Gender roles/predisposition

[MrJim]

Not joyless, but joy doesn't sell, at least as comedy. Comedy is all about the cheap laugh, line after line. Joy is more like the heartwarming stuff that people watch at Christmastime. Laughing at Family Guy and laughing because the Lord came through for you or someone else are different. The latter is so rare, I don't think that we really know how to laugh at it.

I remember some years past watching "Everyone Loves Raymond", and it dawned on me that nearly every joke was some kind of putdown or sarcasm over and over. It was the kind of humor I used to do (maybe it still comes out), but watching it that day I realized just how evil it really is...finally hit me one day when someone at work said I reminded them of the Dr. Cox character on "Scrubs"

 

[Nadiine]

I remember some years past watching "Everyone Loves Raymond", and it dawned on me that nearly every joke was some kind of putdown or sarcasm over and over. It was the kind of humor I used to do (maybe it still comes out), but watching it that day I realized just how evil it really is...<snip>

exactly. That's what I kept noticing too and why it turned me off
to all sit coms.
I'm ok with sarcasm, but the put downs are just ridiculous.
Very negative & I used to be that way too; maybe that's why it
bothers us so much?

 

[edie19]

I remember some years past watching "Everyone Loves Raymond", and it dawned on me that nearly every joke was some kind of putdown or sarcasm over and over. It was the kind of humor I used to do (maybe it still comes out), but watching it that day I realized just how evil it really is...finally hit me one day when someone at work said I reminded them of the Dr. Cox character on "Scrubs"

and yet "Everyone Loves Raymond" was "recognized" as being a quality "family" show, same with "Home Improvement"

I guess the feeling is that as long as there's a father who participates in the family it doesn't matter whether or not he's portrayed as a buffoon

 

[Blank123]

its a formula that caught on, the same with teenage daughters being portrayed as airheads who only care about boys and clothes is another formula that caught on. Or the in laws, especially the mother-in-law being portrayed as horrible monsters to be avoided at all costs.

but there are comedies hat have sane paretns with brains and morals (Boy Meets World, Family Matters, for instance) and there are comedies that has the husband having to be the saviour for the wife like Dharma and Greg and of course then there's shows like All in the Family where both the husband and wife are pretty stupid and even the kids can be pretty stupid - though they're usually the ones playing straight man to the idiotic parents.

Even British comedies which aren't usually as formulaic that i've seen as American shows but even Keeping Up Appearances shows an older lady who's as ditzy and vain as you can get and her poor smart down to earth husband who is doomed to following her forever and indulging her every whim. Its just indulging another stereotype towards women yet its funny.

But thats modern day western humour for you, in order for it to be funny someone has to play the moron and someone has to play the braniac. I don't think its wrong to find the humour in it as long as you realize its not a reflection of reality.