Oh, the sweet inspiration that comes right at the beginning of the year to become a better person. During this time, many make the usual vows to improve personalities, to possess more perseverance, and to lose weight. But alas, as the year progresses (notably a week later), procrastination clouds goals, making it easy to lose sight of them. However, perhaps SNL’s comedic music video, “Resolution Revolution” will halt procrastination in its path and change the way people see and strive for their goals.

The four artists—Drake, Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah, and Sasheer Zamata—take turns acting out their big plans for the new year. For some of them, the plan is simple; it’s time to cut back on the sweets. For the others, it’s time to stop drinking. Yet the video takes an abrupt, surreal turn with Pharoah having some fun with an inflatable doll and Drake cosplaying as a wizard. The bizarre coagulation of personal goals makes the video verge more on odd than funny. It can reasonably be interpreted that the video aims to jab at the common, rather pathetic, burst of motivation that spurs people to paint grand pictures of a better version of themselves.

In response to the video, Rohan Jinturkar ‘19 confesses that “he too had set goals of sleeping earlier this year, but that goal had already fallen apart”. He also concurs with SNL’s message, affirming that “people need to set realistic goals and that he thinks SNL does a phenomenal job parodying people who make lofty New Year’s resolutions just for the sake of it”.

Anthony Lin ’19 shared similar sentiments, stating that “throughout the year, people tend to lose focus of their goals, so a New Year’s resolution can serve as a wakeup call that allows us to focus on bettering ourselves.”

While SNL’s video takes stabs at those with New Year’s resolutions doomed to collapse, these resolutions are always a good tradition to keep. A fresh start and a clean canvas provide an opportunity for change, and the crucial part about making a resolution is to keep it simple and achievable. Instead of dreaming of large-scale changes, it may be more beneficial to break down a resolution into quarterly or monthly ‘mini-resolutions’. These simple, achievable goals will possess more likelihood for people to keep their motivation levels up and to continue working all the way until the next New Year’s Eve.