Will & Grace: A New definition of Conventional Where are you on Thursday night? The likely answer is sitting in front of your television screen watching your favorite sitcom. If that is correct, then you are like the millions of other Americans that devote much of their time tuning into the craze of the situation comedy. The situation comedy has been apart of American culture for decades. Having its roots in radio, the situation comedy is “a narrative series comedy, generally between 24 and 30 minutes long, with regular characters and settings (McQueen 53).” Many radio sitcoms went directly to the small screen in the late 1940’s and 1950’s; this is how the genre got its start (McQueen 53). The classics that put sitcoms in the spot light were The Phil Silvers Show and I Love Lucy; these shows are still regarded as “televisions best-ever creations (Creeber 65).” The situation comedy is one of the main ingredients of broadcast television. The situation comedy has many fundamental aspects that can vary from show to show. The principle situation is that things stay constant; they do not change (McQueen 56). The aspects of the show needs to be highly recognizable and returned to week after week, because of the repetition of the series and the demands of the time-slot. The narrative of the show must not be destroyed or complicated by the pervious week (McQueen 56). The return to the original situation is always constant. The key to a sitcom involves a disturbance of the stable situation and a conclusion within the episode. These various disruptions and wrongdoings are what the sitcom revolves around. The half hour program always consists of a beginning, middle and end (McQueen 57). The situation that occurs is usually a humorous problem or incident that is resolved by the end of the episode. The narrative of the sitcom is basically circular but that is not binding, some modifications to the characters or plot do take place. Such as “families may gain or lose children as they grow up, long-lost relatives are found, additional characters join series, old ones leave and background details change to keep the stories from becoming stale and repetitive (McQueen 57).” These shifts can sometimes cause the show not to survive, for instance if a main character leaves the show. If that main character was a big dynamic part of the show, it wi... ... middle of paper ... ...despicable actions she still remains a favorite character. The other favorite supportive character is Jack. Like was stated earlier Jack is very comparable to Karen, except the fact that is male and gay. Jack is the equivalent to a gay trickster character. Jack is described as a “one-man floor show; perpetually animated, always ready with a quip or about to burst in song or dance (Cooper 519).” In addition to his sudden outbursts and show tunes Jack is constantly rotating boyfriends, ogling and flirting, and his objects of desire are gay and straight, it hardly matters. This continual boyfriend swapping labels Jack the poster child for promiscuity. Another typical Jack characteristic is his very dependent nature; he relies on the kindness of others (Cooper 519). Although is has an obvious lake of talent, it is hardly noticeable to him because he is oozing with self-confidence. That is one quality that Jack possesses that is actually commendable. All of his silly antics, irresponsibility, fleeting crushes and overall childlike behavior pin point him as the stereotypically gay figure, which he embraces to the fullest.
Now, the new sitcoms have introduced new family situations, and controversies around them. However, these family members aren’t the sweet, funny, semi-normal characters that were adored in (Full House). They seem to have very different, weird and somehow funny personalities. (Modern Family) introduces the typical “mom, dad, and three kids” family along with an old man married to a younger Columbian woman and gay men with an adopted Asian baby. These new sitcoms like Modern Family introduce family diversity, something that wasn’t exactly present in older sitcoms. Another difference between the old sitcoms and the new is that the humor is a bit more old school. Now the older sitcoms were very seldom and profane and they relied on more classic, clean cut direct humor. Current sitcoms often include less G-rated humor, relying on crude humor to get laughs. There’s not much harm in that though, as long as it doesn’t go overboard. Older sitcoms were based on more functional families, where newer ones tend to be based on dysfunctional families; new sitcoms, Modern Family especially, rely on this dysfunctionality to make their viewers laugh. Older sitcoms, like Full House, had a lot of feel-good moments of bonding between family characters, but new sitcoms seem to take away from that
...al. Tom is a good example as to why you should try to see things from a new perspective.
Younger generations and the more vulnerable in society can be influenced in avoiding peer pressure, but for the individuals filled with wisdom, the shows can reflect based on American modern society. Everybody Loves Raymond and Full House are great shows who faces similar life obstacles a typical person living in the US has today. As a result, most modern family comedy sit-coms are reflecting our society’s generations and the more vulnerable. Based on the success of early family sit coms, American’s adapted to a fast pace lifestyle with the help of modern
The Paul Reiser Show was a degraded version of a famous comedy show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, aired from 2000 to 2011 (“Curb”). A writer of this sitcom, Larry David, was successful to create unique characters and scenario which convinced and entertained audiences. Also, audiences felt sympathy with his story. Even though “Curb” is a comedy show, he still kept in his mind awkward circumstances of America due to the Great Depression in 2011. Unlike David, Reiser's scenario was callousness about an environment of America at that time. Reiser was a rich man, and he already retired his job. He just would like his son to be proud of him, so Reiser begun to make The Paul Reiser Show. Audiences could not feel sympathy with his happy and insensitive jokes (Tucker). In this research, I felt that Reiser created this show with his narrow view of the world. There are not many people who are wealthy successful like him, so his act and scenario in The Paul Reiser Show especially aroused audience’s antipathy. This is a most convincing reason why Reiser's show failed to survive on a
Roseanne was a hit sitcom that debuted in the late 80s and continued into the late 90s. It was one of the most watched shows of its time despite the controversy that surrounded it. The series still airs on popular television networks today but, because it functionally paved the way, it is not considered questionable in today’s society. Although the show had its share of controversial issues and what was then thought to be “inappropriate” dialogue, the America population continued to tune-in to Roseanne and empathized with the weekly problems the Conner’s would face. The show depicted life much like people actually experienced it (and still do) and therefore captured the hearts of America, which translated to a better acceptance of the material folks found inappropriate or unacceptable. Over time, as people were more often exposed to the matters that Roseanne felt were pertinent, the disputes became fewer and the issues surrounding them became irrelevant. Dealing with issues such as sex, homosexuality, and a not so functional family, Roseanne proved to be very functional to society as a whole.
The average America watches more than 150 hours of television every month, or about five hours each day (“Americans,” 2009). Of the 25 top-rated shows for the week of February 8-14, 2010, six were sitcoms, averaging 5.84 million live viewers each (Seidman, 2010), to say nothing for the millions more who watched later on the Internet or their Digital Video Recorders. The modern sitcom is an undeniable force in America, and its influence extends beyond giving viewers new jokes to repeat at the water cooler the next day: whether Americans realize it or not, the media continues to socialize them, even as adults. It may appear at first glance that sitcoms are a relatively benign force in entertainment. However, the modern sitcom is more than just a compilation of one-liners and running gags. It is an agent of gender socialization, reinforcing age-old stereotypes and sending concrete messages about how, and who, to be. While in reality, people of both sexes have myriad personality traits that do not fall neatly along gender lines, the sitcom spurns this diversity in favor of representing the same characters again and again: sex-crazed, domestically incompetent single men enjoying their lives as wild bachelors, and neurotic, lonely, and insecure single women pining desperately to settle down with Prince Charming and have babies. Sitcoms reinforce our ideas about what it is “normal” to be, and perhaps more importantly feed us inaccurate ideas about the opposite sex: that women are marriage-crazed, high-maintenance, and obsessed with the ticking of their biological clocks, while men are hapless sex addicts whose motives can’t be trusted. The way that singles are portrayed in sitcoms is harmful to viewers’ understanding of themselves...
"Seinfeld" was always present in my home during its nine-year run on Thursday nights as "Must See TV," and the social commentary was welcome humor. However, not everyone was thrilled by Seinfeld's prominence in American society and the subject matter with which Seinfeld dealt. Many Christians, Jews and other minorities had problems with the show's portrayal of their respective groups. Despite criticism from ethnic and religious groups, Jerry Seinfeld and his show were possibly the best sources of social commentary that America's mainstream had to offer. The show is missed in today's current television line-up and no post-"Seinfeld" sitcom has come to the same level of cultural criticism.
For a large part of the history of TV sitcoms women have been portrayed as mothers or as having to fulfill the woman's role in the private sphere. Family based sitcoms were one of the forms of sitcom that keep women in these roles, but what is interesting is that even in other forms of sitcoms women do not truly escape these roles. Sitcoms, like Sex and the City and Murphy Brown showcase women whom have seemingly escaped these roles, by showing liberated women, but that does not mean that both do not fall into the gender role showcased in family sitcoms. It draws the similarities between ensemble sitcoms and family sitcoms when it comes down to the role of women. The starring women in both Sex and the City and Murphy Brown, and even the Mary
...d what they consider entertaining or even humorous in a sitcom. Overall, modern sitcoms rely on sex, violence, and the most ridiculous situations that you could ever find yourself in to create entertainment, and although Mary Tyler Moore does have some of this, such as the “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode, for the most part the show relies on the contemporary ideas of the time. The ideas that they explored was the feminist movement of course. This is why the show Mary Tyler Moore holds up as a historic show rather than a comedy. The audience has simply changed what they find as funny over time.
Television’s rise in popularity throughout the fifties saw the emergence of the situation comedy, a style that captivated audiences by presenting a story with a beginning, a middle, and a happy end. One of the most popular of these shows, I Love Lucy, continues to appeal to both young and old some forty years later -- and counting. For most people, the answer to how I Love Lucy continually and effectively draws viewers to the screen is that "It’s funny." There is more to this funny show than meets the eye.
Popular culture is the artistic and creative expression in entertainment and style that appeals to society as whole. It includes music, film, sports, painting, sculpture, and even photography. It can be diffused in many ways, but one of the most powerful and effective ways to address society is through film and television. Broadcasting, radio and television are the primary means by which information and entertainment are delivered to the public in virtually every nation around the world, and they have become a crucial instrument of modern social and political organization. Most of today’s television programming genres are derived from earlier media such as stage, cinema and radio. In the area of comedy, sitcoms have proven the most durable and popular of American broadcasting genres. The sitcom’s success depends on the audience’s familiarity with the habitual characters and the situations
... hardships in the seventies and eighties, but due to the subdued seriousness through comedy, a larger audience can become aware of desperate situations.
Biological crime theory describes that an individual is born with the desire to commit a certain crime. Evolutionary factors influence an individual’s involvement in criminal behavior. “Biological theories focus on aspects of the physical body, such as inherited genes, evolutionary factors, brain structures, or the role of hormones in influencing behavior” (Marsh, I, 2006, 3). Murderers that are innate to kill are born with factors such as mental illnesses that are the driving force as to why one may kill. Because of the biological crime theory, some individuals, though rare, are able to plead insanity. This is because the actions of the individual are said to be beyond their control (Ministry of Justice, 2006, 3).
Tom is a character many people in this generation can relate to. Although the play was written many years ago Tom is just like any other millennial from this day and age. He basically hates his job because it’s not fun. He can’t cope with the fact that he has to pick up all the slack his father left behind. He even seems to think that running away will fix everything. All of these things are very common in society today.
Nature versus nurture has been argued in attempt to understand how criminals behave. The theory of what influences psychopath and serial killers’ violent and destructive pathways has not been agreed on till this day. Criminals such as psychopaths and serial killers have been researched for the past two decades. Scientists have found that genetics is a determining factor of who becomes a serial killer. It is important to understand the determinants involved within a serial killer, because if these social and environmental causes are discovered, they can be altered and controlled to reduce crime (Lykken, 1993). With more studies, we would therefore prevent mass murders and could assist in significant reductions of crime within society.