Research into Sitcoms (secondary product)

Research into Sitcoms

Defining a sitcom:

“Audiences make sense of texts by comparison to genre expectations”. This is a quote from Brett Mills; I felt this was a very important quote, as when we create our own Sitcom we must keep this in mind, making sure the storyline fits with the genre of an original sitcom.

After doing some research into Sitcoms, I have found out a little history into Sitcoms, as well as the narrative, the stereotypes, and the ideologies used in Sitcom.

Sitcoms are usually studio produced in front of a studio audience, whose laughter is heard, although they are never seen. By doing this it breaks the strict realism of the programme, adding to the ‘light heartedness’ of a sitcom. According to Patricia Holland “Classic British Sitcoms have pushed unacceptably close to the bone, with racist Alf Garnett in ‘Till death do us part’ and the lovable hustler Del boy in ‘Only fools and horses” Therefore Sitcoms do tackle serious issues but in a safe, fun way.

The pleasures of a Sitcom are to release the tension from the audience through laughter. These is why Sitcoms have been so popular in the past and still are today, so when creating our own Sitcom we must keep this in mind.

“Over a longer period of time, at least for the past 3 decades, they have been a consistent part of the flow of the evening television entertainment, a necessary and vital ingredient in television controller’s strategy for keeping the audience tuned in” (S.Thornham) Sitcoms play a big part in television, taking massive amounts of viewing figures, such as friends, and the inbetweeners. Sitcoms are a way in which for people to relax and laugh at other people, making them feel better or less stressed with their own lives. However they also show clear messages mainly about serious problems. “Despite the very large range of targets and joking and humour in situation comedies, the programmes do confront to relatively strict conventions”

Sitcoms tend to only be weekly half-hour slots, therefore limiting the number of characters and cheap set. Producers use studios with one or at the most two sets, which could be written and produced by an in-house team of screen writers and production staff.

After researching through a number of books: The Television Handbook by Patrica Holland (2000), The Television Genre Book by Glen Creeber (2001)

Media Studies: A reader By Sue Thornham , Caroline Bassett,  and  Paul Marris (1999),Television Sitcom by Brett Mills (2005). I found the two main basic ‘situations’ of Sitcoms are those of home and work. Something we need to encounter into our Sitcom.

  Family Sitcoms:

Such as ‘The vicar of Dibey’ which is about a neighbourhood, although it can also fall under the ‘Workplace’ Sitcom as well. One of the pleasures of watching a family Sitcom is to observe how bizarre some of the family set ups are such as ‘My three sons’ and ‘The Brady bunch’. These types of Sitcoms draw attention to the mayhem of family life and more gritty issues.

Work Place Sitcoms:

More about relationships in the workplace then actually the work place its self, such as the I.T crowd, which focuses on the relationships build in the office. “Often developed characterisations and actions”

The characteristics of a Sitcom:

• Narrative Structure
• Shooting style
• Performance style
• Types of actors
• Programme length
• Scheduling of programme

When creating our own Sitcom we must take these aspects into consideration.

Narrative of a Sitcom:

All forms of popular fiction involve a narrative of Tzetan Todorov, which includes a disruption, a disturbance, which is then resolved. Each 30 minute episode should include equilibrium, a disruption, recognition, an attempt to repair and a new/return to equilibrium. According to Tzventan Todorov rule of structure.  “The narrative offers the reader or viewer a transformation of the initial equilibrium through a disruption and then a reordering its components” The narrative creates a story in which the audience can relate to. Situation comedies also use the narrative to create closure after each episode so that when each new episode begins, it has a new sequence. This allows the audience to watch any episode and understand the narrative without any previous knowledge of the sitcom. 

Stereotypes in Sitcoms:

      

In the case of situation comedies stereotypes are used to identify the ideological forms. Stereotypes are forms of characterisation, which are simple, widely recognised and easy to remember, which are frequently repeated e.g. a dumb blonde.

A quote I found from the media studies book written by S.Thorham, C.Bassett and P.Morris. Which I found relevant to my research was “Forms of stereotyping in the media have been identified as part of the way in which the media define and reinforce the deviant status of part of particular groups”. I felt this fit well with the use of stereotypes in ‘The Inbetweeners’ as they are four characters known as geeky outcasts , which find it hard to fit in , hence the title of the Sitcom.

Therefore in our Sitcom we must take these into consideration, when choosing stereotypes to portray. However we mustn’t get mixed in with stereotypes and social types. “ stereotypes refer to things outside ones world” such as an overall person e.g. geek: glasses, spots, smartly dressed and clever.“ social types refer to things which one is familiar with” for example most social types turn out to be white, middle class , heterosexual and male.

Vladimir Propp came up with a theory, coming up with 8 stock characters:

1. The Hero
2. The Villain
3. The Princess
4. The Helper
5. The Donor
6. The Dispatcher
7. The False Hero
8. The Princesses Father

Not all of the characters are included in a Sitcom; there may also be more then one stock character. The Hero is the main character of the programme e.g. Will from ‘The inbetweeners’ or JD from ‘Scrubs’.   

“Stereotypes play a particular role in establishing elements of the ideologies of dominant groups” Therefore stereotypes are used to establish between social class or individuals, as well as political points.

Ideology in a Sitcom:

A quote I found from the ‘Television Genre book by Glen Creeber’ was:  “One could say that it has been the ideological flexibility of the Sitcom that has accounted for its longevity. The Sitcom has been the perfect format for illustration current ideological conflict while entertaining an audience” Over the past years Sitcoms have been used to tackle serious issues, in a light hearted way. Including political reversals to accommodate changing social and political norms.

Summary

Therefore after researching more into Sitcoms and its narrative , stereotypes and ideological meanings, I feel I have a better understanding on how Sitcoms are made and the importance of what goes into a Sitcom for it to fit under its ‘genre’ of a Sitcom. Such as including stereotypes into our programme. Also it is important in adding Vladimir Propp theory into our programme, about including stock characters such as a villain for the audience to hate, maybe this could be a boss at work, or a teacher at school . We also need to add in a Hero in which the audience can enjoy watching and maybe relate the character to them. We then need to decide if our sitcom will include laughter like original sitcoms do, or if we are not to make our sitcom stand out from others. As well as this we need to decide if our sitcom is going to be a ‘work sitcom’ or a ‘Home sitcom’ and if so why would this effect our audience , as it is more likely for families to watch a home sitcom , and our target audience is 15-35 so would a family fit best into this. We also need to include the code and conventions of a sitcom , such as the code of the narrative therefore the problem gets resolved at the end of the episode. Also include the conventions of how it relates to the genre , such as a work or home sitcom , and the characters included. Making sure the patterns portray a sitcom so that the audience can identify the genre as a sitcom.   

Bibliography:

Books:

• The Television Handbook By Patrica Holland (2000)
• The Television Genre Book By Glen Creeber (2001)
• Media Studies: A reader By Sue Thornham , Caroline Bassett,  and  Paul Marris (1999)
•  Television Sitcom By Brett Mills (2005)