What sticks out for many people about Seinfeld is that it is a show about nothing. Well, it really isn’t about nothing, but it is about small, seemingly unimportant social dilemmas or faux pas. In fact, the lives of the main characters seems so unimportant, shallow, and self-centered that what happens to them seems rather meaningless. In that respect it is a … Continue Reading →

The Cosby Show is easy to watch. The conflicts are straight forward and easily resolved in thirty minutes. The characters are kind, generous, and likable. The setting is untroubling–a well off, middle to upper-middle class town home in a city. The show seems to deliberately build bridges between majority white viewers and minority black and other viewers, reinforcing messages of responsibility … Continue Reading →

As you can see from the show and your research, All in the Family was a revolutionary, ground-breaking sit com. The show took the social issues of its time and moved them right into the living room. Archie and his wife Edith typically represent the view of an older generation, which their daughter and son-in-law show changing social views. And today’s … Continue Reading →

Lucille Ball was a comic genius and a pioneer.  I hope that you loved the episodes of I Love Lucy. Lucille had her roots in Vaudeville, and brought that tradition to the television screen. She knew the value of brilliant physical humor, as in the scene with the chocolates on the conveyor belt.  She also knew how to use a structure and … Continue Reading →

In the episode of The Honeymooners, where Alice and Ralph fight over getting a loan to purchase a television, one element that might not be immediately obvious is the conflicts of gender and power. Alice wants a television, and it seems likes she wants one because she’s bored. She seems forced to spend much more time at home than Ralph. She … Continue Reading →

So here’s a superb little video that introduces commedia dell’arte. I really like this video because it gives a nice background. Now, here’s one more video, that gives you a sense of the masks and characters.  What is great about these videos is that they show how structured these performances were, and then how there could be improvisation within that structure. It … Continue Reading →

My eleven year-old son complained a few months ago that he didn’t want to go see a movie.  He said, “all it is is just conflict and resolution.”  Apparently they had been going over stories or narratives or something at Elon Elementary, and the boy figured out that he had had enough conflict in his life. It made me laugh. … Continue Reading →

One Sunday, the speaker at church was giving, as you’d expect, a serious discourse. I don’t remember the topic, but I do remember one detail. The speaker was reading a quote, and the quote had some flowery language. As the speaker read the quote, what he was supposed to say, supposed to say, was “organism.”  Yep, his mispronounced that, and … Continue Reading →

One of the things that makes Plautus’ comedy easy to understand and interesting is his use of “stock characters.” A stock character is a stereotypical character in a work of fiction. Such characters are simple; they are a stingy old man or a young man in love, a flatterer, or a pimp. Two stock characters featured in our comedy include … Continue Reading →

Please take time to examine all of the Hogarth paintings. They are a combination of fine, solid English painting, good drawing, nice attention to detail, some French color and whimsy, solid moral teachings, and Where’s Waldo. The series is like a novel, and we get to watch the fall of two houses. The very first painting, The Marriage Settlement, shows … Continue Reading →