Critical Analysis of TV Shows - Essay Example

Movies and shows that depict comedy, pun and jokes are a huge hit in the film industry today, with a constantly increasing audience. The comedy that is shown on television today ranges from PG rated adult content to short jokes intended for children. There is an extravagant variety of shows and movies that relate themselves to comedy; this essay will be making use of shows that are featuring today and a couple of those that were a sensation in comedy drama in their time; namely these are “Girls”, “Roseanne”, and “30 Rock”. The listed shows are a few of the many comedy series that are aired, however, this essay will be taking into consideration how each of these shows demonstrate the subversive potential of comedy which is to be able to portray serious issues or critique on an established norm or value of society, in a way that depicts both humor and elicits a response from the audience in the sense that they are made to think about the issue or debate. “…the funniest, noblest comedy has always been rooted in hostility to oppression….comics around the world use their art to combat political and social tyranny in everyday life” (Jenkins, Ronald S. 1994) “Girls” is an adult comedy show aired first on April 2012, since then it has released two more seasons to keep the flare that rose from the first season’s release. Although it is a comedy drama show, “Girls” like almost every other comedy show, has the tendency to portray a subversive side of comedy, in fact, this characteristic of comedies is shown in the very first episode of the first season, the pilot episode. In this episode, the protagonist, namely Hannah, a 24-year old aspiring writer who lives in New York, is refused financial assistance from her parents. There is an argument while the family is having dinner and Hannah is finally refused any money from her parents for her future endeavors. This in itself is a somewhat common issue found in households; it portrays modern day reality where many households with parental occupants that are not financially secure, or do not have high paying jobs, are unable to support their children sufficiently so that they may pursue careers that they wish to, in this case, Hannah who is aspiring to be a writer is obviously not experienced or skilled enough to be able to support herself, as is the case with every individual beginning a career. Her parents refusal to fulfill her financial requirements in a comical way, suggests that Hannah belonged to that kind of financially insufficient household we find in society today. The pilot episode goes on to take up a an even more subversive position by showing that Hannah loses her already unpaid job or internship at a local publishing house, after which eventually she releases her post traumatic stress with her boyfriend, Adam, with whom she frequently sleeps. This part of the episode describes how young adults get frustrated after facing a sequence or chains of failure and upsetting news and eventually end up performing acts that go against the norms and values of society. “30 Rock” is another great comedy hit that was released in 2006 and has since then released several more follow up season for the fans. This show too has numerous instances where a potentially significant issue or topic is discussed under the pretext of laughter. In episode 12 of the first season of “30 Rock”, there is such an instance. The episode kicks off with Jack inviting Liz to come with him to a special event, the birthday of Gerhardt Hapsburg. Jack’s ex-wife, Bianca, spots the duo and goes over and Jack decides to pretend that Liz is his girlfriend, encouraging Liz to play along. Jack then goes on to brag about so many women that he has been involved with after Bianca broke up with him. However, Bianca does not seem to be roused by Jack’s long list of women that he has gone out with, instead she is shown to be jealous that Liz has been able to keep Jack happy all this time. This entire scene is shown in a highly comical way with little jokes and puns that are found in the usual comedy scene, along with it is an illustration of some characteristics of society and it’s structure that promotes a bit of negativity and offend certain norms. There is an element of pretence and bloating in the part where Jack lies about being with Liz and all those women, while Bianca becomes envious. While these characteristics of social interactions are existent today, they are highly undesirable as they promote ill intentions and incur displeasure which in turn may result acts that cause harm to others. “Roseanne” is an old classic. A comedy show that was released in 1988 and kept on airing till 1997, since then it has released nine full seasons. The show has episodes that last approximately 22 to 25 minutes which is a small duration but it is able to provide good, essential comedy and a handful of subversive critique to go with it. In the episode called “This Old House” of season 9 of this show, the protagonist Roseanne decides to visit her old house where she lived with her parents. While going from room to room, Roseanne and Jackie are made to recall their days in this old house and all the ordeals that they had gone through while living there. The flash backs show the times when Roseanne was beaten by her father with a belt and scolded at. This makes Roseanne reconsider a certain punishment she had decided to inflict on Darlene who had disobeyed and skipped school to attend a comic book convention with a boy named David. The episode holds perhaps the strongest sense of subversive content that portrays a part of society today which is intolerant and extensively against the common norms, values and ethics of society. First we are shown that Roseanne’s father used to beat her for mistakes, this act in itself is deemed very wrong and unacceptable in society, but that does not mean that things like this do not happen. The issue here is obvious, corporal punishment at such an extent is not acceptable at all. Works Cited Jenkins, Ronald S. Subversive Laughter: The Liberating Power of Comedy. New York: Free Press, 1994. Print. Read More