Edited
By Mary M. Dalton & Laura R. Linder
State
University of New York Press, $27.95, 337 pages
I
was walking through one of my favorite playgrounds the other day, and found a
sparkling gem.
My
playgrounds are not your typical kid’s playground; rather, mine are
bookstores or libraries, real or on-line. With apologies to Will Rogers, you
might say I’ve never found a bookstore I couldn’t like. In fact, most of
the major publishing houses are plugged into my list of favorite Internet
sites, so I can prowl through them at least once a week. The precious stone I
found on this outing was The Sitcom Reader: America
Viewed and Skewed.
Upon closer examination, I became increasingly impressed with its cut,
clarity, colour and carat. I knew
I had stumbled on a rare find.
The
Sitcom Reader
is a collection of 21 essays about U.S. television sitcoms, and is edited by
Wake Forest University Professor of Communications Mary Dalton and Marist
College Media Arts professor Laura Linder.
The essays are divided into seven sections, and are parceled into
topical areas such as “Conventions of the Genre,” “Gender
Represented,” “Race and Ethnicity” “Situating Sexual Orientation”
and “Implications of Ideology.” In fact, the way these essays have been
“cut” into sections is both simple and admirable. Like brilliant diamonds,
each of the essays sparkles on its own, but becomes truly dazzling when
positioned alongside other fine works. For example, editor Mary Dalton’s own
work “Our Miss Brooks: Situating Gender in Teacher Sitcoms” is nicely
complemented by Judy Kutulas’ “Liberated Women and New Sensitive Men:
Reconstructing Gender in the 1970’s Workplace Comedies.”
Clarity
You
have to admire the clarity of the work, too. Hardly a word is wasted, and, as
a writer, I found myself saying, ‘I wish I had written that.’
With work by media studies or cultural writers and scholars such as
Dave Marc, Michael Trueth, David Pierson and Lori Landay, this collection of
essays serves to illuminate an aspect of the ever-popular television genre,
presenting several facets educators and cultural critics may have overlooked.
Landay’s essay on the evolution of “I Love Lucy,” for example, so
clearly sets out why the 1950’s CBS sitcom became an archetype for the
emerging television genre that it will likely become a staple in media studies
or cultural studies classrooms everywhere. Even those who have carefully
researched “I Love Lucy” will find the essay sheds light on how Desi-Lu
Productions stage-managed the construction of reality that blended the real
life news of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and the fictional life of the
Ricardo family on “I Love Lucy.” And, yes, even 50 years ago there were
carefully inserted product placement mentions that benefited Lucille Ball,
such as the maternity clothing worn on the program by Lucy Ricardo (and
available at a store near you.)
Color
The
imperfections in this gem would have to be color. Only three of the essays
deal with sitcoms featuring black actors, and this volume contains no
sustained discussion of racial diversity in television. In fact, The Sitcom
Reader makes more mention of the increasing visibility of gays than
blacks.
Carat
The
Sitcom Reader
is weighty not just in its contents, as was mentioned earlier, but also its
selection of writers and the sources they quote. A brief biography is included
for each of the 21 authors, and although not household names in the world of
media education, they are nonetheless powerful writers providing thoughtful
analysis of this constantly evolving genre of television. Clearly, media
education or media literacy courses are being offered in many far-flung
locations, and the circle is growing. The
bibliographic citations from each of the 21 essays have been edited into one
major bibliography that runs 18 pages: further weighty evidence that watching
“the tube” can be taken seriously as a field of study.
Just
as television sitcoms have a mass appeal, so will The Sitcom Reader find
an appreciative audience. As for me, having found this one, I am keeping my
eyes open for other such radiant gems – especially if they shine up soap
operas or sports broadcasting.
Mike Gange teaches media studies and journalism at Fredericton High.