‘Weed’s’ is a new series currently shown on Sky One in the U.K. Its cross-genre belongs to the US Sit-com about life in Suburban America, with a twist and is a hybrid of both ‘family comportment’, features elements of ‘sexual exploration’1 and deals with the issue of fractured families within some of the characters presented. The protagonist is a recently widowed middle age female and in order to continue to support her kids and maintain her comfortable lifestyle, she chooses to deal marijuana to the middle class adults in the suburbs. However, the series never really dwell on the ethics of drug taking, legalization and dealing as a negative or positive representation.
‘Weeds’ is set in a fictional town called ‘Agrestic’. which is based in California, however the characters and representations manage to create a realistic portrayal of the world that we live in. the sit-com adheres to Todorovs linear narrative structure and can be easily compared to other recent U.S sit-coms such as ‘Desperate Housewives’, mainly due to its portrayal of women and in the way the episodes parody the idea of living in Suburbia and life within the ‘American Dream’.
The opening credit sequence alone is packed with key signifiers which both acknowledge and challenge the ideologies behind suburban life. The first shot is an artists impression of the building plans for the town of ‘Agrestic’ as the theme song ‘Little Boxes’ begins, the song sounds as if it was sang in the 50’s however is a parody of the false representation of the American dream and how the capitalist society that we live in is slowly turning everyone into passive consumers. The next over-head shot within the sequence features newly built houses of Agrestic, the mise-en-scene of the towering, dark hillsides in opposition with the pastel shaded houses offering a picturesque stereotype of Suburbia America. The next establishing shot of a large fountain by the road, with three S.U.V cars driving past all identical in colour and size, the next shots also feature repetition of suburb ideologies and perceptions, the first of this example is of an open park area, the mise-en-scene denotes the sterile image of suburbia through clean-cut grass, and alienated use of sparse trees, three versions of the same middle-aged male can be seen running into the frame and forming a line, wearing white vest and shorts. Further duplications of the same image is also present in the shot of a coffee house that shows the young male (and his four clones) entering the coffee house and the same male featured on the left leaving the shop with a latte in one hand and mobile phone in the other, the stereotype of the ‘yuppie’ runs parallel with the lyrics repetition of how the houses, surroundings and people ‘all look just the same’. The lyrics also mention respected white-collar jobs such as a ‘lawyers, doctors and business executives’ to be the most common stereotype for the middle-class American. The sequence shows a birds-eye view of the stereotypical suburban street and all the identical cars pulling out in unison to convey the concept of the daily ‘rat-race’ of going to work, to earn money so they could fulfill their consumer needs, for the hard-working image is just what the American Dream ideology suggested about its respected society.
This has been a popular concept in contemporary sit-com genres; more producers have been exploring ‘not just the façade of middle-aged, middle-class life’2 but daring to explore the ‘underbelly’ also. This is mainly achieved in the characterizations created.
The audiences’ expectations from the intro alone would include the knowledge that a stereotype within American culture is being parodied and that it belongs situation comedy genre. The title of the show itself gives some indication to the main plot of dealing ‘weed’, which has been a taboo in the media and always demonized in mainstream productions. The intro is also original and hints on how it differs from other television series. The general target audience for this type of series is middle-aged women, men and teenagers. Overall, most of the audiences’ pleasures for watching sit-coms have derived from ‘watching the family’s dysfunctional set-ups’3. In this case, it has added comedic elements from the family sitcom genre with the themes of a ‘melded family’, the protagonist lives with brother in-law and focuses on the drama of ‘neighbourly comportment’4.
The main character being represented in ‘Weeds’ is Nancy Botwin, a middle-aged, strong attractive female and her abilities to cope with affording her comfortable lifestyle and managing to keep authority over her two sons: Shane, ten and Silus, sixteen. She realizes that dealing drugs seems like the only viable option. Her appearance at first challenges the audience perception of a stereotypical ‘drug dealer’ which is an image normally represented in ‘gangster’ type films and films during the blaxploitation period. And for the most part she is a strong woman in a patriarchal society trapped under the ‘male gaze’5
However, her drug dealer is an African-American Middle-aged woman, with young cousin, Conrad who is a stereotype of a drug pusher which is expressed by the dialect and colloquial slang used to portray a lower-class urban African-American, which have rarely been represented positively in American sit-coms.
I have chosen to analyse the opening scene from series one, episode 8. In order to explore the main stereotypes being represented and challenged within the series also the use of dramatic irony to create a balanced narrative between drama and comedy.
The camera angle to the opening of the first scene, pans up over a tombstone and into a long shot of all the main characters, the establishing shot and black clothes suggest a form of funeral ceremony. The youngest child Shane, is stood in the centre of the frame the mise-en-scene of him wearing a Karate suit, with yellow belt, this is symbolic of his inner-emotions and his frequent displays of his struggles to protect the family, just as his father had done. (Also that his biggest influence/addiction in life is television, and often tries to play out what he witnesses, such as making his own terrorist hostage video, creating a gangster rap about seeking revenge on his bully, emulates his favourite television show ‘Bear Hunt’ and shot a mountain lion in the face.)
The following cut shows a mid shot of the rabbi singing which signifies the fact that the protagonists are from a contemporary Jewish background. The low angle shot of the gravestone being unveiled is a point-of-view shot of the widowed mother, which helps the audience to engage in empathizing with the main character. The rabbi’s body language shows that he is displeased with the families’ general conduct; he rolls his eyes as the youngest son as he bows to his fathers grave. The Rabbi’s portrayal is quite a stereotypical image because of the strict Jewish Ideologies that govern their appearance and way of life. In the Rabbi’s eyes, Nancy and her brother in-law, Andy, would not be considered as Jews because of their behaviour. Andy is single, middle-aged and unemployed male who plays the stoner-uncle role to his nephews, his recreational lifestyle is visible through his attire (mise-en scene of sunglasses and band t-shirt-casual, laid back, narcissistic qualities). Andy interrupts the rabbi to explain that his fathers’ absence is due to him taking part in a poker game and wishes him good luck, whereas gambling is strictly forbidden in Judaism. Nancy blasphemes in response; she would also not be included into the Jewish community because she had not assimilated to her husband’s religion. This raises the issue of the representation of contemporary Jews in America and the debate that if Jewish communities are able to assimilate their religion in order to keep it up to date or if they are compromising their entire belief system in the Western world.
There are two separate sub-plots running throughout this episode, running parallel with each other, they are adhere to Levi Strauss’ Binary Opposition because it deals with the themes of escapism vs. reality, happiness vs. sadness, freedom vs. control. The first sub-plot shown is the neighbours, Celia and Dean constantly arguing about their marriage, Celia is materialistic, narcissistic ‘Desperate Housewives’ stereotype who is presented as a bad parent: in previous episodes she often comments on her plump 11yr old daughter’s weight problem and calls her ‘Isabelly’, slipped chocolate laxatives into Isabelle’s secret chocolate stash, Celia is on concerned with societies judgments of her and her family based on materialistic matters. The actress that plays the role of Celia describes her character as a ‘metaphor for the world she lives in, this false prefab society that is springing up in American Suburbia’.
The second sub-plot featured in this episode concern Andy, one of the main protagonists and Doug who is an accountant and member of the town council, this challenges the stereotype of the hippie or dysfunctional teenager for television now portrays white collar workers getting high. After they return from Judah’s unveiling, they find Nancy’s personal stash of weed has been partially eaten by a rat in the house, the males see it as there job to kill the rat. When the characters Andy and Doug are contrasted with Celia and Deans relationship it provides ‘Dramatic Irony’6 for the reader. Celia’s dilemmas explore serious real-life situations such as cancer, adultery, façade of marriage over materialism. Whilst Andy and Doug provide light relief, and parody the characters that would pass as functional by societies standards.
These two sub-plots are slowly merged together to create a parallel montage which offer symbolic and referential codes that are metaphors for its setting in the suburbs. The music to the montage is called ‘Song for the rats’ which relates directly to Andy and Doug’s plan to catch the rat. A low angle shot of Doug sitting cross legged, smearing peanut butter on the floor as an attempt to coax the rat. The mise-en-scene features children’s books and board games at his feet which make him appear childlike. Andy’s actions are also of a childish manner, Andy runs into the frame with a BB Gun, attempting to aim for the rat. The cultural theory that links to this is Freud’s Psychoanalytical theory of regression in adulthood. How, through their drug taking experiences, they are able to alleviate all responsibility and consequence and re-explore the freedom of being a child. This reinforces the myth that smoking weed is likely to cause various mental problems in later life. The next shot almost positions the audience as a fly-on-the-wall, watching Andy search for more weapons to entrap the rodent. Andy’s child-like state is brought back to harsh reality when he discovers a photograph showing his brothers’ nuclear family, a depiction of a functional happy family. This image is contrasted with Celia and Dean in their kitchen, Celia places her wedding ring on her middle finger. Deans P.O.V shot makes sure the insult is not missed while Celia throws her wedding bands into the garbage disposal, her body language then becomes relaxed as Dean frantically tries to retrieve them, this connotes how Celia feels liberated now that she is not controlled by the rules of their recent marriage façade, the ring was a symbol of her being controlled by male dominant hegemonies. Both had previously committed adultery with different ethnic partners.
Andy and Doug relieve their troubles by over-indulgence; they are both trapped within their own vices, and methods of escaping their fears of reality, in this scene they are indulging in junk food mainly consisting of condiments, chocolate syrup, pretzels, cereal and jelly beans. However, the act of smoking weed has not been demonized in this sequence but added an ironic innocence to their characters. At this point the pace of editing quickens and draws the opposing subjects closer together in alternate dimensions creating an accelerated montage.
Direct contrasts of Celia and Dean sitting besides each other in a spacious pink room in silence, with a glass of wine each. Juxtaposing Andy and Doug led down on the sofa laughing out loud, the P.O.V shot informs the reader of what the characters are watching, a pastiche of crocodile horror genre where a man is eaten by a crocodile, this portrays the couch potato stereotype as the ‘passive viewer’ as suggested in the hypodermic needle. The final shot of the montage acts as a key signifier of metaphors and themes within the comedy. The low ground shot and pans towards the rat eating the bait, sounds of the characters laughing is continued. The camera zooms in on the rat, the camera technique approaches the rat as if it was from another animals P.O.V thus making the rodent seem innocent and vulnerable. The rat is a metaphor for the ‘rat-race’ that keeps Suburban America wrapped up inside its own ideologies of materialism. In suburbia America, social standing is synonymous with material wealth.
The final extract to the sequence portrays Nancy as an authorative, strong and a positive representation of women in Western culture. Laura Mulvey’s theory proposed that any female being filmed was trapped under the ‘male gaze’ and unable to challenge the ‘peeping’ viewer. However, in this episode a well known Hispanic, drug pusher is spying on her to prevent her from stealing his business from outside her house. The audience sees through his eyes in a P.O.V shot, looking through the scope of binoculars, Nancy can be seeing getting out of her car and catches a glimpse of the spectator and acknowledges this by briefly looking directly at the camera. In order to entrap the Hispanic drug pusher she plays upon the ‘passive female’ role to make her seem vulnerable to him, she drives off knowing that he will follow her. Nancy finally stops her S.U.V when they are in a closed in alley way, the mise-en-scene of cold, cement walls would be reminiscent from gangster/crime genres where women would be rendered defenseless in a desolate urban area. Nancy continues to use her sexuality to lull him into a false sense of security then fights back by putting a bb-gun to his crotch and threatens him. This is symbolic of how some of the characters feel inadequate to her and how she almost stands for a femme fatale stereotype in some aspects because she takes control of a male situation,( the gun has semiotics7 of phallus which is the symbol for masculinity). And sexually exploits to threaten their masculinity.
The institution behind ‘weeds’ is Showtime Entertainment and never performs in front of a studio audience unlike its rival channel, of ‘HBO’ network channel. However, ‘Weeds’ is not restricted to the censorship regulations that mainstream channels conform to, this allows the themes and contents of the narrative to be completely explored and represented. The lack of censorship also allows the diegesis and characters to be seen as ‘realistic’ and ‘well-rounded’.
There was a surprising amount of marketing done to spread the word of ‘weeds’ from Billboards, primetime advertisements to posters in pub rest-rooms.
‘Weeds’ was written by female Jewish writer, Jenji Kohan. Who has also written episodes for other original sit-coms such as ‘Sex & the City’, ‘Will & Grace’ and written an entire series for the ‘The Fresh prince’ in 1990. Academics were criticized for their deeper interest in more ‘serious matters’ instead of comedy8. However, Kohan has managed to weld the both together in a dark comedy that mirrors our world.
In conclusion, the sitcom mainly adheres to the traditional situation comedy conventions and the main comedic element present in ‘Weeds’ is dependant on ‘combining comic talent with dramatic character and action.’ Also how it is able to make realistic portrayal of reality and diverse culture when it’s in a fictional setting. The sitcom also differs from other sitcoms because it’s re-presenting the past ideologies and constantly tries to debate them. Whilst dealing with a whole new theme of drug trafficking to raise a family and new female protagonist role.
Bibliography:
‘The television genre book’ 1998
Glen Greeber, Toby Miller and John Tulloch.
Bfi publications.
References:
1 ‘The television genre book’ 1998
Glen Greeber, Toby Miller and John Tulloch.
Bfi publications.Page 65
2. Http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article.html
Professor Robert Thompson, director of the centre for the study of Popular television at Syracuse University, New York.
2/5/05
3-4. Page 66 – ‘The television genre book’
5. Laura Mulvey’s Feminist Theory – Lecture notes – Kath Davies- Nov
6. Roland Bathes, Semiology, Mythologies.
7. Dramatic irony was most present in Apocalyptic genres.
7. Studying Comedy – Page 61- ‘The Television Genre Book’
‘Weeds’ is set in a fictional town called ‘Agrestic’. which is based in California, however the characters and representations manage to create a realistic portrayal of the world that we live in. the sit-com adheres to Todorovs linear narrative structure and can be easily compared to other recent U.S sit-coms such as ‘Desperate Housewives’, mainly due to its portrayal of women and in the way the episodes parody the idea of living in Suburbia and life within the ‘American Dream’.
The opening credit sequence alone is packed with key signifiers which both acknowledge and challenge the ideologies behind suburban life. The first shot is an artists impression of the building plans for the town of ‘Agrestic’ as the theme song ‘Little Boxes’ begins, the song sounds as if it was sang in the 50’s however is a parody of the false representation of the American dream and how the capitalist society that we live in is slowly turning everyone into passive consumers. The next over-head shot within the sequence features newly built houses of Agrestic, the mise-en-scene of the towering, dark hillsides in opposition with the pastel shaded houses offering a picturesque stereotype of Suburbia America. The next establishing shot of a large fountain by the road, with three S.U.V cars driving past all identical in colour and size, the next shots also feature repetition of suburb ideologies and perceptions, the first of this example is of an open park area, the mise-en-scene denotes the sterile image of suburbia through clean-cut grass, and alienated use of sparse trees, three versions of the same middle-aged male can be seen running into the frame and forming a line, wearing white vest and shorts. Further duplications of the same image is also present in the shot of a coffee house that shows the young male (and his four clones) entering the coffee house and the same male featured on the left leaving the shop with a latte in one hand and mobile phone in the other, the stereotype of the ‘yuppie’ runs parallel with the lyrics repetition of how the houses, surroundings and people ‘all look just the same’. The lyrics also mention respected white-collar jobs such as a ‘lawyers, doctors and business executives’ to be the most common stereotype for the middle-class American. The sequence shows a birds-eye view of the stereotypical suburban street and all the identical cars pulling out in unison to convey the concept of the daily ‘rat-race’ of going to work, to earn money so they could fulfill their consumer needs, for the hard-working image is just what the American Dream ideology suggested about its respected society.
This has been a popular concept in contemporary sit-com genres; more producers have been exploring ‘not just the façade of middle-aged, middle-class life’2 but daring to explore the ‘underbelly’ also. This is mainly achieved in the characterizations created.
The audiences’ expectations from the intro alone would include the knowledge that a stereotype within American culture is being parodied and that it belongs situation comedy genre. The title of the show itself gives some indication to the main plot of dealing ‘weed’, which has been a taboo in the media and always demonized in mainstream productions. The intro is also original and hints on how it differs from other television series. The general target audience for this type of series is middle-aged women, men and teenagers. Overall, most of the audiences’ pleasures for watching sit-coms have derived from ‘watching the family’s dysfunctional set-ups’3. In this case, it has added comedic elements from the family sitcom genre with the themes of a ‘melded family’, the protagonist lives with brother in-law and focuses on the drama of ‘neighbourly comportment’4.
The main character being represented in ‘Weeds’ is Nancy Botwin, a middle-aged, strong attractive female and her abilities to cope with affording her comfortable lifestyle and managing to keep authority over her two sons: Shane, ten and Silus, sixteen. She realizes that dealing drugs seems like the only viable option. Her appearance at first challenges the audience perception of a stereotypical ‘drug dealer’ which is an image normally represented in ‘gangster’ type films and films during the blaxploitation period. And for the most part she is a strong woman in a patriarchal society trapped under the ‘male gaze’5
However, her drug dealer is an African-American Middle-aged woman, with young cousin, Conrad who is a stereotype of a drug pusher which is expressed by the dialect and colloquial slang used to portray a lower-class urban African-American, which have rarely been represented positively in American sit-coms.
I have chosen to analyse the opening scene from series one, episode 8. In order to explore the main stereotypes being represented and challenged within the series also the use of dramatic irony to create a balanced narrative between drama and comedy.
The camera angle to the opening of the first scene, pans up over a tombstone and into a long shot of all the main characters, the establishing shot and black clothes suggest a form of funeral ceremony. The youngest child Shane, is stood in the centre of the frame the mise-en-scene of him wearing a Karate suit, with yellow belt, this is symbolic of his inner-emotions and his frequent displays of his struggles to protect the family, just as his father had done. (Also that his biggest influence/addiction in life is television, and often tries to play out what he witnesses, such as making his own terrorist hostage video, creating a gangster rap about seeking revenge on his bully, emulates his favourite television show ‘Bear Hunt’ and shot a mountain lion in the face.)
The following cut shows a mid shot of the rabbi singing which signifies the fact that the protagonists are from a contemporary Jewish background. The low angle shot of the gravestone being unveiled is a point-of-view shot of the widowed mother, which helps the audience to engage in empathizing with the main character. The rabbi’s body language shows that he is displeased with the families’ general conduct; he rolls his eyes as the youngest son as he bows to his fathers grave. The Rabbi’s portrayal is quite a stereotypical image because of the strict Jewish Ideologies that govern their appearance and way of life. In the Rabbi’s eyes, Nancy and her brother in-law, Andy, would not be considered as Jews because of their behaviour. Andy is single, middle-aged and unemployed male who plays the stoner-uncle role to his nephews, his recreational lifestyle is visible through his attire (mise-en scene of sunglasses and band t-shirt-casual, laid back, narcissistic qualities). Andy interrupts the rabbi to explain that his fathers’ absence is due to him taking part in a poker game and wishes him good luck, whereas gambling is strictly forbidden in Judaism. Nancy blasphemes in response; she would also not be included into the Jewish community because she had not assimilated to her husband’s religion. This raises the issue of the representation of contemporary Jews in America and the debate that if Jewish communities are able to assimilate their religion in order to keep it up to date or if they are compromising their entire belief system in the Western world.
There are two separate sub-plots running throughout this episode, running parallel with each other, they are adhere to Levi Strauss’ Binary Opposition because it deals with the themes of escapism vs. reality, happiness vs. sadness, freedom vs. control. The first sub-plot shown is the neighbours, Celia and Dean constantly arguing about their marriage, Celia is materialistic, narcissistic ‘Desperate Housewives’ stereotype who is presented as a bad parent: in previous episodes she often comments on her plump 11yr old daughter’s weight problem and calls her ‘Isabelly’, slipped chocolate laxatives into Isabelle’s secret chocolate stash, Celia is on concerned with societies judgments of her and her family based on materialistic matters. The actress that plays the role of Celia describes her character as a ‘metaphor for the world she lives in, this false prefab society that is springing up in American Suburbia’.
The second sub-plot featured in this episode concern Andy, one of the main protagonists and Doug who is an accountant and member of the town council, this challenges the stereotype of the hippie or dysfunctional teenager for television now portrays white collar workers getting high. After they return from Judah’s unveiling, they find Nancy’s personal stash of weed has been partially eaten by a rat in the house, the males see it as there job to kill the rat. When the characters Andy and Doug are contrasted with Celia and Deans relationship it provides ‘Dramatic Irony’6 for the reader. Celia’s dilemmas explore serious real-life situations such as cancer, adultery, façade of marriage over materialism. Whilst Andy and Doug provide light relief, and parody the characters that would pass as functional by societies standards.
These two sub-plots are slowly merged together to create a parallel montage which offer symbolic and referential codes that are metaphors for its setting in the suburbs. The music to the montage is called ‘Song for the rats’ which relates directly to Andy and Doug’s plan to catch the rat. A low angle shot of Doug sitting cross legged, smearing peanut butter on the floor as an attempt to coax the rat. The mise-en-scene features children’s books and board games at his feet which make him appear childlike. Andy’s actions are also of a childish manner, Andy runs into the frame with a BB Gun, attempting to aim for the rat. The cultural theory that links to this is Freud’s Psychoanalytical theory of regression in adulthood. How, through their drug taking experiences, they are able to alleviate all responsibility and consequence and re-explore the freedom of being a child. This reinforces the myth that smoking weed is likely to cause various mental problems in later life. The next shot almost positions the audience as a fly-on-the-wall, watching Andy search for more weapons to entrap the rodent. Andy’s child-like state is brought back to harsh reality when he discovers a photograph showing his brothers’ nuclear family, a depiction of a functional happy family. This image is contrasted with Celia and Dean in their kitchen, Celia places her wedding ring on her middle finger. Deans P.O.V shot makes sure the insult is not missed while Celia throws her wedding bands into the garbage disposal, her body language then becomes relaxed as Dean frantically tries to retrieve them, this connotes how Celia feels liberated now that she is not controlled by the rules of their recent marriage façade, the ring was a symbol of her being controlled by male dominant hegemonies. Both had previously committed adultery with different ethnic partners.
Andy and Doug relieve their troubles by over-indulgence; they are both trapped within their own vices, and methods of escaping their fears of reality, in this scene they are indulging in junk food mainly consisting of condiments, chocolate syrup, pretzels, cereal and jelly beans. However, the act of smoking weed has not been demonized in this sequence but added an ironic innocence to their characters. At this point the pace of editing quickens and draws the opposing subjects closer together in alternate dimensions creating an accelerated montage.
Direct contrasts of Celia and Dean sitting besides each other in a spacious pink room in silence, with a glass of wine each. Juxtaposing Andy and Doug led down on the sofa laughing out loud, the P.O.V shot informs the reader of what the characters are watching, a pastiche of crocodile horror genre where a man is eaten by a crocodile, this portrays the couch potato stereotype as the ‘passive viewer’ as suggested in the hypodermic needle. The final shot of the montage acts as a key signifier of metaphors and themes within the comedy. The low ground shot and pans towards the rat eating the bait, sounds of the characters laughing is continued. The camera zooms in on the rat, the camera technique approaches the rat as if it was from another animals P.O.V thus making the rodent seem innocent and vulnerable. The rat is a metaphor for the ‘rat-race’ that keeps Suburban America wrapped up inside its own ideologies of materialism. In suburbia America, social standing is synonymous with material wealth.
The final extract to the sequence portrays Nancy as an authorative, strong and a positive representation of women in Western culture. Laura Mulvey’s theory proposed that any female being filmed was trapped under the ‘male gaze’ and unable to challenge the ‘peeping’ viewer. However, in this episode a well known Hispanic, drug pusher is spying on her to prevent her from stealing his business from outside her house. The audience sees through his eyes in a P.O.V shot, looking through the scope of binoculars, Nancy can be seeing getting out of her car and catches a glimpse of the spectator and acknowledges this by briefly looking directly at the camera. In order to entrap the Hispanic drug pusher she plays upon the ‘passive female’ role to make her seem vulnerable to him, she drives off knowing that he will follow her. Nancy finally stops her S.U.V when they are in a closed in alley way, the mise-en-scene of cold, cement walls would be reminiscent from gangster/crime genres where women would be rendered defenseless in a desolate urban area. Nancy continues to use her sexuality to lull him into a false sense of security then fights back by putting a bb-gun to his crotch and threatens him. This is symbolic of how some of the characters feel inadequate to her and how she almost stands for a femme fatale stereotype in some aspects because she takes control of a male situation,( the gun has semiotics7 of phallus which is the symbol for masculinity). And sexually exploits to threaten their masculinity.
The institution behind ‘weeds’ is Showtime Entertainment and never performs in front of a studio audience unlike its rival channel, of ‘HBO’ network channel. However, ‘Weeds’ is not restricted to the censorship regulations that mainstream channels conform to, this allows the themes and contents of the narrative to be completely explored and represented. The lack of censorship also allows the diegesis and characters to be seen as ‘realistic’ and ‘well-rounded’.
There was a surprising amount of marketing done to spread the word of ‘weeds’ from Billboards, primetime advertisements to posters in pub rest-rooms.
‘Weeds’ was written by female Jewish writer, Jenji Kohan. Who has also written episodes for other original sit-coms such as ‘Sex & the City’, ‘Will & Grace’ and written an entire series for the ‘The Fresh prince’ in 1990. Academics were criticized for their deeper interest in more ‘serious matters’ instead of comedy8. However, Kohan has managed to weld the both together in a dark comedy that mirrors our world.
In conclusion, the sitcom mainly adheres to the traditional situation comedy conventions and the main comedic element present in ‘Weeds’ is dependant on ‘combining comic talent with dramatic character and action.’ Also how it is able to make realistic portrayal of reality and diverse culture when it’s in a fictional setting. The sitcom also differs from other sitcoms because it’s re-presenting the past ideologies and constantly tries to debate them. Whilst dealing with a whole new theme of drug trafficking to raise a family and new female protagonist role.
Bibliography:
‘The television genre book’ 1998
Glen Greeber, Toby Miller and John Tulloch.
Bfi publications.
References:
1 ‘The television genre book’ 1998
Glen Greeber, Toby Miller and John Tulloch.
Bfi publications.Page 65
2. Http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article.html
Professor Robert Thompson, director of the centre for the study of Popular television at Syracuse University, New York.
2/5/05
3-4. Page 66 – ‘The television genre book’
5. Laura Mulvey’s Feminist Theory – Lecture notes – Kath Davies- Nov
6. Roland Bathes, Semiology, Mythologies.
7. Dramatic irony was most present in Apocalyptic genres.
7. Studying Comedy – Page 61- ‘The Television Genre Book’
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