Sitcom & Gender
The emphasis of this topic is on gender representation. Largely it can be perceived as a light-hearted populist genre that is without substantial emotive impact, dramatic insight and lacks a memory in that a status quo is returned to at the start of each episode. Comic situations and one liners drive sitcom. Gags are its raison d’etre rather than character or social insight and/or thematic depth.
Sitcom is phallocentric. Even when women dominate as in Absolutely Fabulous or perhaps Ellen, women are deviants. They either behave like irresponsible young men (besides this, Patsy has been likened to a drag queen) or are lesbians. The majority of sitcoms are written by male scriptwriters who have handed on their work to male producers and directors and the jokes are set up and delivered by actors. The humour draws attention, however, to male shortcomings, deflating male pretensions. Viewed as a whole, the male gender is endlessly , though often memorably, mocked and ridiculed but always comes back for more, seemingly unharmed and unchanged.
It is, however, quite possible to perceive differences between sitcom series and to create distinctions between them. The genre is not a closed one and is quite loosely, generally defined in terms of length, format and entertainment values. There is a discernible classic British tradition of studio-based sitcom, largely in-house BBC-produced, going back to Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe & Son running on through Dad’s Army, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em and Only Fools & Horses to Men Behaving Badly. A defining characteristic of much sitcom, its backbone, is often a pair of actors, playing off each other, a dramatised double act though each has to alternate the roles of straight man and funny guy.
These series are primarily supremely-reliable entertainments, quintessentially British (look what happened when the Americans tried to make their own versions of Absolutely Fabulous and Men Behaving Badly), the comedic mockery may have temporary bite but does not permanently wound. The writing, production, gag set-ups and delivery are all strong. Indeed there is some emotional impact, for instance the pathos of old man Steptoe. There can be social insight, even historical authenticity as in Dad’s Army. Steptoe & Son does have dramatic poise as well, the protagonists being identifiable as versions of Becket’s tramps Vladimir and Estragon from Waiting For Godot. Harold Steptoe, Captain Mainwaring and Derek Trotter share aspirational, social and/or cultural pretensions. Gary from Men Behaving Badly exhibits an undeflatable, unreflective, charmless, laddish sense of superiority. Sitcom protagonists are often endearing in spite of their foibles. Classic sitcom humour is essentially mild though increasingly preoccupied with ‘will they, won’t they’ sexuality.
Another strain of British sitcom can be perceived as emanating from The Young Ones, zany, bizarre, in your face and tastelessly edgy humour that later informs Absolutely Fabulous. This kind of comedy can possibly be traced back to sketch series such as At Last The 1948 Show, Not Only But Also and Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The former put the Cambridge graduate John Cleese with more familiar, relatively staid comedy actors such as Ronnie Barker (Porridge, Open All Hours) and the facially remarkable comedy talent, Marty Feldman. Whereas The Young Ones was rough around the edges, to say the least, Absolutely Fabulous, with its array of female acting talent gathered around Saunders in front of the camera and Ruby Wax behind it as script advisor, is somehow more contained, focused and reliable, allowing it to place one foot in the classic British mainstream. To demonstrate that the sitcom genre is an open concept, still developing, exploring generic boundaries, there are recent series such as The Office, Spaced, The Book Group, Peep Show and then from the USA The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Sex & The City, although examiners are still very unsure about the latter’s qualification to be seen as sitcom.
One difficulty in considering sitcom is the seemingly endless list of series. I have not got round to taking into account I Love Lucy, Sergeant Bilko, Roseanne, Third Rock From The Sun, The Good Life, Ever Decreasing Circles, Terry And June, Butterflies, Are You Being Served? , Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Rising Damp….
