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grant - I definitely suggested Newhart et al because of its meta. That ending, right there, is one of the reason why I love television - to alternatively portray reality and then deny reality altogether. It's a nice dichtomy.
On another note,
I'm taking this course right now that explores the fundamental root causes of current American literature/pop culture, and it's very fascinating. A good chunk of current American thought comes from Jonathan Edwards, a philosopher well liked in Europe, but forgotten now. It all comes from this Puritan idea that's twofold: 1)constant fear and 2)constant search for perfection. This Puritan idea gave rise to all sorts of conventions, but most notably, the American Gothic tradition, or modern horror. As perfectly enunciated by grant here, the horror genre is characterized by a foreign element that disrupts the balance. According to philosopher Jonathan Edwards, conflict is the essence of human spirit. We search for resolution to the eternal conflict represented by God versus Satan (whom the Puritans thought very real), and this resolution is order and balance to something unbalanced (whether it be our relationships, or a talking raven).
What's my point? A lot of American sitcoms are based on a very altered version of this. For example, most American sitcom have this: balance at the beginning, then something alters the balance (character's schemes, a guest star, whatever) and the resolution of the episode involves the restoration of balance, but this balance is going to be completely thrown off by next episode, as Edwards would agree because conflict (the big, general one) is never fully resolved.
One could easily argue all literature/art is based on this idea. I'm just providing a link between Puritanism, the Enlightenment, and early American philosophy (of pragmatism) and twentieth century American culture.
It's just food for thought. |
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