Contemporary sitcoms casually deal with sensitive issues, which would have been forbidden fifty years earlier. As the barriers of taboo have dissolved with a new generation, violence, vulgarity, scenes of nudity and sexual references have become acceptable. No subject is left untouched and serious and controversial topics have all been transformed into comical programming.
A prime example of a contemporary domestic comedy is The Royale Family in which the one and only set is a house, and the characters spend the majority of their time sitting in front of the television. Occasionally, they talk about their sheltered lives and how they supposedly work all the time and have no time to sit down because they should be doing something else. For the casual observer, the messages may be difficult to spot, but the whole fact that the characters are so trapped by will in a life of artificial soaps and corny game shows can bring about situations where the audience can see the downsides of both watching television and having no exercise. More serious issues are brought to light in the programme too, for example the reliance on family and the life of those in relative poverty. Childbirth is a frequent topic and three different age groups show marriage issues: the grandparents, the parents and the children.
The Simpsons revolutionised situation comedy when it was first aired on 17th December 1987; a Christmas special entitled “Simpsons roasting on an open fire”. Based loosely around the life of its creator Matt Groening, the show was originally targeted at young audience but adults became captivated by the yellow characters too. It was effective because being an animated program The Simpsons was not real and subtle differences were intentionally added to enforce the idea, for example, all the characters only have four fingers. This allowed the producers extraordinary scope to effectively do as they wished and get away with it. However, people were still able to relate to the characters.
Violence is regularly exhibited on the sitcom, most notably by the notorious Itchy and Scratchy, a parody of the cat and mouse antics of Tom and Jerry. Far from being a negative factor, this is intended to highlight the amount of violence on television and how children can be easily influenced by it: in the episode “Itchy and Scratchy and Marge”, Maggie attacks Homer with a mallet after watching the gruesome cartoon. Corruption appears often too with Major Quimby and the police force as excellent examples of this.
The Simpsons also promotes family values and Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie are all intertwined in a close family unit. Despite all the troubles and mishaps they may face, the Simpsons always overcome their problems and every episode concludes with them together. Religious and racial tolerance is another topic the show tackles which characters from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds including Apu, a Hindu Indian immigrant and Krusty the clown, a Jewish entertainer. Both have had special episodes to themselves revealing that their true inner nature is just the same as anyone else.
There is an enormous amount of moral and social issues dealt with by The Simpsons. Some of these occur in episodes repeatedly, maybe to add emphasis their importance. For example, the villainous Sideshow Bob is always trying to murder Bart because he foiled him in his scheme to conquer children’s television. However, despite trying repeatedly Bob has yet to succeed. The message behind this is clear: “crime does not pay”.
After thirteen seasons and 276 episodes, The Simpsons have become a cultural phenomenon with Bart being named as one of the most influential figures of the 1990s. With celebrity guest voices and innumerable catch phrases like “eat my shorts” and “d’oh!” the programme will forever be a celebrated classic.
In contrast to The Simpsons, Southpark does not possess any deep underlying themes or messages. Similar to other sitcoms like “The Young Ones” and “Faulty Towers” It only exists purely for entertainment values. The coarse language and often obscene story lines may be offensive to some viewers, especially when the show involves four eight year old children as the central characters. However, its twisted humour still succeeds to amuse many others.
A typical episode portrays the strange day to day lives of Eric, Kenny, Stan and Kyle. Kenny dies a gruesome death in each episode and this has become a trademark for the program. The show, similar to The Simpsons and all other memorable sitcoms, has also spawned many catch phrases. Southpark specialises in creating comedy from another person’s misfortune. If everybody took Southpark too seriously then it has the potential to offend anyone and everyone.
The level of perception in situation comedies varies from one to the next. Whereas The Simpsons contains a spectrum of deep messages, other sitcoms like Southpark have no meaning whatsoever except to entertain viewers. Although both are animated shows, the former still possesses similarities to contemporary society and its themes are very realistic issues.
