Critiquing the Sitcom: A Reader (The Television Series) (Television and Popular Culture)

ISBN: 0815629834

Author: Joanne Morreale

Condition: New

This is the first anthology that examines the TV sitcom in terms of its treatment of gender, family, class, race, and ethnic issues. The selections range from early shows such as I Remember Mama (George Lipsitzs Why Remember Mama? The Changing Face of a Womans Narrative) to the more recent Roseanne (Kathleen Rowe Karlyns Roseanne: Unruly Woman as a Domestic Goddess). The volume also looks unflinchingly at major controversies; for example, the NAACP boycott of the stereotypical yet wildly popular Amos n Andy and the queer reading of Laverne and Shirley. These diverse essays constitute a veritable history of postwar American mores. Some are classic, some forgotten, but all indicate the importance of considering text and subtext (social, historic, industrial) in the critical study of television. A final chapter by Joanne Morreale bids sitcoms adieu with the cultural spectacle of Seinfelds last episode.