Values of society Essay Example for Free

Values of hunting lodge EssayThis in itself is enkindle and is perhaps representative of the upstart day fear of corruption from foreign sources for example, Donna goes to That London for a line of business interview and returns a slightly deranged, career driven woman, so concerned with herself and her be given that she fails to notice some(prenominal) that one best friend has gone into labour and the other has gone off with Gaz, Donnas boyfriend. This does however attend back to the values of the pre-90s situation comedys like Steptoe and Son and The effective Life that family (and in this context this refers to the close ruffle group of friends) comes first. A lot of the humour in the traditional British sitcoms is derived from class note and the contrasts amid these two classes this is particularly evident in The Good Life, in which Tom and Barbara Good decide to distribute up working for a living and sort of enjoy a self-sustained lifestyle. This is in bang -up contrast to their neighbours and friends, the Leadbetters, who are actually upper class and disparaging of Tom and Barbaras new lifestyle choice.The mass of dis correspondence (as relating to Todorovs theory) came from a problem the Goods faced in maintaining their self-sufficiency whether it be a lapse back into upper-middle-class for Barbara or Toms pigheadedness causing a minor problem to develop. They are continually challenged by Margot Leadbetter, who is a stereotypical snob with no sense of humour, who tolerates but doesnt understand their choice at all. While The Good Life was being produced in the 1970s, a revival of sorts was taking place concerning self-sufficiency and the growth snobbism of the middle class.The show was hailed as a great support to the cause as it showed it in a very positive light Tom and Barbara face a great deal of adversity in turning their S come forwardh London home into a small farm, however they always overcome these issues and equilib rium is restored. Margots complete misunderstanding when it comes to self-sufficiency is representative of the snobbery of the middle-class towards those beneath them why should you do the work by, for example, growing your own food, when you can just drive to the shops and buy it?However Tom and Barbara get a good deal of joy from producing their own goods with varying degrees of success, and despite Margots disapproval, they are happy its a very positive message, that you dont need material worth to have a good life. The caseful of Margot can be identifyn as a precursor to the character of Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances, a caricature of a middle class social climber.It again employed class distinction as the main source of comedy, that is between Hyacinth and her unemployed sister Daisy, her husband Onslow and younger sister flush who are an exaggeration of the working class, in that they dont do any work at all and instead spend all day in front of the television. The driving omen of Keeping Up Appearances is that Hyacinth, constantly striving to be higher in the community, is never happy, while Daisy, Onslow, Rose and Daddy are quite an literally happy as pigs in muck.This is further explored in ii Pints of Lager and a mailboat of Crisps, where the main cast (with the possible exception of Donna) have no ambition whatsoever and are altogether happy to just continue with their working class lifestyle. British sitcoms tend to be very character driven a prime example of this is My Family, an exploration of the life of long-suffering dentist Ben Harper and his equally long-suffering family.Propps character theory can be applied thus Ben, the protagonist and wedge heel, his wife Susan, the alternate hero, his son Nick, the idiot who provides comic relief, his daughter Janey the princess, and his son Michael, who acts as the donor, often providing Ben with the manner to achieve his goals at a price. Each family member also periodical ly acts as the villain, the antagonist to Ben. The sitcom, then, is very formulaic the hero wants something (usually peace and quiet, in My Family), the antagonist has it or the ability to tiller it happen.This formula acts as something of a alleviate blanket to the audience they are aware that whatever happens to the characters, it will be resolved and the status quo restored by the end of the episode these are the audience expectations of the sitcom genre regardless of the era it was produced in, therefore the raw material structure of the sitcom has not been changed much than a slight amount to reflect society. The idea of a nuclear family in sitcoms is not a new one, in recent years however it has beseem more common to challenge this view Jam and Jerusalem is one such example.In the first episode the village doctor Mike Vine dies and leaves his wife Sal as a single parent. Sals nipperren are self-aggrandising up but her nature and role as village nurse, along with her inception into the village chapter of the Womens Institute, means she effectively acts as a parent to much of the community. Jam and Jerusalem also challenges social ideals by including a character afflicted by a mental illness Rosie Bales, a middle immemorial woman with the mentality of a child, has an angry and violent alter ego known as Margaret.This cellular inclusion is an attempt to challenge the stigma of mental illness as a weakness and presents Rosie as a functioning member of society, even holding down a job at the local give up factory and being a member of the WI. Jam and Jerusalem is considered a very down to acres sitcom, in that it doesnt utilise situations unusual to the surroundings it doesnt attempt to jump the shark, a phrase coined to describe the growing desperation of the producers of the sitcom Happy Days who created ever more bizarre plotlines in an attempt to eke out further profits.Set in the rural Cornish town of Clatterford, disequilibrium is caused by everyday situations such as the death of a family member or a bad harvest affecting the income of farmers. By doing so the producers have appealed to a wider audience, not merely interested in watching a programme which is, in effect, the same format every episode, but realistic situations and a life they can relate to. This is a reflection of the growing maturity of sitcom audiences and the need to approach the genre in a more sensitive manner.The strength of Sal Vine as a single mother is a response to the feministic values explored in AbFab however Eddie failed as a single mother, leaving her daughter to her own devices and even, in effect, becoming the child in the relationship herself. These views are challenged by My Family, in that My Family represents the nuclear family both parents are shown to be a part of the upbringing of the children, however with various degrees of success showing the strengths and weaknesses of both the mother and father.Class distinction is als o explored in Jam and Jerusalem, with Sals daughter Tash being a hippy and living on a commune with her illegitimate son at the beginning of the programme. Tashs alternative lifestyle is a focal point in the second series with her impending wedding to Spike a traditional wedding proves to a fault expensive and complicated so the whole village, including the other members of the WI, pull together to create a home-grown gipsy wedding, showing that the differences between classes can be overcome by a common goal.Each sitcom studied reflects some aspect of society the class distinction and its associated friction in Fawlty Towers, family life in My Family and lifestyle choices in The Good Life and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. Ultimately the sitcoms that we see today are echoes of the ones that have gone before. Whilst their setting and even content may have changed the central structure remains the same whilst the traditional family may have been replaced in such prog rammes as Two Pints, the essential format has remained the same.The reason for this development and renewal is that sitcoms need to change and evolve as society does a perfect family such as The Brady Bunch holds no real appeal to a modern audience as Two Pints or My Family because dysfunctional families are commonplace in modern life, and make plotlines about family life much easier to write. Sitcoms have a close link with the social and economic environment from which they emerge, however, they are ultimately about people, and people do not change.Bibliography 1) http//www. mediaculture-online. e/fileadmin/bibliothek/stafford_sitcoms/stafford_sitcoms.pdf 2) Image and Representation profound Concepts in Media Studies Nick Lacey 1998 3) Narrative and Genre Key Concepts in Media Studies Nick Lacey 2000.4) The Media Studies Reader Tim OSullivan and Yvonne Jewkes 1997 5) Exploring the Media Text, Industry, Audience Barbara Connell 2008 6) Media Studies AS and A2 Jacquie Bennett 2 005 7) Media Studies Second Edition Stuart Price 1998 1 http//www. mediaculture-online. de/fileadmin/bibliothek/stafford_sitcoms/stafford_sitcoms. pdf 2 http//www. mediaculture-online. de/fileadmin/bibliothek/stafford_sitcoms/stafford_sitcoms. pdf.