Discussion

For this session, we take a look at small-screen America, namely the ubiquitous American television format of the sitcom. From M*A*S*H through Cheers, The Simpsons to Frasier, American sitcoms have been set in war zones, drinking holes, suburbs and penthouses. Many have lived and died unspectacularly, whilst others have become cultural juggernauts. Here we look at how this quintessential American medium has shaped national identities in the age of globalisation.

In Matthew Henry’s excerpt, America’s most beloved cartoon family is considered alongside discussions of modernity, race, sex, class and the shifting circumstances of American culture across the 20th and 21st century. How can The Simpsons figure in wider discussions of American Studies?

In Tison Pugh’s introduction to his text The Queer Fantasies of the American Family Sitcom, he interrogates how heteronormativity in the sitcom is no longer the cultural safeguard it once was and how we should continue to dismantle similar media hegemonies.

Reading

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