Theorists on Humour in Sitcom

Theorists: some media theorists have analysed sitcoms and have written research papers/ books about the messages and values present in sitcoms. Some of their points refer to how comedy works which is a key part in audience pleasures and tv comedy. Here are some of the points they make:

Mick Bowes: "Sitcom sometimes presents us with a variety of 'families' which are deficient in some way and this lack of wholeness is sometimes used as a source for humour" "Clearly, images of men and women in TV sitcoms are meant to present viewers with types of characters that they can easily recognize and relate to. What they also do however is to retain traditional images of men in gender‑related roles. Sitcom rarely challenges any of these traditions through the characters and situations it uses." "due to the relatively short nature of sitcom episodes, character identities have to be established very early on" David McQueen: "a classic narrative structure exists for each episode of a sitcom'

‘the most commonly stereotypical representations of femininity include 'domesticated, weak and passive' Richard F Taflinger: 6 elements are needed for comedy to take place- read in detail online HERE Glen Creeber: Outlines how traditional male values are associated with characteristics of rationality, efficiency, and ruthlessness  Joanna Meehan: Suggests 'good' women are represented as submissive, sensitive and domesticated Suggests 'bad' women are represented as rebellious, independent and competitive