Quote: Marc P @ August 10 2009, 4:22 PM BSTYes but not all of them are set in one!
You don't have to explain the joke! I got it! 
What can sitcoms teach me about Britishness? Page 5
Quote: Marc P @ August 10 2009, 4:22 PM BSTYes but not all of them are set in one!
>_<
Be helpful.
Well I am trying. But we don't want to write his essay for him. Just pointing him in the right direction and Please Sir does address class issues really well - it's at the heart of it pretty much like the film To Sir With Love that was it's inspiration.
He's not said anything about an essay. And even if he is writing one, what's the problem? I don't mind giving him information. It's called researching, finding out information from more reputable and/or knowledgable sources.
Quote: Aaron @ August 10 2009, 5:32 PM BSTHe's not said anything about an essay. And even if he is writing one, what's the problem? I don't mind giving him information. It's called researching, finding out information from more reputable and/or knowledgable sources.
Fair enough.
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ August 10 2009, 4:21 PM BSTApart from Marc's excellent suggestions...?
It could be argued nearly all British sitcoms are about class in some way; Fawlty Towers, To The Manor Born, Steptoe, Dad's Army, The Royle Family.
Ricky Gervais does a lot of comedy of embarressment, but it can be found in everything from Fawlty Towers to Lead Balloon.
Any particular episodes or scenes?
It's sometimes difficult to know exactly how a work of fiction illustrates a culture if one is not familiar with that culture.
Quote: gardenshed @ August 10 2009, 5:45 PM BSTAny particular episodes or scenes?
It's sometimes difficult to know exactly how a work of fiction illustrates a culture if one is not familiar with that culture.
Just generally. What British sitcoms have you seen?
Quote: gardenshed @ August 10 2009, 5:45 PM BSTAny particular episodes or scenes?
It's sometimes difficult to know exactly how a work of fiction illustrates a culture if one is not familiar with that culture.
Sometimes they illustrate it directly by drawing on isssues/themes/mores etc even on a tonal basis. Othertimes it's an abstruse connection. Don't want to get into the whole structuralism thing but as one poster has in his sig, we all reveal something of ourselves as artists in the art form that we create, so I guess a society reveals something of itself in any art forms created in that society. In a way all great art speaks to the general through the individual to the general. So even if it is a sitcom set in an entirely fictional/fantasy construct it is still of its time and it is for the historians/analysts to deconstruct the societal encoded messages within. For me the best example if you want to study it is Are You Being Served? as a really insightful analysis of how English society was changed by the second world war - the class system, the pecking order - men/women - etc etc. The writers had no such plan in mind I am sure but I am also sure they picked the department store and it's hierarchies very much as a model for modern living and contemporary mores juxtaposed against the ideals and petty snobberies that came before. Some change for the good and some for the bad. Which is a constant in all sitcoms in a way.
Turning it around, are there any sitcoms that reflect Americaness? I can think of a lot of great American shows, but none which I think capture America.
New thread in the Foreign forum for that question, please.
Quote: Aaron @ August 11 2009, 1:00 PM BSTNew thread in the Foreign forum for that question, please.
Christ, you're even more pedanty than usual today.
Back on topic, Peep Show does a good job of reflecting the solipsism at the heart of today's culture.
Coming Of Age subtly illustrates the British obsession with sex.
Quote: Tim Walker @ August 11 2009, 1:11 PM BSTComing Of Age subtly illustrates the British obsession with sex.
Is Britain the only country obessed with sex, though?
Quote: Tim Walker @ August 11 2009, 1:11 PM BSTComing Of Age subtly illustrates the British obsession with sex.
Quote: chipolata @ August 11 2009, 1:13 PM BSTIs Britain the only country obessed with sex, though?
The only country obsessed who don't actually do it. And find it all embarrassingly silly when they do.