Sitcoms And Us Society

Ian Thomas | Saint Kentigern CollegeSitcoms and US Society 1960-now
3.4 | Understand the relationship between a genre and society

Politics – Republican vs. Democrat
Family Unit – Nuclear / Dysfunction / Divorce / Pseudo
Civil Rights – Feminism / Racism
Generations – generation gap / Baby Boomers / Gen X / Gen Y
Television – broadcasting / fragmented and niche markets / narrowcasting / internet
Sex and Sexuality – social discourse / female empowerment / homosexuality
The Future – changing technology / internet-based sitcoms / Obama / societal change
Post-Modernism– re-writing the rules / rejection of tradition / open acceptance
Threads for discussion

Families watching “families”
Familiar characters and situations
Appeal – Common to society, grown up with them
Humour as a tool for social engineering
Sitcoms are common to each decade – TV staple
Old sitcoms are social time capsules – a window into a different time/era on social level.
Why sitcoms?

US society sees change through non-confrontational nature of humour – catching more flies with honey than vinegar.
Removed expectation of fulfilment of American Dream – through the latter decades, the sitcom assures US society that it’s okay to NOT fit the American Dream.
Society influenced political/social content – Relevant and reflective of era.
Roles – Catharsis Counselling Couching Comfort Food
America’s relationship with sitcoms

The 60s – Magi-com
The 70s – Sex-com
The 80s – Family-com
The 90s – Single-com
The 00s – Me-com
The sitcom modes

The comic trap – the family unit in whatever form.
The fish out of water – most often women though later men. Each struggling to find their place in society amidst social change and upheaval.
The naive fool – typically men who assume traditional patriarchal structures of social rule and family dynamics.
The acerbic servant – the ‘other’ voice who offers ‘outside’ context.
The Running Joke – recurring humorous ideas often satirising outmoded views and ideas of social behaviour, very audience inclusive.
Humour – slapstick, one-liners, satire, punch-line, conflict, juxtaposition
Sitcom conventions

Setting the scene

Establish American Dream as cornerstone of Post WWII US society
The move to suburbia
Introduce the housewife as the post Rosie the Riveter ideal for women – can link to post-Noir study well.
1950’s Father Knows Best – taste of early sitcoms.
Pre-60s

Bewitched (1964 – 1972)
I Dream of Jeannie
The Munsters
The Addams Family
My Favourite Martian
Mr. Ed
The 60s | The Nuclear Family

The American Dream of white suburban middle class (Comic Trap)
Metaphor of witch as modern woman (Fish out of Water)
Traditional patriarchal man/husband (Naive Fool)
The 60s | The Nuclear Family

Soap (1978-1982)
All in the Family
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Jeffersons
Welcome back, Kotter.
One Day at a Time
The 70s |The Dysfunctional Family

Class differences evident between the Tates (upper-class) and the Campbells (middle-class) for the first time in a sitcom (Comic Trap)
Dysfunction and conflict prime source of humour
Race and sex openly discussed – development of innuendo as a sitcom staple.
The 70s |The Dysfunctional Family

Kate and Allie (1984-89)
Designing Women
Golden Girls
The Cosby Show
Roseanne
Growing Pains
Family Ties
The 80s | The Divorced Family

Traditional family sitcoms harked back to a “Father Knows Best” era with little regard to class or gender conflict.
Though many Americans struggled with the impact divorce had on their lives (comic trap)
Women especially as the American Dream had not equipped them well for single life after divorce.
The 80s | The Divorced Family

Friends (1994-2004)
Seinfeld
Frazier
Caroline in the City
Will and Grace
Ellen
The 90s | The Pseudo Family

Rachel is the original fish out of water – appearing in the first episode as a dripping wet bride.
The pseudo family becomes the comic trap.
Male and female relationships are more equal in sitcoms and society
Sex and sexuality is open for discussion
The 90s | The Pseudo Family

Entourage (2004 )
The Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother
Sex and the City
Two and a Half Men
Scrubs
My Name is Earl
The 00s | The Post Modern Family

The family is now fragmented to the viewer’s own choice and experience of family and TV access.
All forms of family exist and are treated with the same sense of humour, respect and accessibility.
There is potential backlash with the advent of the male-com.
The 00s | The Post Modern Family

The future of the sitcom/TV

Television
Modern Family
Cougar Town
The United States of Tara
The Internet
Red vs. Blue
The Guild
The future of the sitcom/TV

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Sitcoms And Us Society

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Sitcoms And Us Society — Presentation Transcript