................................................................................53 Linguistic: Obama, the Topic ................................................................................59 Linguistic Absence.................................................................................................72 5. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................76 EPILOGUE ........................................................................................................................81 Appendix A. Images of Barack Obama and Fred Armisen ...............................................83 Appendix B. Season 32, Episode 15 (3/17/2007): Monologue: Road to the White House ................................................................................................84 Appendix C. Season 33, Episode 8 (3/15/2008): Monologue: Black is the new President ..............................................................................................85 References ..........................................................................................................................86 xi 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION According to hooks (1992), media representations of race have a “direct and abiding connection between the maintenance of upholding and affirming racial categories and power structures” (p. 187). This perspective aligns with the cultural critical ideology that seeks to examine how media, including television, reinforce and suppress certain social discourses (Kellner, 1980). In other words, television texts not only represent society’s structure, including racial categories, but they also have the power to influence, change, or control that structure through the use of language and images. It is from this cultural critical ideology that this study seeks to examine Barack Obama’s role in popular culture’s categorization of mixed race individuals. Beltran (2005), Nakamura (2007), and Nishime (2005) argue that viewers’ generalized perceptions about mixed race people is based in part on their perceptions of mixed race public figures, and those individuals have a social responsibility to identify themselves with all their racial backgrounds, rather than opting to identify themselves within a single category. As a person of mixed race and as a major public figure, Obama also has the potential to influence others about their perception of mixed race individuals through his own image and rhetoric. Born to a White American mother and a Black Kenyan father, Obama has called himself a “mutt,”