After my tutorial with Fred, I came to the conclusion that I should be focusing on what goes into an animated sitcom rather than the aesthetics. We also identified that US animated sitcoms are a lot more successful that UK ones, which is quite interesting to me. This has lead me to think that I could possibly make a pitch bible or even a short pilot of a UK animated tv show that juxtaposes US sitcoms.
Fred advised me to identify 5 examples of US animated sitcoms that I could use as case studies.
- The Simpsons
- Family Guy
- South Park
- Bojack Horseman
- The fifth one could either be Archer, Adventure time or Rick and Morty. These 3 options are quite different from my core 4 options, however they are still entertaining and modern and have that classic popularity that the core 4 have.
10 Key quotes
1 - Family guy takes a more fractured approach. relaxing or completely deconstructing the rules of narrative structure to allow for pop culture references and non sequiturs."
2 - "The pay off for the viewer is the pleasure that accompanies the "Knowingness" of recognising an obscure reference and the status elevation this can bring within a community of fans" - Plays on the viewers mind
3 - "Family guy has been accused of all the crimes of blank parody: meaninglessness, plagiarism, banality, laziness, and being formulaic." - " Oh Yeah!: Family guy as Magical Realism?" - Alison Crawford
4 - "Logic is at the root of all humour" - How to write for animation - Jeffrey Scott pg 132
5 - "We ought to make people forget they are watching a cartoon" - Matt Groening on realism in the Simpsons
6 - the idea of a "channel surfer" - "...channel surfer is actually an extremely savvy and aware individual, deftly skipping over persuasive advertising and assessing narratives in a short space of time.." - Douglas Rushkoff
7 - "Family guy certainly provides many opportunities for viewers to exercise this kind of mental agility because program parodies and interruptions provided by characters from other shows come thick and fast" - "Oh yeah!"
8 - "The real vs fantasy debate has been central to all manner of cartoon criticism... The emphasis however, always falls on how physical violence affects the behavior of the child-spectator, never on the broader, social analysis of the effects of misogyny, racism, or classism." pg 134 - Cartoon and comic classicism: High-Art histories of Lowbrow Culture
9 - "Hank Hill is no victim. And he's not a clueless buffoon like Homer Simpson. He's the kind of guy TV usually makes fun of but Mike Judge, a Longhorn State resident, clearly has affection for. Not quite redneck, he's neither upscale nor downscale - more like midscale" (Marin). According to this critic, Hank was represented in a way that suggested audiences were likely to identify with him rather than against him. Pork rinds and barbeque grills are popular all across America, after all, though the TV taste makers might look past them at the gas station, and the Hollywood elite might dress up their barbeque pits and backyard patios." "I am not down with that": King of the hill and sitcom satire - Ethan Thompson.
10 - "Aiming for realism, the everyday and strong emotional resonance" - "Oh Yeah"
8 - "The real vs fantasy debate has been central to all manner of cartoon criticism... The emphasis however, always falls on how physical violence affects the behavior of the child-spectator, never on the broader, social analysis of the effects of misogyny, racism, or classism." pg 134 - Cartoon and comic classicism: High-Art histories of Lowbrow Culture
9 - "Hank Hill is no victim. And he's not a clueless buffoon like Homer Simpson. He's the kind of guy TV usually makes fun of but Mike Judge, a Longhorn State resident, clearly has affection for. Not quite redneck, he's neither upscale nor downscale - more like midscale" (Marin). According to this critic, Hank was represented in a way that suggested audiences were likely to identify with him rather than against him. Pork rinds and barbeque grills are popular all across America, after all, though the TV taste makers might look past them at the gas station, and the Hollywood elite might dress up their barbeque pits and backyard patios." "I am not down with that": King of the hill and sitcom satire - Ethan Thompson.
10 - "Aiming for realism, the everyday and strong emotional resonance" - "Oh Yeah"
Statements that I want to make:
1- I want to discuss what makes an animated sitcom successful, focussing mostly on the content and referencing the aesthetics of an animation as well.
2 - The outcome I want to achieve is a "UK" equivalent to the typical animated sitcom. This is driving me to contemplate what the cultural norms are in a UK family setting. Even though almost every family can relate to the simpsons, whether that be in the uk or anywhere else, there isn't a distinct UK equivalent to an animated, family sitcom.
3 - I also want to discuss what makes a sitcom funny and relatable in the sense of realism within an animation.
4 - Does popular culture have a large impact on what people find funny?
5 - What role does "Magical Realism" play in animated sitcoms?
I still feel like my reading list is limited, so my next step is to study in depth the key points I have made through research. From the journal entries I've read, i need to find their sources as a lot of them quote other people and make relevant points. Also, after watching Rick and Morty, I think this is a good "sitcom" to reference as it is part of a new wave of sitcom animation that is at the same popularity as family guy was a few years ago, and it has completely different content to family guy.
I still feel like my reading list is limited, so my next step is to study in depth the key points I have made through research. From the journal entries I've read, i need to find their sources as a lot of them quote other people and make relevant points. Also, after watching Rick and Morty, I think this is a good "sitcom" to reference as it is part of a new wave of sitcom animation that is at the same popularity as family guy was a few years ago, and it has completely different content to family guy.
