{"id":3050954,"date":"2020-09-25T03:56:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T10:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dostoevsky-bts.com\/blog\/?p=3050954"},"modified":"2020-09-25T03:56:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T10:56:51","slug":"live-st-petersburg-dostoyevsky-night-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dostoevsky-bts.com\/blog\/live-st-petersburg-dostoyevsky-night-live\/","title":{"rendered":"Live From St. Petersburg, It’s Dostoyevsky Night Live!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since his first major work\u00a0Notes from the Underground<\/em>\u00a0was written in 1864, Fyodor Dostoyevsky\u2019s influence can be found in literature, philosophy, and even pop culture. Dostoyevsky\u2019s ideas have transcended his original Russian audiences of the 19th century and are now regarded as the building blocks of existential fiction and nihilist commentary. It\u2019s hard to find a modern drama with a deeper meaning that doesn\u2019t pay homage to Dostoyevsky in one way or another. Popular crime stories of today would not pack the same punch if Dostoyevsky had not examined Raskolnikov\u2019s psyche in\u00a0Crime & Punishment<\/em>. Ridley Scott\u2019s\u00a0Blade Runner\u00a0<\/em>would have had Decker just running around administering eye-test with no conflict, if Dostoyevsky had not broken down the door of existentialism, allowing characters to question and make sense of their creator and the world they put them in. The examples are endless and give credibility to Dostoyevsky’s legacy and contribution to dramatic art.<\/p>\n

As exciting as it is to find Dostoyevsky\u2019s influence in drama, one must admit that it is not the most difficult task. Dostoyevsky\u2019s works are so prolific that the allusions to his writings are easy to find in many forms of dramatic art. This is why it’s so tantalizing to pick apart comedies and find the glimmers of Dostoyevsky\u2019s influence. At face value, any sort of comedy appears to be the opposite of a Dostoyevsky novel. Novels known for being about mental anguish, crime, and bleak settings contradicting comedies usually lighthearted and bright in nature. However, similarities begin to arise after deconstructing comedy to its core. In doing this, comedy is left about showcasing a person or thing being crazy but instead commentating on the absurdity of the world. The heightened sense of joy in comedy works similarly to the heightened sense of dread in a Dostoyevsky novel. Both serve as a function to examine the irregularities of the world and the different rationalities (or lack of) of the individuals that inhabit it.<\/p>\n

While satire can clearly show similar traits to Dostoyevsky\u2019s writing, comedy doesn\u2019t have to be dark to be influenced by him. Different types of comedy have traces of Dostoyevsky, so it is fitting to explore his influence in television’s largest and longest-running comedy program that features many different comedic styles. Saturday Night Live<\/em> is said show and since its first airing in 1975, NBC\u2019s trademark sketch comedy show has been amplifying Dostoyevsky\u2019s ideas in the most humorist of ways. While there are no direct comparisons from the show to Dostoyevsky, the subtext of many different sketches over the years are rich with comparisons that can be made to Dostoyevsky\u2019s work. The show might seem silly or overrated to some, sketch comedy at its truest is about examining and commenting on the world by adding in the absurd to allow audiences to watch a social norm be deconstructed and how it impacts others.<\/p>\n

For this exercise, I will be choosing one different SNL sketch for each of Dostoevsky’s most prominent works. None of these sketches are directly related to any of Dostoevsky\u2019s works. Instead, the analysis is about discovering the enjoyable small comparisons.<\/p>\n

Notes from Underground and Matt Foley: Van Down By The River<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dostoyevsky\u2019s famous work\u00a0Notes from Underground<\/em>\u00a0is centered around an unnamed, isolated, cynical man with the bleakest outlook on life. Known as the Underground Man,\u00a0Notes from Underground\u00a0<\/em>is filled with his bitter ramblings and memories which led to his outlook. Removed from society, the Underground Man shares thoughts on the problems with idealism and the quest to create a society without pain and suffering. Ahead of its time, Dostoyevsky uses\u00a0Notes from Underground<\/em>\u00a0as a platform to create an anti-hero to get his ideas across from a distance. The character and events in the work are a heightened sense of drama and what would lead a person to get to such point.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, this is almost identical to one of Saturday Night Live’s<\/em> most popular sketches Matt Foley: Down By The River.<\/strong><\/em> In this sketch Chris Farley plays the named Matt Foley, a burn out turned motivational speaker who has come to lecture two teens caught with pot. In the sketch, Foley tells the teens to forget about their hopes and dreams because the world can not be the perfect place we hope for. He humorously shares his story and how he has become isolated from society, like the Underground Man. The comparisons between the sketch and Dostoyevsky’s works are humorous but have a clear influence on the troupe of a reclusive man spewing the problems with life. It makes you wonder if Dostoyevsky envisioned living in the underground as a van down by the river.<\/p>\n