I am pondering about the world view of sitcoms. It seems that a
sitcom always reflects a life of a tribe in a stable economical
niche. It is the human microcosmos that most of us have
essentially lost.
The view is quite perverse, though. There is something icky about
it. It is actually a tragedy, but instead of facing the deep
sadness of the situation we laugh at the failings of the people
in it.
Nothing in sitcom world really ever changes. A normal storyline
is that a problem is introduced to the tribe, the tribe tries to
counter the threat clumsily, situation turns worse, but the
problem is eventually solved by an accident somehow. Seems like
the sitcom has an extra character, god, playing the redeeming
luck bit every time.
Of course, the other favourite storyline is that an individual
gets a chance of proving themselves somehow, but as he clumsily
aims towards the objective and finally pushes forward, the
trickster god intervenes and spoils the plan.
Or in the third case, the person is succesful but it turns to
be a curse in the guise of a blessing. It is a tragedy but we
laugh. God wins again.
Not all comedy is like this, of course. And there are other
types of shows that are about similar extreme tribal conservatism.
It is an interesting selection as well: Police, prison, hospital,
law and detective shows. But these are mostly "serious" shows,
even though the triviality of the plot is often not hidden at all.
How about Crime Scene Investigation? Basically the show is about
a bunch of people keeping the status quo going safely forward.
But there is something profoundly hollow about it. Is everyone
having some existential crisis on this show? It feels like they
are in some different reality, a reality that only comes to
close contact with the real world in order to observe it and
consult justice. The people are immaterial. They are the gods
beyond the rainbow bridge. They are some idealized tribe. We don't
laugh because they are what we hope for. But they are icky too,
because they are so inhuman.
Strangely it seems that the hero's journey, which might look more
unlikely to become reality than either or the tribal scenarios,
still has some psychological reality that is ultimately more
compelling than the two tribes. Thus it has to become reality
sometimes, even in the face of the entropy of the tribes.
Maybe the tragic tribe is the lauchpad of the hero. The sickly
hum of routine and stumbling over the same banana peel all over
again makes you decide to sacrifice yourself in order to bring
about something that the god tribe symbolizes.
