Welcome to Hell: “A One-Stop Shop for All Sexual Offenders”
The Saturday Night Live women invite you to a place of wonder, horror, and grotesque imagination.
It’s something out of a Katy Perry music video: pastel colors, lollipops, and confident women. But unlike a typical Perry song, this song explicitly addresses a real and serious issue: sexual harassment. Welcome to Hell is Saturday Night Live’s response to the ongoing #MeToo movement in Hollywood in which men and women all over the industry are speaking out about sexual harassment in an attempt to change the abusive environment. In this music video, the SNL women invite you to step inside their shoes and see how easy it is to understand what it is to be a woman in America.
As the pixelated image comes to life, the audience is exposed to a world seemingly full of happiness and imagination. The sets are designed to evoke feelings of joy and comfort. The happy, poppy sounds of the synthesizer establishes a warm and familial tone. The visual imagery of the complementing blue and pink outfits elicits memories of childhood and underscores the concept of the boy-girl binary often associated with this particular period of time. The writers use these tactics as a ploy to attract viewers: come for the familiarity, stay for the message.
However, as in most SNL sketches, the audience’s expectations are shattered. Instead of a song with happy and joyful lyrics, the cast members begin to sing about “big, cool, powerful guys turning out to be… what… habitual predators.” To have the audience’s assumptions ruined is an example of the incongruity theory, and is what leads to most of the humor in this particular sketch.
But what is most funny about the sketch is the way that the cast members describe the environment in Hollywood. They begin to ask each other questions about whether sexual harassment occurs, even though they already know the answer. Their tone is so sarcastic to the extent that they seem frustrated with how this answer doesn’t seem obvious to everyone. However, Cecily Strong confirms any doubts with the phrase, “This been the damn world!”
And do you remember the playful and innocent feelings evoked by the visual imagery? Well, they serve a distinct purpose: to tell the doubters that even a child should be able to understand that sexual harassment is prominent.
But in case any doubters remain, the cast members invite you to what they call “their hometown.” However, before the chorus begins, the cast teases them about what they should expect: freakishness and nastiness. This suspenseful build-up is underscored by the use of the sustain pedal on the synthesizer accompaniment, which draws out the particular notes being played, mounting the audience’s tension. The use of the major dominant chord in the final line especially causes for a wish that the tension be resolved, and these ladies will not disappoint. They will not hold back.
After the build-up, they are not afraid to immediately jump into the grotesqueness of the situation. Even the first line of the chorus tells you that this situation is Hell-like, and that it has become so familiar that they proclaim it as their hometown. Unlike what many men expect of the situation, these ladies do not sugarcoat their condition. Moreover, what the entire audience does not expect is how the cast members sing their lines: in a very happy manner with cheerful dancing. They are on the verge of a mental breakdown, and must smile and look as cheerful as possible in order to stay calm.
The irony of the delivery is nearly as funny as the lyrics themselves. The ladies sing “Look around, isn’t it nice?” in a rhetorical manner to the audience. However, before the audience has time to even come up with a response, they cut them off with the line “It’s a full nightmare.” The ladies say it short and sweet, kind of like the lollipops in the background.
The next verse is very short but necessary in understanding the plight of everyday existence of these women. Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Saoirse Ronan, and Cecily Strong each interject a line regarding how they themselves have dealt with this hostile and abusive environment. Bryant discusses how she travels with these group of people in order to scare men off. Both McKinnon and Strong talk about how they change their look in order to frighten potential abusers, whether it be how McKinnon uses her keys as claws or how Strong purposefully twists around so men think that she is dumb and “not worth the trouble.” However, what is most telling and important is how Ronan carries herself around these men: she carries a pink gun alongside her to ward off abusers. The clash of what is a supposed innocent color and the violence that is associated with guns conveys the idea that the childhoods of these once-innocent girls was ripped away by powerful men. She embraces and establishes her brave femininity through the use of the gun.
The next chorus addresses how women are unable to trust most men because these men usually have an ulterior motive, mostly relating to sex. At first, the cast members recapitulate the horrific nature of their hometown, saying that “it’s like a maze all full of boners.” But then, Saoirse Ronan notices a cat and is finally happy that something pure is happening where they live. But soon enough, they realize that the cat was a trap to lure women into engaging in unwanted sexual affairs. While this is a very obvious example of ways that men lure women into sex, many times these instances aren’t as pronounced, leading to a humorous reaction. Still, this scene is very relatable and should confirm to doubters that these situations occur on a regular basis.
The next verse confronts the theory that sexual harassment and male privilege is only a newfound occurrence in society because only recently have women begun to speak up.
[Kate]
I guess it begs the question
Woah, why didn’t you say something, babygirl?[Saoirse]
Well, dang, double daddy
We definitely did
For hundreds of years
These short phrases with the use of the colloquial terms “babygirl” and “double daddy” imitate a real-life conversation in which a man who believes he is superior treats a fragile women: like a child. But, the most important aspect of this particular verse is the introduction of the historical context of sexual harassment. Previously, the cast members only commented on the current state of affairs. However, the entrance of Melissa Villaseñor signals the shift to the historical fight for women’s rights.
This new voice adds on a layer of depth onto this already meaningful track. As Bryant, McKinnon, Ronan, and Strong begin to detail how women have spoken up and been shot down throughout history, Villaseñor becomes progressively angrier. At first, she just says “Oh man” in a very indifferent way, despite being in the process of being burned at the stake, causing a loud burst of laughter from the audience. When Bryant and Ronan claim that nobody cared because it kept happening again, Villaseñor questions why no one has helped her and eventually shows her true emotions. This call and response scene is crucial into understanding how and why women are so angry that this keeps happening over and over again. It also serves to convey to doubters that yes, sexual harassment is a regular occurrence and just because it is talked about more often today does not mean it has not happened before. This video, as well as the #MeToo movement, is simply a product of its time: now that women are given a channel to express their anger in peace, they are finally able to stand up to the ridicules of society.
As Leslie Jones points out, these voices do not all belong to white women. They belong to women of color.
Hey, just wanted to say I think what you guys are doing is really cool, I get it. Um, but you do know that it’s, like, a million times worse for women of color, right?
The cast members agree and allow her to join the music video, but it does draw on the idea that white feminism does not cater to the views of women of color. White women often proclaim that they share the views of women of color for publicity and moral reasons, but do not actually share those views. It is a very persistent problem in today’s society and this SNL sketch does a good job in showing the necessity of unity in feminism.
At the end of the song, the cast members address the criticism that feminism and the #MeToo movement has ruined many enjoyable things, such as House of Cards. But as the cast members point out, those inconveniences are so minuscule in comparison to the constant hardships females have to face every day, such as being unable to have ponytails, Ubers, and vans. Everything has been sexualized to the point that even these everyday objects are associated with the most vile of actions.
But before the song concludes, the cast members once more invite these men into their lives. They give explanations on why it may be so hard for women; for example, “it’s been a nuisance since [women] got boobs” so it must obviously be hard for men to resist. They also talk about how to remain safe in a dangerous situation, whether it be staying in a pack of friends or having mace at your side. Furthermore, they go on to say that this is unfair, but what is so funny is that this word does not even begin to describe the gravity of the situation. Instead, they invite the audience once more to “pull up a chair” in order for them to understand.
The setting of Hell functions as a metaphor for the ignorance of the divine. Divinity cannot exist in a disgusting environment that promotes such oppressive behavior. It is very ironic that women are sent to this “bad place” when they are not cause of the problem; a divine force would never allow that. However, as the women welcome the oppressive men into Hell, this signals a shift in the accountability of men. Previously, women were ignored when they spoke about sexual harassment — it’s a direct result of the “boys will be boys” mentality that has persisted throughout American history. However, the beginning of the #MeToo movement marks the beginning of a new mentality that promotes feminism. When the women welcome the men into hell, it signals that a divine force has awaken.
Welcome to Hell is a genius ploy to get male viewers to comprehend how regularly sexual assault occurs. As Melissa Villaseñor says, “[this is] not news.” If you really want to see for yourself, the pretty playroom that is Hell welcomes any and all men to come take a ride on the wild side. Don’t let the childlike sets and the poppy music fool you: it is solely a disguise to please societal norms. So, come join us in Hell: it’s a one-stop shop for all sexual offenders.
