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Home , Alia Shawkat, Angry Boys, Arrested Development, Cringe comedy, Documentary comedy, Mitchell Hurwitz

MOCKING THE DOCUMENTARY: An exploration of aesthetic and production elements in as intersectional cross-

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MA Media Studies Television and Cross-Media Cultures

Master Thesis

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MOCKING THE DOCUMENTARY: An exploration of aesthetic and production elements in Arrested Development as intersectional cross-genre

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June 2017 Word Count: 22 538

Thesis Supervisor: 2nd Reader: Dr. Toni Pape Dr. Mark Stewart

2 CONTENT

TABLES & FIGURES 4

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Genre and Genre Theory 5 1.2. Research Quesons 6 1.3. Research Object 6 1.4. Methodology 7 1.5. Chapter Structure 7

2. FROM THE REAL TO THE UNREAL 2.1. Introducon 9 2.2. Defining Documentary 9 2.2.1. Documentary Modes and Characteriscs 11 2.2.2. The Purpose of Documentary 13 2.3. The Relaonship between fact and ficon 14 2.3.1. Documentary Transformaon and Mutaon 15 2.3.2. The Entrance of the 16 2.4. Conclusion 16

3. THE MOCKING OF DOCUMENTARIES 3.1. Introducon 17 3.2. Defining Mocumentary 17 3.2.1. Convenons of Mockumentary 18 3.2.2. Degrees of Mockumentary 19 3.3. The and Mockumentary 21 3.3.1. Vérité 23 3.3.2. 24 3.4. Conclusion 27

4. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT AS AN INTERSECTIONAL CROSS-GENRE 4.1. Introducon 28 4.2. “This is the Story…” 28 4.3. Arrested Development Through the Lens of Genre 29 4.3.1. How does Arrested Development Comment on Documentary? 29 4.3.2. How does Arrested Development Transform the Sitcom? 35 4.3.3. Arrested Development as an Interseconal Cross-Genre 42 4.4. Arrested Development as Social Crique 44 4.5. Conclusion 47

5. CONCLUSION 48

REFERENCES 50

3 TABLES & FIGURES

1. TABLES 1.1. Summary of Arrested Development as an Interseconal Cross-Genre 43

2. FIGURES 2.1. Visual Representaon of Arrested Development as a Cross-Genre 49

4 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Genre and Genre Theory

Genre theory discusses convenons that are found in similar texts and employs those convenons to draw connecons between the texts and society (Mikesell, online). By establishing how one text relates to others, the expectaons of the reader are shaped. Examples of popular television include drama, comedy, sitcom, documentary, and serials. Genre assists audiences to guide their decisions to consume specific media. Some media texts can be neatly classified as one genre, but occasionally, a “re-invented” product or text originates that defies the narrow constraints of a specific genre and thus almost transcends, or even escapes a narrow restricve genre categorisaon. Such a text would sll rest on tradional genres, while also posioning fing into another genre or a new trope of an exisng genre. This dissertaon intends to explore the show, Arrested Development (Fox: 2003–06; Nelix: 2013–present), by subjecng the content and format to an analysis of narrave genres, codes, convenons, and style. The techniques used in Arrested Development appear to ulise aspects of the original sitcom, documentary, drama, serials, and comedy while sll falling into the broad genre of “comedy”. The show is clearly influenced by the concept of postmodernism, which in essence means that the text is aware of itself or meta. Mikesell states that postmodernism is oen used as commentary on established genres and narraves (online). This popular show that has aracted a relavely small but passionate community, is typical of cult media intersecng with mainstream culture, resulng in a series with “high-profile, mainstream success” (Leitch, 2013). This has invited and challenged me to undertake this invesgaon into Arrested Development and its precise genre descripon, especially in light of the

5 recent announcement (17 May 2017) on the show’s Twier and Facebook pages that fans can expect fih season as Arrested Development return to Nelix in 2018.

1.2. Research Questions

The primary research queson which guided my study is as follows: How does Arrested Development arculate an assemblage of various genres in relaon to techniques, aesthecs and producon elements associated with the genres of documentary and sitcom?

The following sub-research or secondary research quesons that I will also explore and answer as extensions of the above queson are:

i. How has documentary influenced the ficonal genre of mockumentary? ii. How has the sitcom genre fractured in using documentary and mockumentary codes and convenons, and how has this development changed sitcom aesthecs and producon? iii. How does Arrested Development comment on and crique documentary? iv. How does Arrested Development push the boundaries of sitcom? v. How does Arrested Development deliver social crique?

1.3. Research Object

I myself am an avid viewer of series like The Office (US: 2005 - 2012), Parks and Recreaon (2009-2015), , Arrested Development and other similar producons. I have oen contemplated which genres some of these shows would be categorised as and why, as they oen adopt documentary techniques within the context of a sitcom. Arrested Development applies certain codes and stylisc elements of documentary, but sll embraces the ficonal nature of sitcom. I consequently proceeded to develop my research proposal following a literature review of documentaries, , and . The research quesons that I developed assisted me to inquire how mockumentaries apply aesthecs, humour, producon and narrave inquiry, and if/how mockumentaries have retained specific elements of documentaries when is applied to a ficonal situaon and characters. The conceptualised research quesons guided the secondary research part of my literature review and a primary research secon where I applied qualitave data analysis to establish what elements, styles, codes, convenons I can idenfy in Arrested Development, in order to put a fing genre label on the producon. Following my research into documentary and mockumentary, I will analyse Arrested Development. I will be looking at the codes, convenons, style and structure used in these texts, i.e. voice-over narrator, archival documents, footage or photographs, fly-on-the-wall footage,

6 camera techniques, etc. In addion, I will also examine other relevant genres that may be of note when discussing Arrested Development, such as sitcoms, drama, and reality series.

1.4 Methodology

I will apply the methodology of textual analysis. Textual analysis has the purpose to idenfy and invesgate specific characteriscs of a body of material. According to Leedy and Ormrod (2013), this qualitave research methodology focuses “on any verbal, visual or behavioural form of communicaon”, and it can thus be useful in the analysis of television content as well. I will use the methods of purposeful data collecon where I will idenfy and select relevant examples of the specific material from Arrested Development to compare how producon and aesthec aspects of the documentary genre are used in ficonal television with the primary purposes of entertainment and humour. I will use documentary film theories to explore and establish genre convenons of documentary from which mockumentary borrows the handheld camera, fly-on-the-wall footage, the “talking head”, archived material and footage, interviews, amongst others. I will further draw on research on mockumentary from the observaons of Jane Roscoe and Craig Hight’s Faking It: Mock-documentary and the subversion of factuality (2001). These authors use Nichols’s descripon that a documentary constructs views and arguments in the same vein that a ficonal text would. They examine mockumentary through the specific relaonship which the form has with documentary. Their seminal book assumes that there are boundaries between 'fact' and 'ficon', and they examine the special nature of mockumentary's relaonship with documentary, while comparing these texts to other fact-ficon forms such as drama-documentary, reality TV, and docusoaps within a wider discussion of the current status of factual aesthecs. Finally, I will make use of a considerable body of work on Arrested Development itself to spulate how the show comments on and exposes documentary techniques, and how it challenges the sitcom form. I will also comment on the social crique of Arrested Development.

1.5. Chapter Structure

In this chapter, I have introduced my research quesons and the research object of Arrested Development. I have also given a descripon of my research design and methods of exploraon. In Chapter 2, I will commence with the literature survey on the characteriscs and funcons of documentary, how its codes and convenons have been borrowed by ficonal media texts and also how the lines of fact and ficon can oen blur. This chapter will construct a relaonship between documentary and mockumentary and contrive a comprehensive understanding of the role of documentary within mockumentary. In Chapter 3, I will examinaon of the characteriscs of mockumentary and how it pertains to the genre of sitcom. The aim is to present a comprehensive understanding of these genres while analysing the scope of mockumentary as well as the form and producon codes, and again tesng Arrested Development against these criteria.

7 The textual analysis of Arrested Development will be discussed in Chapter 4. A range of fascinang techniques that comments on documentary and which challenge sitcom will be discussed. I will also look at the implicaons of intertextuality, narrave complexity, and social crique. Chapter 5 will serve as a final summary of answers to my research quesons stated in this chapter, and I will conclude the study with some final remarks about genre, the series of Arrested Development and possible recommendaons for further study.

8 2. FROM THE REAL TO THE UNREAL: The Translation of Documentary to Mockumentary

2.1. Introduction

In this chapter, I will discuss the basic tenets of documentary and the various techniques used in documentary films. I will link these techniques to some of the documentary modes which have been established by Bill Nichols (2001). Following this overview of documentary, and its codes and convenons, I will outline some of the basic purposes of the documentary genre. In the second part of this chapter, I will examine at the relaonship between fact and ficon, the transformaon of documentary, hybrid genres, as well as ficonal genres that ulise codes and convenons from documentary.

2.2. Defining Documentary

Documentary can best be described as a film form or genre which chronicles real events set in the real world, and which audiences can view either in cinema, on television or even a computer screen. The (referenal) relaonship that the documentary has with the real world has posioned as the screen form that can “gain direct access to, and present, the most accurate and truthful accounts of the social world” (Rhodes & Springer, 206). As a result, documentary is oen considered as a reliable source of informaon. Rhodes and Springer (206) point out that it is precisely this angle on the real that allows society, audiences, and individuals to project themselves into these “accurate and truthful accounts of the social world”.

9 It is understandable that when audiences see content that originates in reality, they also perceive it as more true and factual than other material and texts that are created by , producers, and directors. When an audience member is aware of the fact that they are watching a , they will oen base it on their genre expectaons, and not expect true reality. The fact that the content of many (if not all) documentaries is situated in original and factual events and people, contributes to the assumpons of viewers that it is unmediated and real - and therefore it must be true. When the camera is the direct observer between the audience and the subject/s in the film, the viewer/s assume that what was hidden before is now open precisely as a direct result of camera observaon - they understand the camera may and can go where they can not. While we are curious voyeurs, we can sll perceive the subject or events objecvely because of the apparent connotaon of unmediated reality that has developed with documentaries.

Bill Nichols, best known for his work as frontrunner of the contemporary study of documentary film, bestows three “common-sense ideas” on documentary (7-14):

1. Documentaries are about reality or something that actually happened. 2. Documentaries are about real people. 3. Documentaries tell stories about what happens in the real world.

A definion thus begins to emerge: documentary is related to real situaons, events and people who are presented as themselves. These social actors take part in real stories that reveal an interpretaon of events, people, causes or places. Common denominators of documentaries reveal that they offer a depicon of the world that is recognisable and familiar, and suggest a unique view of reality which is presented to the viewer (Hill, 47). This is done by a documentary maker’s camera, which enters private and even inmate spaces of social life that were mostly offered previously to viewers as ficon (Ausn & De Jong, 121). It is important to note, however, that every documentary is different, and that there is no fixed definion of a documentary, especially in the present me where cable television appears to have realised a new demand for informaon and oen sensaon. Some theorists believe that the current popularity of documentaries had been fed by , although documentaries also touch on “hot” societal issues that people are deeply curious about such as climate change, food industries, popular figures, etc. While a documentary is also a story, it is a real and factual narrave of reality, and Grierson (1946) emphasises that it remains a creave and arsc product, using raw material and telling meaningful narraves about events or people. This, to me, is the crux of the genre - factual impressions and material that is uniquely woven into a mostly factual telling of real events and people. In the era before mobile phones and digital cameras, where eding was impossible without sophiscated programs or manual splicing of footage, the fallacy that “seeing is believing” was valid. However, in modern mes, that adage is no longer applicable. What cannot be argued with, however, is that visual images carry enormous power and that people are aware of these discourses about the real and unreal in what they are seeing. In many cases, people oen sll cling to the convicon that seeing is indeed more real than knowing (Hight & Roscoe, 12).

10 2.2.1. Documentary Modes and Characteristics

Rhodes and Springer point out that documentary has developed a repertoire of “specialised codes and convenons to promote and reinforce its claims to objecvity, its access to the real and truthfulness” (206). We can thus define these codes and convenons as tradional documentary characteriscs. These include voice-over or narrator, real and archived footage and images, interviews, eyewitness tesmony, realism, reconstrucons and audio. These stylisc techniques add to the ambiguity that is typically associated with documentary (Hill, 102). In a discussion of the codes and convenons of documentary, it is important to menon the different documentary modes that are exposed by documentary codes and convenons. Essenally, sounds and images are selected and arranged in conceivably disnct ways, using specific cinemac techniques and convenons. These pracces have translated to television, digital producon and the internet, and assist to determine the shape and feel of the documentary. These modes can be defined as qualies that disnguish one sub-genre in documentary from another one. When listed, these modes assist us to categorise different documentaries into formal, cinemac qualies, says Nichols (143). As such, we can find specialist, observaonal and general documentaries, which can either be a strand of or stand-alone documentary on any number of topics (Hill, 5). Nichols (2001) further suggests that there are six primary modes of documentary filmmaking that are categorised according to their different features: Poec; Expository or Exposional; Observaonal; Parcipatory; Reflexive, and Performave. It can be said that there are specific convenons which exacerbate and blur convenons within a number of modes of representaon - which are mobilised in order to advance arguments about the social world and reinforce its truth claims, which necessitates this brief exploraon. While there are six modes of documentary, I will be examining three primary modes - the expository mode, the observaonal mode and the parcipatory mode. These three represent what we might know as the classic documentary and, as Hight and Roscoe point out, these modes are best appropriated by the mockumentary (21). The exposional mode is prominent and generally the one that people would associate with documentary. While it emphasises verbal commentary and argumentave logic, according to Nichols (154); it also directly addresses the viewer, maintaining the appearance of being objecve and balanced. The use of music and sound are usually applied to emoonally persuade and cue viewers into a certain direcon. This includes spoken commentary, synchronous speech, real sounds, and music. Nichols explains that “arguments call for logic that words are beer able to convey than are images” (27). This is oen done through -of-God narraon that guides the viewer through the documentary text and describes what is happening; it relates compeng arguments by “shaping the themac structure of the text, pushing viewers towards certain readings and favouring specific arguments” (Hight & Roscoe, 16). In this manner, exposional documentaries give priority to the spoken word in order to convey the perspecve from a single, unifying source, which facilitates comprehension (Nichols, 154). The tradional authoritave male voice, white and educated, such as the trustworthy voice of David Aenborough who narrated several nature documentaries and series, seems to be preferred and popular. In conjuncon with the voice-of-God narraon, an argument is constructed with visual representaon such as interviews and/or opinions of experts, photographic evidence, and archival footage. These may include photographs, news footage, surveillance or CCTV footage, and prior interviews or video appearances. This material is coupled with narraon that guides the viewer through the argument and towards a definite conclusion (Hight & Roscoe, 18). The archived 11 images and video footage are oen presented in , which seemingly carries more authority because of historical value (17). These documents provide ‘conclusive’ evidence, thereby making the documentary narrave more authenc. These can include diagrams, maps, and charts, and aid in contextualising issues and events, as well as summarising important material in a visual way (17). In order to examine historical maers or construct an argument, the exposional mode creates validity for its truth and factual claims and incorporate many similaries with ficon. The appearance of objecvity and balance renders this mode convincing. The Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth (2006) by David Guggenheim, is a significant example of an exposional documentary. The filmmaker follows former presidenal candidate, Al Gore, on a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers and effects of global warming by means of a “slide-show” - a document edited and adapted by Gore which he presented hundreds of mes. The film makes prominent use of the voice-of-God narraon of Al Gore; it features supplementary materials such as photographs, news footage, informaon graphics, visualisaons, charts, stascs as well as interviews with experts that are all assembled and presented in thoughul and compelling ways. This film constructs an argument about climate change and global warming and guides the viewer in a certain direcon, as it raises awareness and explicitly seeks to provoke acve responses and support from viewers. Documentary’s claim to capture reality is most evident in the observaonal mode: it depicts “direct engagement with the everyday life of subjects” captured by an unobtrusive camera (31), while the filmmaker appears to be invisible as he/she adopts a fly-on-the-wall or on-the- scene presence to give the viewer a sense of being in the situaon without the presence of the filmmaker. The viewer is provided with a voyeurisc spectator posion that offers a window to reality. Natural sound and lighng, and hand-held camera shots create a sense of realism, which supports the idea of an ‘unmediated reality’ and repeatedly, subtly reminds the viewers that they are witnesses to certain actual events and subjects (16). Handheld camcorder footage, which may in other cases create a disturbing effect, oen presents a sense of immediacy and being a fly-on- the-wall as we see the story and the world in the documentary unfolding. Oen, long takes - which hold our gaze in this unobtrusive and almost invisible posion - are also popular. Hill points out that observaonal documentaries tend to follow and record a selecon of characters and their experiences over a period of me. She explains that these documentaries are typically based in a workplace or instuon while showing everyday life, maintaining either an “emphasis on slightly unusual and dramac people and events” (48) or larger-than-life characters. A fing example is the Albert and David Maysles’ documentary Grey Gardens (1974) that depicts the everyday lives of a tragic mother and daughter-duo, both named Edith Beale, who are two former upper class socialites who lived completely isolated in the derelict 28-bedroom mansion called Grey Gardens. It was in a state of decay - infested by fleas, inhabited by several cats and raccoons, had no running water, and was filled with garbage. The film is shot cinéma vérité or Direct Cinema style (as the filmmaker aempts to give an unbiased look at living stories) with a handheld camera, does not make use of any voice-over or interviews, and instead opts for an observaonal fly-on-the-wall approach. This observaonal mode is different from other modes in the sense that it does not develop around a problem or argument about the social world, but instead around an exhausve depicon of everyday life as the text is presented with unrestricted and unmediated access to reality (Hight & Roscoe, 19). There exists a noon that the images presented have a deicc relaonship with reality - the images ‘speak for themselves’ by offering the truth without any need for interpretaon (20). This is achieved through the use of diaries, reports or even biographical

12 facts (Nichols, 148). While Grey Gardens does not specifically make use of such diaries and reports, it does employ archival footage such as magazines, photographs, newspaper excerpts, etc. The parcipatory documentary mode might be interpreted as the opposite of the observaonal mode - in the laer, there is no interacon between filmmaker and subjects, and in parcipatory mode, there is an emphasis on the interacon between filmmaker and subject. Nichols explains that the filming of this mode entails interviews and/or more direct involvement, such as more informal conversaons and provocaons (31). Interviews grow into conversaons that lead to either collaboraon or confrontaon between filmmaker and subject (179). The interview style is commonly that of the ‘talking head’ where the subject - an expert or an eyewitness - directly addresses the camera and viewers (Hight & Roscoe, 20). The interviewing mode is undoubtedly one of the most common characteriscs of documentaries. The filmmaker and subject/s engage to adding factual informaon into the documentary. The more formal interview is a key method of communicaon and differs from spontaneous, social encounters. It is not a conversaon, but rather a purposeful and directed exchange of communicaon about the framework in which the story is told. Usually, these interview protocols, schedule or guidelines are determined beforehand by the director (Nichols, 189). Supersize Me (2004) directed by and starring independent filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, is an outstanding example of a documentary executed in the parcipatory mode. The film follows Spurlock’s 30-day journey during which he only eats McDonald’s. The primary footage and focal point of the film are Spurlock himself, as he talks about the experiment and its effects on him, as well as interviewing people such as medical experts, sciensts, policians, food industry professionals, and civilians. Like the exposional mode, the film also uses narraon as Spurlock himself supplies the voiceover for the film. Like the exposional mode, Supersize Me includes excerpts from newspapers, stascs, charts, informaon graphics, and visualisaons. The filmmaker directly addresses the camera in what could be described as a video diary. This verbal tesmony of Spurlock is central to the film as his 30-day journey is the focal theme in the documentary. While it can be assumed that the primary reason for all of the above-menoned aributes is to create a sense of reality, it can also contrive an atmosphere of confidence and inmacy which is not usually present in ficonal films and shows. This inmacy can evoke a sense of sympathy from the viewer as they perceive the characters and situaons as they really are without interference and bias. It becomes clear that a documentary does not necessarily have to adhere to one parcular mode, but can ulise codes and convenons from various other modes. This use of other mode codes and convenons frequently applies to the genre of the mockumentary.

2.2.2. The Purpose of Documentary

Audiences across the world have been educated in the documentary purpose and how it differs from other media products. Clearly, audiences have a natural perceptual-cognive funcon that guides them to make disncons between the real and representaon. These are categorised by Docuficons (2007) as ‘mechanical, linguisc and symbolic understandings of representaon’. A person who has never been exposed to television or film may encounter difficulty understanding a documentary, but viewers who are familiar with the tradional media, certainly develop an educated and experienced understanding of what they are seeing (Rhodes & Springer, 71-72).

13 Certain researchers refer to this as the audience or viewer’s gaze. Nonetheless, even with experienced viewers, this gaze can be shied. We insncvely understand that documentary not only documents, but also interprets, analyses and comments through this product about our social worlds (212). Documentaries serve various funcons and purposes. These include entertaining, informing the public about certain topics, educang, uncovering hidden truths, and enlightening. An Inconvenient Truth is a typical example where a filmmaker and social actor (in this case, Al Gore) aempts to bring to light the issue of climate change and change or improve society’s understanding and prompt the viewer to some extent of acon. By exposing this issue, the public is provided with informaon about their responsibilies, and human interest is aroused in the aempt to change the public’s opinions and atudes on the maer (in this case, climate change) so that they desire to take acon and demand change. Unlike An Inconvenient Truth or Supersize Me, Grey Gardens does not aempt to educate or incenvise viewers to take any acon. The story is not necessarily in public interest but instead aims to entertain and enlighten. This can be classified as a human interest story. These documentaries are oen observaonal and allows the audience to arrive at their own judgments and conclusions. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011) is another example of a documentary that entertains audiences, as the film follows and observes the life of an 85-year old sushi-maker in . Unusual or eccentric characters are oen the subjects of these types of documentaries, and the films are more arsc in the sense that they mix expressive, poec, and rhetorical elements. They emphasise subjecvity instead of historical materials. Another crical funcon of documentary is to educate people about any number of subjects. Nature Documentaries (which are mostly observaonal), such as Planet Earth (2005, 2006), is an example of an educaonal documentary that features a global overview of different organisms and habitats on earth. Historical documentaries about events or people can also be described as educaonal. There are several documentaries about prominent historical figures (Hitler, Pablo Escobar, Biblical figures, adventurers, etc.) and historical events such as the different World Wars (The World at War, 1973), the Feminist Movement (She’s Beauful When She’s Angry, 2014) or the War on Drugs (Cocaine Cowboys, 2006) that all use facts, interviews with experts and eye-witnesses, archived material, personal documents, etc. in order to inform and educate the viewer about the person or event in queson, or to give evidence of (and somemes the movaon for) specific events. Yet another popular funcon of the documentary is to uncover some hidden truth or mystery. These documentaries have become increasingly popular as mystery docu-series on plaorms such as Nelix and HBO (Making a Murderer, The Keepers and OJ: Made in America). Forgoen mysteries or events are brought to life anew by the filmmaker with the aid of interviews, archived material and re-enactments in order to get to uncover a truth that might have been regarded a conspiracy or coverup. In the same way that documentary codes that overlap, documentary funcons may also overlap. It does not have to solely educate, entertain, uncover a truth, solve a mystery, or create awareness. It can fulfil various of these funcons simultaneously.

2.3. The relationship between Fact and

In order to characterise the genre of documentary, a comparison between the concepts of ficon and documentary is paramount. One approach would be to consider documentary’s relaonship to 14 ficonal texts. Roscoe and Hight explain that this parcular approach of documentary is based on a fact/ficon dichotomy (7). The documentary becomes factual and “in direct opposion to the imaginary worlds of ficon” (7). This implicates an ethical and moral factor: something cannot be merely conjured up in order to be categorised as a documentary. Various theorists, including Nichols, have pointed out that there are no absolutes in factual documentary or ficon (8). By looking at the relaonship between ficon and nonficon, the relaonship between documentary and mockumentary also becomes clearer, as mockumentary takes place in that liminal space between fact and ficon - it represents a ficonal world by applying non-ficonal characteriscs. This enables the mockumentary to expose codes and convenons associated with documentary and in turn, allows the mockumentary to comment on the documentary form. In my analysis of Arrested Development, I will argue that by using documentary techniques in a ficonal format, the show rather comments on the documentary form, its validity, and its funcons. There is a parallel disncon between documentaries and mockumentaries that is also linked to the broad divide between ficon and nonficon. This will contribute to a finer line between documentaries with a factual, real-life content, and those with a ficonalised storyline that has the appearance and effect of truth and reality.

2.3.1 Documentary transformation and mutation into diversion/hybrid genres

The disncon between ficonal and nonficonal content is not as clear-cut as it may inially appear. The queson arises: how is documentary categorised and labeled when it has no funcon beyond entertaining and providing pleasure as if it is indeed ficon? With such radical separaon and breaks from the original format, how can these products then be defined, and what does it mean for classical media funcons of representaon and audience theories (Corner, 263)? With the rise of television and online streaming as the daily staple of mass audiences, increasing convergence has evolved. Some of the expanding forms that were birthed from the documentary genre include “scripted” or “structured” reality television that claims to be non- ficonal, but in reality, becomes so forced that it exposes itself as scripted. The docusoap (such as The Real World or Cops), which borrows from the style of documentary but resembles soap operas in terms of plot and eding, and the (such as Naonal Geographic’s Genius, or Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire), which takes the form of a dramased show that is based on real events, has become increasingly popular. These reality-based programs ulise codes and convenons of the documentary (voiceover, narraon, talking-head, fly-on-the-wall footage) to give an appearance of documentary authencity to events that are actually staged and scripted (Rhodes & Springer, 5). Hill, interesngly, says that viewers do not experience genres as disnctly different, but as part of a wide range of genres that report on facts (213). The increasing popularity for the merging between ficon and non-ficon is that it does not offer an escape from reality, but instead, a voyeurisc escape directly into reality as ficonal entertainment has become “formulaic, predictable, and, hence, boring” (Andrejevic, 8). Nonetheless, one of the biggest possible reasons why so many producers and broadcasters have adopted this “ficonal-reality” genre may well be be the result of lower producon costs. Extensive me is no longer required for pervasive camera and lighng setups, and expensive sets and costumes are no longer of crical importance. There are no special effects or substanal

15 eding, and oen in the case of reality television, actors are no longer needed but can be replaced by unpaid contestants yearning to be in the limelight.

2.3.2. The Entrance of the Mockumentary

What will audiences be inclined to think and do when presented with a format like Arrested Development? The documentary look and feel are, aer all, sll present; the tradion of dramac events, the adversing elements, the look of modern, popular video formats are all involved - this can compromise understanding of viewers. This may account for accusaons and arguments that mockumentaries have contributed to the diluon and weakening core of the iconic documentary (263), however, I believe that rather than mockumentary undermining documentary, it provides a crical reflecon on documentary aesthecs (which I will further argue in Chapter 4).

2.4. Conclusion

In this chapter, I have aempted to establish a definion of documentary and summarise the characteriscs, different modes and funcons of the genre. In addion to examining the documentary, I have also briefly examined and demonstrated the blurring of boundaries in media products and hybrid forms. While we have seen tremendous shis in the documentary genre, it is possible that the future even holds more sub-genres and hybrids for new media, where every cizen can become a journalist and social reporter of the reality around them. In the next chapter, I will focus on the sub-genre of mockumentary and its relaon to the sitcom format. It is vital to invesgate these new hybrids which enjoy huge popularity. What is essenal to this study, is that it seems to not use facts, but vesges of the tradional codes and convenons, as well as new influences or tropes.

16 3. THE MOCKING OF DOCUMENTARIES

3.1. Introduction

In the previous chapter, I have explored the funcons as well as the primary characteriscs of the genre of documentary, in preparaon for my primary analysis of Arrested Development in Chapter 4. In this chapter, I will examine the genre of mockumentary as well as its development in relaon to the medium of television and the sitcom format. This chapter will be divided into two parts. The first secon will aim to define the mockumentary genre and explore characteriscs, codes, and convenons, as well as different degrees thereof. I will then proceed to narrow down this parcular genre by looking at mockumentary in relaon to the television sitcom. I will also explore how humour is applied in television mockumentary (or comedy vérité).

3.2. Defining Mockumentary

Mockumentary, simply stated, tells ficonal stories under the guise of truth-telling by simulang the style of documentary. Hight and Roscoe define mockumentary as:

A fact-ficonal form which has a close relaonship to both drama and documentary. It not only uses documentary codes and convenons but constructs a parcular relaonship with the discourse of factuality. (7)

This definion is enrely limited to ficonal texts "which make a paral or concerted effort to appropriate documentary codes and convenons in order to represent a ficonal subject” (Hight & Roscoe, 2) and “which mimic the visual and aural convenons of the documentary in order to challenge the very foundaons and privileged status of the documentary form” (4). These ficonal texts appear like documentaries in some way or another, while they appropriate some of the documentary modes (Chapter 2). Mockumentary takes its subject from 17 the world of ficon and combines that parcular subject with the codes of documentary (Jacobs, 2000). Rhodes and Springer argue that mockumentary can be comparavely defined in terms of its funcon. In the case of mockumentary, it becomes clear that the funcons are relavely intertextual and directly subversive (14). They argue that documentary codes and convenons are appropriated by mockumentary in order to create a ficonal world, “thereby severing the direct relaonship between the image and the referent” (14). The mockumentary makes use of documentary (as a genre), documentary filmmakers, and also cultural, social and polical icons as their objects of parody. They seek to develop a relaonship with a knowing and informed audience who can appreciate both the humour and the inherent crical reflexivity of the form by ‘being in on the ’. Finally, mockumentaries provoke quesons about form — specifically, about the permissibility, usefulness, and danger of mixing the funcons of drama and documentary. Mockumentary films have the ability and license to approach the relaonship between reality and film. By pairing documentary form with a ficonal narrave, mockumentaries are in the posion to “appropriate the appearance of authencity in service of and cultural crique” (Miller, 24). It is clear that the mockumentary and documentary exist in symbiosis. While Juhasz and Lerner describe it as “idencal twins separated at birth” who are in their origins one and the same (232), it is important to remember that documentary takes place in a non-ficonal realm and mockumentary in a ficonal one - nonetheless, both of these genres aim to represent the real. It is important to note that the mockumentary landscape is fairly broad. While the genre is most oen associated with humour and comedy, there are other mockumentary producons which do not include these elements and would typically fall into the hoax or “found footage” horror genre, however, they remain mockumentaries by definion. Some examples include (1999) and the supernatural film, Paranormal Acvity (2007), which is seemingly comprised of found footage and which had viewers quesoning the authencity of the films as they seemed more real than fake. It is for this reason that I deem it necessary to narrow down the genre even more when discussing comedic television mockumentaries, which I will do in the second part of this chapter.

3.2.1. Conventions of Mockumentary

In the previous secon, it becomes clear that mockumentary is enrely ficonal, even while it fully adopts the format of documentary. It adopts this appearance by appropriang the actualisaon of documentary and borrowing codes and convenons from the documentary mode. As discussed in Chapter 2, Nichols suggests that documentary represents various characteriscs of representaon which are categorised in different documentary modes according to their features. Each mode exposes a different of the documentary and these modes are explicitly helpful in characterising mockumentaries. These documentary modes and aesthec codes are assumed in mockumentary - it essenally appears to be documentary but has been convincingly faked (Rhodes & Springer, 18). While it is common for mockumentaries to appropriate one specific mode, it is more typical for them to shi between different modes (Hight & Roscoe, 49). This becomes apparent when looking at Arrested Development as it borrows from the observaonal mode by using the unobtrusive camera that is not acknowledged by any of the characters as well as “fly on the wall” moments.

18 Arrested Development also appropriates the exposional mode by making prominent use of a voice-of-God narrator (in this case, who also produces the show) in conjuncon with many forms of archived material which ranges from news clips, photographs, excerpts from magazines and newspapers, home-video, “official” slls and footage from surveillance and traffic cameras, and clips from other television shows. Documentary modes are an easy target for mockumentary - parcularly because the ‘look’ of their codes and convenons lends itself to replicaon, but also because they posion themselves as morally superior in their representaon of the social world (49). Besides the modes that are appropriated, mockumentary also borrows many of the aesthec elements that are associated with documentary. These include handheld-camera footage, voice-over commentary, newsreel footage, and one-on-one interviews with characters as well acquaintances and so-called “experts” on the topic of the mockumentary. Best in Show (Christopher Guest, 2000) features many interviews with people who are “experts” on the topic of dogs, dog training and dog-shows. These aesthec elements are all signifiers of reality which makes the mockumentary format seem more real and authenc than other ficonal forms. These elements are oen appropriated for stylisc reasons and in order to emphasise humour (Rhodes & Springer, 16). The use of the unstable handheld camera creates an impression that the viewer is watching events unfold in an unmediated way. The aesthecs related to the handheld camera look ranges from a shaky frame, images moving in and out of focus, seeing film crew and equipment on camera or in reflecons, as well as the inability to keep the subjects within the frame. Importantly, these aesthecs are all associated with inmacy (Hight & Roscoe). One can almost state that the shaky handheld camera has become the norm in the majority of mockumentary films or television shows. Fly-on-the-wall moments are also popular and the viewer gets to see a different side of the character than the character that “performs” when the camera is present. The talking head is another feature that is oen seen in mockumentaries such as (2005, 2014), Parks and Recreaon, , and The Office. These elements are used to create addional humour in many cases. Viewers feel like they are being let in on a joke and thus enjoy the film for the parody that it is (Nichols, 17).

3.2.2. Degrees of Mockumentary

Roscoe and Hight categorise mockumentary into three different degrees: parody, that focuses on “some aspect of rather than the documentary itself” (68); crique, that incorporates a crique of documentary pracce into the text; and deconstrucon or “sustained crique of documentary” (72), which sarises the convenons of documentary. These degrees approach mockumentary according to “the intersecon between the intenon of the filmmakers, the nature and degree of the text’s appropriaon of documentary codes and convenons, and the degree of reflexivity consequently encouraged for their audience” (67). The first degree of parody is relavely indisnct in its cricisms of the documentary text. Documentary codes and convenons are appropriated for stylisc reasons and also to enhance and emphasise humour (68). This degree oen reflects on easy targets who are “ripe for mocking” (Rhodes & Springer, 16). Arrested Development is an excellent example of this degree of parody. The “documentary crew” are following and documenng the Bluth family, just as they would follow a family or group of people in the real world. Details such as home video footage, old family photos, excerpts from magazines and newspapers, and news-clips aid in creang an extra- textual impression of the family’s “real existence” to the audience (Roscoe & Hight, 69). Even 19 though the show and everyone in it is fake, the audience buys into it because of the convincing documentary style and fabricated informaon. This is also evident in The Office, where someone (most likely Michael Sco or Dwight Schrute), might say or do something exceedingly absurd, aer which the camera turns towards Jim Halpert with his face looking directly into the camera, as if to say, “you see?”. The viewer is aware that the people are not real and it is not a real documentary, but Jim’s interacon with the camera makes it seem more real and and even more comedic. In both of these examples, we see that the observaonal mode becomes exposed in parody. In contrast with the first degree, crique (and hoax) mockumentaries are intenonally reflexive towards factual discourses (70) and as the name describes, offer a crique of the media pracce and represent a crical approach towards their subjects. This degree departs from the first degree in terms of addressing documentary codes more explicitly. It raises quesons about the documentary form as well as other factual media pracces and how media representaons are constructed. In order to support the filmmaker’s intenon, this degree of crique uses the codes of documentary to construct a false argument and in doing so, implies how documentary codes can be used to manipulate the audience as well as the subject (70). The reflexivity in the text becomes independent from the filmmaker’s intenon. Although the cricism of the codes of documentary is not the main focus of these types of mock-documentaries, the reflexivity through the factual discourses of documentary cannot be ignored. These mockumentaries, while not necessarily containing messages which are deliberately intended to be reflexive towards factual discourse, sll manage to trigger reflexive interpretaons among viewers because of the subsequent uncovering of their ficonal status (Roscoe & Hight, 72). Bad News Tour (a follow-up of !) is a good example of this, as the film claims to represent a detached, truthful representaon of the world that is sarised (71) as it explores tensions and contradicons that are intrinsic to the collaboraon between documentary filmmaker and subject. The hoax can also be situated within crique as it “triggers reflexive interpretaons among viewers because of the subsequent uncovering of their ficonal status – this text’s reflexive potenal derives from the success of its fakery, and in parcular from the context created for its recepon, including the extra-textual cues deliberately created by filmmakers and broadcasng instuons” (72). In other words, the text deliberately tries to confuse - or rather obfuscate - an audience about its authencity that results in automac interpretaons about the ficonal status of the text. One notable example of a hoax that was believed to be true is the radio adaptaon of H.G. Welle’s The War of the Worlds that was performed by Orson Wells in 1938. The radio broadcast converted the 40-year-old novel into fake news bullens that described a Maran invasion of New Jersey. Some listeners mistook the broadcast for recording of actual ongoing events and anxious calls to the police, newspaper offices and radio staons proved that Well’s broadcast caused a mass hysteria. The following morning, Wells’s name was on the front pages of several newspapers alongside headlines about the mass panic that the CBS broadcast allegedly inspired. The third degree, deconstrucon, presents and explicitly criques the documentary form. Mockumentaries that fall into this category tend to be more harsh and sophiscated. The intenon of mockumentaries that fall into this degree of deconstrucon is to crique the codes, convenons and expectaons surrounding tradional pracces of documentary and its ability to document the truth (72). Roscoe and Hight describe it as “a sustained crique of the set of assumpons and expectaons which support the classic modes of documentary. The documentary project itself is

20 then their [mockumentaries] true subject [...]: the level of expectaons associated with the camera and its perceived ability to record truths” (74). Man Bites Dog (1992), which is about a film crew whose main focus and subject is a serial killer, demonstrates a vicious appropriaon of documentary codes and convenons and ulises them with the aim to deconstruct the foundaons of the documentary project. The documentary crew follows the serial killer and soon find themselves to be accomplices in his murders (74). The film deconstructs the text on many levels as it seeks to destroy the ethical and polical posions that a documentary filmmaker takes on. It is common to see that humour is oen underplayed “in favour of representaons that seek to create ‘ethical unease’ that will lead to crique” (Rhodes & Springer, 17). Deconstrucon is rarely used in mockumentaries, as it is more likely to comment on the documentary form instead of filmmakers or other subjects. Most mockumentaries would either fall under the first degree of parody or the second degree of crique (74). I will now move onto the second part of this chapter to give an overview of mockumentary in relaon to television and humour.

3.3. The Sitcom and Mockumentary

It could be argued that during the last fieen years or so, the sitcom has started to change its format and it became more evident that the mockumentary, which was more of a niche genre associated with film, was slowly making its way onto mainstream television (Mast, 231). An arcle in stated that:

The trend across all of network television is sharply away from comedy as a staple of entertainment programming, pushed aside by an audience bored by a red sitcom format, changing industry economics and the rise of reality shows (Carter, 2004)

Scripted television has become influenced by the aesthec elements of documentary and other non-ficon television like reality television and the docusoap, and soon there was an emergence of sitcoms that adopted the visual codes of documentary (Thompson, 64). This mutaon of the sitcom transpired as a result of several factors. Jason Miell believes that since the , there has been a trend towards more narrave complexity in storytelling that has blurred the separaon between episodic and serial narraves, which in turn demands more viewer engagement (38). Programming has also been affected by viewers who have a wide range of viewing opons over many channels and subscripon services which led to a dwindling audience. The audiences became smaller and more niche, which led to networks taking greater risks with their programs, and especially within comedy, as these networks did not have to abide by the same rules and guidelines of sitcoms on broadcast television (Thomson, 64). Another important factor that has allowed the shi from mul-camera to single-camera sitcoms relates to producon. The sitcom aesthec which became recognisable by its mul-camera and lighng set-ups in a studio set, has been replaced with hand-held cameras and minimal lighng. The premise of Arrested Development was conceived when Ron Howard (producer and narrator of the show) had the idea of a sitcom that resembled a reality program.

21 “The intent by Ron, who spent half his life in mulple-camera comedy and half his life as a single-camera director, was to marry the best of both worlds,” David Nevins, president of Imagine Television, said when the deal to make the show was first announced (Schneider). Nevins queried Hurwitz about the possibility of a new approach to making the family sitcom: “His queson was, ‘What if we shot a show in digital video, so we could go very fast and didn’t have to spend an hour and a half lighng for each shot, we could just go out there and start shoong, like Cops or Blind Date? Could we spend that me sharpening the and making a more ambious producon? What would happen if we applied the sensibility of mul-camera to single-camera?’ (Robinson, 2005).

Instead of spending me on seng up the camera and lights, they were instead able to focus on the dialogue and comic delivery (Thompson, 70). Another factor that may have influenced this new style might have been the financial pressures for ficonal programming and the compeon from content. Shoong in a documentary or reality style offered a cheaper alternave. This is an example of how the decision to shoot a sitcom in a more simplisc and low-budget style, led to one of the first mainstream mockumentary sitcoms. This new style allowed television writers to embrace new tools and techniques to tell stories. The ‘talking head’ shot, which is prominent in The Office, The Comeback and Modern Family, and where interview style is embraced in order for the character to communicate directly with the camera “allowed for exposion dumps—exposion that would feel too cheap or out of place in tradional narraves—which in itself allowed for cramming even more plot into a twenty minute episode” (Picone, 2014). This is achieved by the narrator in Arrested Development which aids in simplifying a complex narrave - like Ron Howard facilitates understanding between the viewer and that which is unfolding on the screen. Another reason why single-camera provide a viable alternave to mul-camera sitcoms relates to the costs involved. Jack Picone (online) points out that in the past, it was cheaper to shoot on tape with a small number of sets instead of shoong more cinemacally on digital with mulple locaons. With technological advances, however, it has become more cost- effecve to shoot digitally while also producing beer quality and beer aesthec. In mockumentary sitcoms, the medium of the camera almost has a life of its own as it moves and zooms in and out without a “scripted” regularity and plan. By means of long and awkward pauses where the camera focuses solely on a character, the viewer gets a sense of being in with characters like Michael Sco from The Office, or Valerie Cherish from The Comeback. These moments, when it becomes evident that Valerie is a has-been wanng to be in the spotlight, and Michael, an annoying boss who only longs to connect with his employees, oen cause uncomfortable, cringe-worthy moments for the audience, which is proof of the cruelty of the camera. Besides the cruelty of the camera, it also aids in creang humour. For the typical audience member, the humour is not in the dialogue or heavy-handed jokes - it is in knowing the somewhat weird characters who usually react as a person who knows them, would expect. Because certain mannerisms become familiar to us, those very mannerisms are expected. This is, once again, clearly illustrated in Jim Halpert's (The Office) deadpan stare at the camera aer Michael (once again) makes a fool of himself by trying to be cool. It seems as if this is one of the clues - the characters never fail to do what we expect from them, but in the mockumentary, this is emphasised by close-ups or isolaon of the act (Picone, 2005). One could thus state that the camera aids in highlighng and creang (occasionally cruel) humour through its movement.

22 By using such documentary techniques, these television shows also remind audiences of its arficiality which allows viewers to be distanced and engaged at the same me, according to Mills (68). He goes on to argue that such a contradicon is “vital to comedy generally, in which laughter requires an involvement with, and a detachment from, that which is funny”. The important disncon here is the absence of the combined with a more intense film approach - which is to give more agency to the viewer and audience. The viewer is rarely told when to laugh - you have to find the amusing, humorous element yourself, which makes the funny moments in a sense much more personal and meaningful, because it is based on what you personally perceive as funny, strange or ridiculous (Picone, 2005). These single-camera comedies exploded and provided an excing alternave to mul- camera sitcoms. Mockumentaries now have “become essenal weapons in the bale against sitcom predictability” and have offered a way for to be pushed to new heights and audience involvement (Gilbert, 2010). This new mode of television has led to the need that disnguishes itself from the tradional sitcom as well as the broad term of mockumentary - and this is how and why the new mode of comedy vérité was born, which I will briefly focus on in the next sub-secon.

3.3.1. Comedy Vérité

As I have discussed above, documentary convenons can be appropriated in several ways to produce “docuficon” content that ranges from docusoap to reality television through the use of various genres such as comedy, as well as horror. The developments in sitcoms that make use of documentary techniques and aesthecs show that it is important to disnguish mockumentary comedy sitcoms from mockumentaries in general, as well as from sitcoms. That is why a new term, comedy vérité, which has reinvigorated the sitcom format, has been introduced by Bre Mills for this televisual style. This new “cross-genre” style ulises a mixed genre that incorporates elements from sitcom as well as from documentary and shis the sitcom towards an “individualised comedic structure, specifically tailored to the television medium” (Madison, 83). The visual characteriscs of documentary have been adopted exclusively by the sitcom for comedic purposes. Trisha Dunleavy has idenfied six main convenons that characterise and disnguish comedy vérité programs. Firstly, they make use of a situaonal premise that reunites the progressive potenal of ‘reality’ docusoap with the sitcom’s convenonal stasis and entrapment. Secondly, they make use of narraon by means of vérité-styled aesthecs associated with ‘reality’ TV and specifically “on-the-wing camera work” and direct address. Thirdly, characters acknowledge the camera and oen mes try to control what is being recorded by exploing opportunies afforded by vérité-styled aesthecs. Next, it creates a narrave structure “between the self- containment and circularity of sitcom and the seriality of most docusoap” (online). It also focuses on flawed, incorrigible characters who have been established by the sitcom and adjusted by the ‘reality’ docusoap through the use of suitable real-life characters. Finally, comedy vérité programs are self-conscious in their comic performance that is encouraged by “vérité-styled interplay between characters, the camera and somemes including the programme-makers” (online) that results in humour and increases edgy discomfort. Comedy vérité marries the sitcom’s situaonal stasis with the real-life situaons constructed in docusoaps, according to Dunleavy. A great example in case would be the popular Parks and Recreaon, where the use of vérité camerawork (Gilbert, 2010) allows viewers to also

23 get close to the key characters’ quirks and ancipated reacons. This is what provides the audience members with a sense of “I knew he or she was going to say or do that!”. These are the people you know, and you know what to expect of them, as with the real individuals. Dunleavy points out that the characterisaons in comedy vérité combine the flawed and hopeless characters oen seen in sitcom, with real-life individuals (similar to some that we all know) who are difficult, opinionated, or deluded-like subjects in documentary and documentary- hybrids, such as the docusoap and reality television. Some of these characters include Selina Meyer from (2012-2017), Valerie Cherish from The Comeback and Mr. G from (2008), who are all aspiring but hugely failing professionals. Their inflated self-image does not ever allow them the ability to see themselves as those around them do, or process any of the feedback that their colleagues or even loved ones may provide. These unique characters, in combinaon with documentary aesthecs, allow comedy vérité the unique potenal for humour which is not available to tradional sitcoms as it can create opportunies to produce laughter and amusement which has not been there before (Thompson, 71). The characters act up when the camera is present, at mes they try to manipulate what the viewers see on screen while trying to intervene with what is being filmed, and offers self-revelaon through interviews (Dunleavy, 2008). The characters acng in a manner that would not be possible in sitcom, allows for cringe-inducing moments that the viewer cannot help but laugh at (and at mes relate to) that has the same feel-good quality of the sitcom. These moments add to the humour of the piece and can also evoke a sense of sympathy from the viewer as they see characters and situaons for who and what they really are. We naturally are also oen reminded about our own pathec selves in these moments. It is clear that the sitcom has disconnued resembling and re-invenng itself, and it has started to queson and break down the “characteriscs of the medium whose forms it is finally beginning to embrace”, according to Mills (78). By using codes and convenons associated with disncve mockumentary and the sitcom, the pleasure gained by the viewer requires at least some form of knowledge of other television forms (77). It can be said then that comedy vérité is indeed “comedy for audiences raised on television formats” (78).

3.3.2. Humour

One could theorise that the audience member becomes a witness of the funny, the real, and the comedic through an alternave mode of making sense of typical television humour (Thompson, 71 - 72). comedy vérité thus becomes a producer of televisual “Masquerade” by connecng the points of understanding and connecon between what is being viewed and adapng or reconciling it with the viewer’s own exisng understanding of humour. What cannot be ignored is the central connecon or relaonship that comedy vérité literally constructs between the text and the audience. A totally uninformed, inexperienced audience member will not be able to recognise the object of the parody and thus will not understand the meaning of the crique - the joke, so to speak. In this respect, mockumentary has always reacted quickly to exploit the elements of sare and parody precisely to point out the ever-changing and almost fickle nature of factual screen forms (Rhodes & Springer, 25). The mockumentary’s general aim is to create a ficonal world as a non-ficonal world. It shows characters and events as if they are actually unfolding in front of the camera. In this way ,mockumentaries ridicule the ‘truth claim’ of documentary by showcasing farcical storylines

24 and characters as if they are well-researched subjects. Mockumentary does this by mocking the style of documentary and in turn in sarises and makes a parody of documentary by introducing exaggerated and absurd stories. In this secon, I will argue that the televisual style of comedy vérité oen uses sare and parody in order to create humour.

Satire and Parody The term ‘sare’ and ‘parody’ are oen used as synonyms but have slightly different meanings. Both involve the imitaon of and ironic commentary on another discourse. Yet, sare implies ridicule of its target, while parody need not devalue its object, but may range from an ethos of condemnaon to one of homage and celebraon (Plannga, 321). Juhasz and Lerner argue that mockumentaries are a “special breed of parody in that they accomplish something different, something extra; they do manage a ‘link to the real’.” (1). The mockumentary is at the same me parody as well as sare that is “both moral and social in its focus and ameliorave in its intenon” (Hutcheon, 16). As a parody, mockumentary represents documentary; and as sare, it simulates documentary’s referent, the moral, social, polical, and historical (Juhasz & Lerner, 2). Parody is crical in nature and oen aids in reflecng and commenng on other texts, whereas sare is not restricted to the imitaon of other texts, but instead to societal and cultural issues. By applying sare and parody, mockumentaries create a link between “form, content, style, representaon, and the recorded world” (3). The unique concept of sare, that has always existed in media texts, is (as explained by Davis) intensified in the case of television mockumentaries. This is visible not only in the characters and storylines, but in fact, in the very essence and identy of the mockumentary mimicking and ridiculing the somewhat important and loy genre of some documentaries. In modern mes, this technique is oen quite controversial because of its inherent power. It can transverse genres and technologies, because of its universally understood message in social and cultural contexts. In this respect, I find Collea’s definion of sare useful:

“Sare is defined as a form that holds up human vices and follies to ridicule and scorn. It is ‘an aack on or cricism of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humour,’ and it is also a crique of what an author sees as ‘dangerous religious, polical, moral or social standards”. (859)

I understand from this that sare is not always purely comic or humorous in itself. Sare in itself is not a simple methodology, and it contains layers in terms of the tensions, once again. While it amuses, it can also create confusion or alarm - which is inherent to social crique. By looking at The Office and The Comeback, one could argue that the shows expose our contemporary habits of self-mediaon and self-performance. This trend could also be argued to undermine the documentary form more generally, as it is twisted from presentaons of the real into vehicles for narcissisc self-aggrandisement and grandiose delusions. Typically, it is not designed to amuse or ridicule - it is rather intended to deliver something to the audience (reader or viewer) that they can recognise. To me, this funcons on a more insnctual level, rather than intellectual or cognive. If we are in contact with true nature, we will be able to see ourselves or others in the characters and messages and therefore it presents a more serious message than we are inclined to believe (Davis, 98). Many other researchers and authors concur that it is never dismissive; rather, it is intended to provoke. Even this objecve is not single- layered, but nuanced. The message should be able to provoke scorn or indictments in a playful 25 manner. The insulng and ill-mannered act of ridiculing someone or something now becomes more acceptable because it is less direct and open to interpretaon. This is also possibly the biggest achievement of sare: it does not make fun, it does not directly ridicule. It is rather dependent on more subtle interacon methods such as exaggeraon, parody and irony. It becomes clear how the mockumentary is operang in this terrain - there is a resonance between viewers and the characters/story (Davis, 98). Hight and Roscoe argue that central to an understanding of mockumentary there is an appreciaon of the mul-layered possibilies that are provided by parody (184). They explain that:

Parody works by raising expectaons around a parcular text (such as the documentary), then disappoints (when we realise it is not a documentary), but sll produces a non-factual text that can be engaged with in new and complex ways (the mock-documentary). Parody then, works at several levels, providing opportunies for humour, anger and crical reflecon (30).

The intenon of parody is to ‘mock’ and this makes it possible for the viewer to engage with and make sense of the text. In mockumentary, parody becomes successful by borrowing codes and convenons of documentary with the express aim to mock and crique them. This would suggest that parodic texts talk to a knowing viewer, as the comedic features of parody can only be appreciated if the viewer recognises the object that is being mocked in the text (31). By being aware of the object that is being mocked, the viewer enjoys the thrill of “being in on the joke” that is offered by parody. It becomes clear that the mockumentary's filmmaker aempts to create a parody of documentary. Even in the most serious of mock-documentaries, the tension and comedic touch are sll used to communicate comments about controversial issues - such as polics or policians, or world events - thus enabling the audience and viewers to somehow engage with the topic and begin to make sense of it. Miller states that this comedic element serves as a ‘spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine of the message go down’ (149 - 150). It is the embroidered truth, in a sense. It is therefore ironic that mockumentaries oen achieve the opposite of becoming raonal and objecve, and indeed just more hilarious, absurd and subjecve. Harkness (2014) reminds us of how silly our own lives and the things we deal with, can become. It is not hard to comprehend that the genre of mockumentary can subsequently derive many themes from social and polical events and commentary and popular culture. In this vein, many of the characters in The Office and Parks and Recreaon, to name two, refer to and Harry Poer. This is content that we also know and love, and therefore makes the ficonal mockumentary characters and plot much more believable, ’real’ and appealing. The mockumentary borrows heavily from real social and polical, even financial, events. Nothing is sacred or off-limits because it is presented indirectly. According to Harkness (2014), we are all in on the joke, because we have the same knowledge, experiences, and references. This may explain why it is so comforng and almost confirmave to hear our ficonal characters having problems just as we do in everyday life.

26 3.4. Conclusion

In this chapter, I provided a definion of mockumentary, its characteriscs as well as the three degrees of mockumentary. I have aempted to make a clear connecon between mockumentary and sitcom by looking at how the sitcom is transformed with a documentary aesthec and in a sense ‘reborn’ as comedy vérité, which has developed due to several reasons. These include the, predictability of sitcom, producon costs, me spent on set-up and shoong as well as humour. In the following chapter it will become clear that the object of this study, Arrested Development, is a sitcom produced in the style of mockumentary which results in it exisng in the televisual style of comedy vérité. From all of the above, it is clear that the ever-expanding and cross-ferlising fields of television and film genres and formats have achieved a purpose in educang audiences in a typical entertainment mode. Audience vocabularies and understanding of television’s techniques and format have expanded at the same me that they have become more versed in social communicaon, for beer or for worse. Sociopolical and economic commentary have, in these more palatable and digesve manners, involved many a viewer to take note of events in the real world. While they sll have the opon to become involved and form their own opinion and comment, it has forced many viewers to become cognisant of discourses of the day that they can choose to silently assimilate or take further and process it through communicaon with others. This corresponds to one of the earliest objecves of the media and television in parcular - to deliver comment, to persuade audiences to think differently and to inform while entertaining. Thee viewers always retain the final choice: I engage, or I disengage - it remains a mere story or ficon, or it has implicaons for my life.

27 4. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT AS AN INTERSECTIONAL CROSS-GENRE

4.1. Introduction

In this chapter, I take a concentrated look at Arrested Development. In the previous chapters I have discussed the concept of genre, and more specifically mockumentary, the sitcom form and comedy vérité, as well as how humour is arculated in the genre of mockumentary. In this chapter, I intend to apply my own understanding of the program in the context of genre. I will aim to analyse Arrested Development in relaon to documentary, comedy vérité, and sitcom and how the show criques and comments on these genres. I will also analyse the applicaon of humour in the show and how it relates to narrave complexity and social crique.

4.2. “This is the Story”…

As stated in its opening credits by the narrator of the show, Ron Howard, Arrested Development is the story “of a wealthy family who lost everything and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together”. Over four seasons and 58 episodes (43 episodes in the first three seasons from 2004-2006, and 15 episodes in the fourth season in 2013), the show unfolds and reveals an extremely dysfunconal family, the Bluths, who meander through incarceraon, treason charges, incest, unemployment, love-triangles, failed magic tricks, disgust with each other, dependency and many other absurd situaons. The Bluths are what Mallick describes as a “study in dysfuncon” (online). In 2002, Ron Howard (producer and narrator of the show) came up with the idea of a family-based sitcom filmed documentary-style, using handheld digital cameras and not having a laugh track. This was before the now-popular comedy vérité style became pervasive on screens. Howard approached to write the show and Hurwitz - who was inspired by the scandal in 2001 - came up with the idea of the corrupt Bluths who are in an awful self- induced financial state of affairs. The main character or the ”one son who had no choice but to keep them all together” is the middle brother, Michael (), who always rescues his family members from their

28 difficult situaons and is a generally likeable and agreeable character. His geeky teenage son, George Michael (), is oen Michael’s voice of reason and is in turn crippled with guilt over his romanc feelings for his cousin, the self-sufficient Maeby Funke (), who cons her way into becoming a Hollywood execuve producer. Maeby’s selfish and conceited mother, Lindsay (Pora de Rossi) who is also Michael’s twin, is married to the possibly closeted gay Tobias () who was the world’s first ‘analrapist’ (a portmanteau of analyst and therapist) and who has decided to abandon his medical career in favour of acng. The oldest brother, George Oscar Bluth (Will Arne), or Gob for short, is a failing magician whose “personal uselessness is only exceeded by the crapness of his tricks” (Freedman, online). Buster (), the youngest brother is so coddled by his mother, with whom he spent eleven months in utero and le “claw marks on the walls of her uterus” (S1E03). The acons of the four children are dictated by their father, George Senior (Jeffrey Tambor), who is a real estate mogul convicted of “slight treason”, as well as their narcissisc alcoholic mother, Lucille, played by (Smith, 28). Finally, the glue that holds everything together is Howard's dry and objecve narraon (Freedman, Online). The exceedingly bland, dry narraon gives balance to the almost- bizarre comments and choices of the characters. Naturally, this adds a fast pace to the dialogue and events that not all audience members can keep up with or even like. It is, admiedly, at mes hard to follow all the storylines and tether yourself to the story as it happens. While the Bluths face their (literal) trials and tribulaons, their greatest aribute is that they are incorrigible. They are incapable of giving up hope and “for every defeated scheme, there is a sacrifice, an unlikely alliance or one of the family's beer pares” (Yuhas, online). Yuhas describes them as being “somewhere between the solipsists of , the absurdity of and the generous of – juiced with a weirdness those shows lacked” (online). Arrested Development is an acquired taste, as it combines lowbrow humour (like puns, impossible names and phrases like ‘Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog’) with sophiscated highbrow humour (like the self-conscious narrator and wordplay, present even in the dual-meaning tle). The narrave is complex and oen confusing. There is no laugh-track, the characters are ridiculous and not that relatable, the aenon to detail is flawless and “the gags were elegant strokes of masterful sare, allusion, wordplay, self-referenal metaphor and absurdity” (Beaumont, online).

4.3. Arrested Development through the lens of Genre

Arrested Development is a balanced mixture of television genres with documentary aesthecs added to the “the dual demands of serial and episodic pleasures” (Miell, 33) that are associated with drama and sitcom. In the following secon, I will explore how Arrested Development criques and comments on documentary and also how it challenges and pushes the genre of sitcom. I will use examples from the show to highlight how genre is challenged and criqued.

4.3.1. How does Arrested Development Comment on Documentary? Producer and creator or the show, Mitch Hurwitz, described the Arrested Development as “a scripted comedy with a reality show feel… Instead of the usual three-camera comedy in front of an audience, which would create a laugh track, [the] show [is] shot with a single handheld digital

29 camera, using natural light in most cases” that creates the look of a documentary program (Robinson, online). The show deviates from the tradional sitcom format by appropriang the observaonal and exposional documentary modes (as discussed in Chapter 1). Thompson makes an interesng observaon by stang that the appropriaon of documentary codes and convenons is not just a mode of producon but also a specific and chosen method of reading. Whether the look is associated with documentary or with comedy vérité, the connotaon is understood to be the same: “this is ‘real’” - at least relave to other television (Thompson, 71). By appropriang documentary, it appears as if everything is actually occurring in reality and not at all scripted, planned or even ficonal. The camera just happened to be there to capture the eccentric Bluths.

Televisual Style & Camera Language About halfway through the first season of Arrested Development (S01E13), the televisual style is abruptly confronted. As the family enters a courtroom, the judge proclaims that cameras are not allowed. The doors close on the camera, the screen goes black and the viewer is denied access to the Bluths in court. This is the first me in the show’s narrave that the presence of an actual camera crew that is responsible for the documentary “look” of Arrested Development is suggested. In Spring Breakout (S2E17), Kiy (George Sr’s loyal assistant and mistress played by ) exclaims her famous “say goodbye to these” line to Michael and proceeds to li her shirt and flash him with her brand new augmented breasts. A hand (which presumably belongs to the person operang the camera) suddenly appears in front of the camera and blocks this unexpected moment of nudity from the viewer and only removes his/her hand when Kiy puts her shirt down again. Incidents like these confront the narrave by creang an idea that there is a real recording camera present. In the enre series, there are only a handful of moments where the presence of a camera and crew is explicitly referred to.

S1E13 - Beef Consommé: Doors close on camera S2E17 - Spring Breakout: Hand covers camera

While Arrested Development closely resembles the look of documentary and mockumentary, it is interesng to note that the mockumentary appearance is played down instead of blown up. The camera equipment, microphone boom, and film crew rarely enters the frame, which is in opposion to the mockumentary convenon (Savorelli, 65) and the fourth wall, which is the space which separates the performers from the audience, is hardly broken. Besides a select few moments where the camera is accidentally suggested, the viewer never sees any of the characters acknowledging the camera in any way and there are no “talking head” moments like oen seen in The Office, Modern Family and Parks and Recreaon. Not acknowledging the 30 camera or presence of a camera crew is common pracce in the show. This is just one more confirmaon, almost, or indicaon of how self-obsessed and oblivious the Bluths are; they are so narcissisc that they even fail to acknowledge that they are being filmed and most likely the subjects of a reality show or documentary. In this way that the characters are so oblivious, Arrested Development becomes self-reflexive and comments not only on the documentary form but also the self-obsession with society in the modern day. The narcissism of the characters is not the result of the presence of the camera, but all their own. The show deviates from the tradional sitcom format by appropriang the observaonal as well as expository modes of documentary and comedy vérité as “a strategy of claiming the real” (71). Thompson makes an interesng observaon by stang that the appropriaon of documentary codes and convenons is not just a mode of producon but also a specific and chosen method of reading. However, Arrested Development is not a complete version of comedy vérité, as the show is carefully and meculously scripted. The “improvisaonal” component that is popular in comedy vérité is affected, so that it can be said that the vérité mode of producon is a deliberate stylisc choice, instead of one that is necessitated by the lack of scripng (Thompson, 70). By appropriang documentary, it appears as if everything is actually happening and not at all scripted, planned or even ficonal. Thompson points out that Arrested Development’s televisual style “with its handheld cameras, awkward pacing, and violaons of connuity rules, looks a lot more like a documentary than it does a tradional sitcom” (64). The observaonal style used in the show provides the viewer with inmate access to the “unfolding comic travails of the Bluths, with all the visual and aural cues viewers of documentary and reality television programs have become accustomed to” (64). This becomes clear in Arrested Development when the dense plot-lines are supplemented with documentary material to add on to the “history of the family”. The flashbacks which oen consists of home-video footage, as well as references to archived materials (such as earlier photos, magazine covers and security footage) of the characters, are quite convincing in the sense that there are echoes of a real documentary. While these photos, mementos and other fake sequences are used, their main intenon is not to mislead the audience, but instead to expose the fake construcon of the show. It allows the humour to be self-reflexive and crical of the documentary format. This self-reflexivity is rarely seen in the sitcom as there are no obvious clues that the show is set-up or constructed. The quick-moving documentary style of the show stems from a single-camera approach of producon that is different from the mul-camera approach synonymous with sitcom. The cameras are handheld, which allows more movement within a set, which in turn allows for various camera angles, as well as being able to move the camera easily to mulple locaons. It is typical to see only a handful of locaons in a single episode of sitcoms like Friends (1994-2004) and other comedy vérité shows like The Office and Summer Heights High. In contrast to this, episodes of Arrested Development can take place in several locaons. For instance, in the first episode of the show, the locaons seen include a boat, a model home in the middle of nowhere, the Bluth’s California apartment complex, the boardwalk where the Frozen Banana Stand (a side business of the Bluths) is located, a and lobby, a police staon, an office of a rival company (Sitwell Enterprises), the prison where George is staying, and also an ac. This almost gives the show a ‘cartoonish energy’ (Picone, online) like The Simpsons or South Park where locaons are not restricted to a number of sets. Even though the show is shot with mulple cameras, the cinematography and eding might suggest that everything is recorded on a single camera. The show indulges in the lack of

31 boundaries that a mul-camera set inhibits and expands the world that the show occupies (Picone, online). While this adds to the above-menoned ‘cartoonish energy’, it also makes the narrave more complex and mul-layered. Sander points out that the use of handheld camera also frees up the comedy (43) as the camera can follow the acon more easily. The handheld camera in Arrested Development zooms frequently and oen moves rapidly back and forth between characters instead of carefully framing the subjects. By capturing the reacons (and emoons) of the characters, the producon feels less theatrical than mul-camera sitcom, and by allowing for mistakes (such as a boom entering the frame, nudity that needs to be blurred, or the swearing which is bleeped out in post-producon), the show thus feels observaonal and unscripted, which in turn adds to the humour.

Narrave Scripng The meculous narrave scripng contributes to the show’s content that is densely layered in terms of conversaons, storylines, and humour. Thompson (71) points out that this type of narrave complexity can create an impression that is ‘observaonal and comic’. What the audience member experiences, is what Dunleavy calls improvisaon. The characters who improvise their lines and performances are oen so obvious and over the top, that it contributes to the enhancement of humour. It suggests that the characters are typically self-conscious in their comic emphasis which is intensified by the vérité-styled interacon between the characters. The resulng humour can easily leave a feeling of discomfort in the audience, as it is close to home and all too familiar. This absence of improvisaon, in fact, corresponds to other comedy vérité shows such as The Comeback, Veep, and ’s series of Summer Heights High, We can be Heroes and . However, Arrested Development is carefully scripted which creates a layered world with narrave complexity and humour that connuously “seems observaonal and comic” (Thompson, 71).

Documentary Material and Flashbacks Material such as security footage, news clips and footage from the ficonal programs such as To Catch a Predator, Girls with Low Self-esteem, and Mock Trial with J. Reinhold (which are parodies of Dateline, Girls Gone Wild, and Judge Judy), as well as footage from a Youtube-like plaorm in the fourth season grants a form of “fake” legimacy to the show because it looks different from the rest of the show and feature the look of documentary. Oen this material is distorted and discoloured, and they are not captured by a “fly-on-the-wall” camera but instead by unmanned surveillance cameras (Thompson, 71). During the show, Oscar (George’s idencal twin brother) repeatedly gets mistaken for George Sr. who is supposed to be in prison. In The One Where Michael Leaves (S2E01) the audience gets a glimpse of George Sr. escaping prison. The footage shows a distorted video with text that informs the viewer they are watching ATM security camera footage. Oscar is aacked by police who think that he is, in fact, George Sr. and Howard informs the viewer that “the police thought that they arrested George Sr.” while the viewer is presented with a green photo from a traffic light. George has in fact escaped prison, and the viewer is shown a distorted sll photo of George drawing money at an ATM. Later in the episode, security footage from an elevator shows police aacking Oscar again (thinking that he is George). While these cutaways offer the viewer more informaon about the narrave and the background of the characters, it primarily makes the

32 show funny as it prompts the viewer to recall running gags and the self-conscious style of the show. While the narrator, hand-held camera and absence of a laugh track is obvious from the first episode, it is worthwhile to note that documentary material like sll photos and archived footage is not a feature that is typically seen in the first season, although archived material, vignees, as well as flashbacks are increasingly used as the series progresses. This is especially prominent with the increased use of sll photos, news segments, archival video footage and material from security cameras. Material like this interjects the eding and narrave and gives the viewer a greater background and understanding of the unfolding events, just like it would do in an actual documentary. In the fourth season, flashbacks are increasingly used. The primary reason for this is because of the seven-year gap between seasons - viewers need to be refreshed and reminded of parts of the narrave that are related to the narrave of season 4. One way in which the flashbacks relate to the documentary style in the fourth season is the addion of a simple watermark that read “SHOWSTEALER PRO TRIAL VERSION” to clips from the first three seasons. Inially, this created some confusion for viewers as it appeared like a mistake from eding, but as with everything in Arrested Development, it was carefully planned and nuanced. Nelix only produced the fourth season of the series and not the original three seasons, which creates the impression that the raw footage of the first three seasons was unavailable to Nelix, so they used a trial version of a screen-capture/video downloader to rip the footage of the first three seasons. This is a self-reflexive commentary on Nelix’s business model of bringing back IPs that were established on network television. In essence, they are calling Nelix a show-stealer. This also indirectly references the plaorms’ pracces of piracy and issues around streaming, as well as . Madison states that because of the comedy vérité style of the show, Arrested Development is capable of heightening “the absurdity of its comedy by treang it with serious, ‘truthful’ tone while also furthering away from the television sitcom” (83). This ‘truthful’ tone is a prominent aribute of the documentary genre. Arrested Development exposes documentary aspects in situaons where documentary convenons can provide depth and significance in addion to the narraon and camera language associated with documentary. By cung to video-footage of the Bluth children, news clips, magazine and newspaper excerpts, surveillance cameras and infomercial footage of George Sr. markeng the cornballer, elaborate background storylines are set up that contributes to the current lives of the Bluths. The flashbacks that are oen used - frequently to the younger days of the Bluth siblings - clearly insinuates that a camera has more or less always been present in their lives. We oen see the clips of George Sr. making use of his former one-armed employee, J. Walter Weatherman, to scare the children into good behaviour and teach them life lessons. Besides the flashbacks, archived footage is also used to showcase the young Bluth family. A notable example being the clips from the series Boyfights that features fights between Michael and Gob that were encouraged and recorded by their father, George Sr.. Thompson, states that archived material and flashbacks “put the viewer in a posion to witness not just everything that happened to the family, but what might have happened to them many years prior or in front of some other camera altogether” (68). These moments allow the show to break away from sitcom (and even comedy vérité) convenons and by embracing the documentary techniques in a fun and light-hearted way, the documentary is sarised. This is also evident when documentary material is shown on screen and details such as names or faces are blurred out to maintain anonymity even though the audience is familiar with the person that is being referred to. Throughout the series,

33 portrayed himself on the show and made regular guest appearances as he crossed paths with the Bluths. It is revealed that Andy is one of the idencal quintuplets with different and disnct personalies (a reference to Andy Richter's real life short-lived sitcom Quintuplets). The quintuplets include Donnie (the teacher), Chareth (the flirt), Rocky (Andy’s stunt double) and Emmet. However, Emmet does not like to have his face revealed on television, so it is blurred out whenever he is featured on the show. The fact that he is one of the idencal quintuplets makes this completely pointless as well as humorous.

Voice-Over Narraon Another way in which Arrested Development typically appropriates documentary aesthecs is by using the omnipotent voice-over narraon (as discussed in Chapter 1) of Ron Howard, which holds the narrave together and makes the show understandable to viewers. Howard acts as the voice-of-God through his narraon, as he is unseen, authoritave and informave (and he happens to be the preferred white male) while delivering lines objecvely without judgment. But Howard not only acts as the voice-of-God but also as the Voice of Authority (Bill Nichols, 139) due to the fact that he is a social actor who is vital for presenng informaon to the audience as almost none of the other characters are reliable sources of informaon or knowledge. (This is a direct comment to the earlier-menoned polics of patriarchy.) By acng as the objecve narrator while also being a social player, the narrator exploits the documentary by pushing the narraon to its limits. Howard seamlessly weaves the narrave together by connected scenes, flashbacks and archived material, thereby creang connuity that makes the show understandable and humorous. As the show switches between many different sengs, the narrator is needed more than in other shows as a “connuity announcer”. The documentary format and narrator allows the viewer to be filled in with background knowledge that is important to the narrave of the show. By narrang the show as if it is a documentary, the narrator sarises documentary convenons. Another way in which the narrator explains the story is by seng up the scenes’ temporal relaonship with one another (“soon...”, “at the same me...”) and also by explaining the movaons or emoons behind the acons of the characters (Sander, 45). Thompson points out that “his narraon serves as narrave cement not because it explains things but because it connects them temporally, hoping the meaning and humour will unfold on their own”(67). Besides explaining the narrave to viewers, the narrator also offers an objecve truth by commenng on the acon that is unfolding and oen provides background informaon to archived material, flashbacks and vignees. An example of this occurs in the episode tled Sad Sack (S2E05), where Michael tells Lucile that “I’m not lying anymore, Mom”, and Ron Howard interjects by nong that “Michael was lying” and showing a clip of what Michael was lying about. By adding the presence of a narrator, along with the single-camera style of filming, Arrested Development is perceived as a mockumentary instead of a sitcom. The complex narraon oen pushes the show to its limits and gives the show a feel of semi-authencity. Miell states that “complex narraon oen breaks the fourth wall, whether it be visually represented direct address or more ambiguous voice-over that blurs the line between diegec and non-diegec, calling aenon to its own breaking of convenon” (22). This is clear in Exit Strategy (S03E12), when George Michael tries to organise Maeby a surprise birthday party. He invites Ron Howard and the following dialogue takes place:

34 Maeby: So, did you send [an invitaon] to everyone in my address book?

George Michael: Yeah. I’m really sorry they didn’t come. I don’t know what happened.

Maeby: I do. They found out I was 16.

Narrator: And a lot of us just didn’t want to drive down to Orange County.

By indirectly referring to himself as the narrator and seeing “Howard, R” wrien in Maeby’s address book, the fourth wall is broken and a reflexive message is created. Ron Howard’s voice- over clearly lends the storytelling of Arrested Development a disnct personality that oen includes meta-references. It is not unl the last episode of the third season that Howard appears on camera as he portrays his real self who might consider producing a film about the Bluths. He also makes a regular appearance in the fourth season as a potenal producer of the movie. Ron- Howard-the-Narrator transforms into Ron-Howard-the-Person. By acng as himself the show becomes self-reflexive as The Narrator oen refers to the on-screen Ron Howard in the third person, while also aempng to paint the on-screen Ron Howard and his daughter in the show, Rebel Alley, in the most flaering light possible.

How Arrested Development comments on the documentary By embracing the comedy vérité aesthec, Arrested Development “can effecvely create opportunies for producing laughter that hadn’t been there before” (Madison, 90). Marc Peyser points out that the show “treats every inane (or insane) twist with uer seriousness as if the show were a documentary of the absurd” (PG). By pairing the absurdity of the characters and events with the seriousness of documentary, the show creates humour through the contrast of seriousness and hysterical ineptude.

4.3.2. How does Arrested Development Transform the Sitcom? Hart-Gunn described Arrested Development as “a new kind of sitcom: one using a character narrator and an unlocked, hand-held camera, and one without a laugh track” (14). In a 2004 Time magazine arcle, James Poniewozik claimed that Arrested Development was “remaking the sitcom.” He commented on the show’s televisual style by saying that:

Whereas most sitcoms are set in that familiar fake world of couches and canned laughter, Arrested Development looks real and spontaneous. It has no laugh track and is shot documentary style, in handheld digital video, with sober narraon by Ron Howard... Viewers oen think the show is improvised... though it's meculously scripted.… In looks and structure, Arrested Development is like a 30-minute drama, just a hilarious one. (Poniewozik, online)

35 Serial vs. Episodic Narraves Typically in sitcoms, episodes tend to stand alone, while connuing several storylines within a single episode and the narrave are not usually related to other episodes or an over-arching seasonal (or serial) plot-line. This is also common in other comedy vérité shows like Veep and (2006-2013) which embrace episodic narraves, while seriality is generally central to TV dramas which tend to be more serious that the sitcom. These serial storytelling techniques are prominent in Breaking Bad (2008-2013), Westworld (2016 - ), and Game of Thrones (2011 - ). Much like these TV dramas which demand viewer aenon through its seriality, Arrested Development also demands viewer aenon unlike regular sitcoms or comedy vérité shows. This enables Arrested Development to allow more complex storylines, more depth of character, and a more elaborate idea of the interdependency of characters’ stories beyond the mere set-up of a : “rejecng the need for plot closure within every episode that typifies convenonal episode form, narrave complexity foregrounds ongoing stories across a range of genres” (Miell, 32). Sitcom convenons are even more subverted as almost every episode ends with “next week on Arrested Development” and the episode connues. However, the future episodes almost never show these scenes and they have not occurred within the ongoing narrave of the show. These scenes go against the narrator and offer a humorous ending to the current episode. While episodes are oen self-contained, the series features ongoing story-arcs such as George Michael’s unrequited love for Maeby, Michael’s relaonship with Rita, and Buster’s relaonship with Lucille Austero (or Lucille 2), to name a few. Some storylines connue, but others are never referred to again. By using sitcom’s episodic form while also embracing serial storytelling, Arrested Development rebels against sitcom’s episodic convenonality. These story arcs funcon primarily with the aim of providing a backstory for ongoing jokes and self-aware references. Miell states that:

Complexity, especially in comedies, works against [tradional] norms by altering the relaonship between mulple plot-lines, creang interweaving stories that oen collide and coincide […] Such interwoven plong has been adopted and expanded by […] Arrested Development, extending the coincidences and collisions across episodes in a way that transforms serial narrave into elaborate inside jokes. (Mitell, 48)

Oen, there are many coinciding plots per episode where the storylines bounce off of one another and that results in “unlikely coincidences, twists, and ironic repercussions”, which only becomes evident in later episodes or seasons (34).

Comedy: Gags, Catch Phrases, Easter-eggs and In sitcom, the humour relies on “comic tropes, double-entendres, wordplay, catch phrases, and the descripon of situaons by characters“ (Butler, 191). Arrested Development also employs this of kind of humour. But unlike the sitcom, these devices of humour add to a connuity of the show which oen stretches over several seasons. In this manner, connuity is used for a humorous effect instead of dramac effect as it would be in a television drama. An example of a running gag that stretches throughout the whole series is George Michael’s romanc interest (and later also

36 Gob’s), Anne (), who is so plain that she has been referred to as Egg, Plant, Yam and most notably, “Her?”. Another way in which Arrested Development deviates from sitcom is by not restricng catchphrases to a certain character. In sitcom, specific characters become synonymous with a certain gesture or phrase - for example, Joey’s famous “How you doin?”, from Friends, but in Arrested Development, a catchphrase can be uered by any of the characters which add to unpredictability. Inially, the phrase “I’ve made a huge mistake” is associated with Gob, but as the show progresses almost all of the lead characters, as well as some recurring characters, have uered those same words at some stage or another and the catchphrase is transformed into a recurring joke. In this context, it shows that in the show, catchphrases gradually builds up through the series to give viewers the chance to become familiar with them, and eventually, they are “employed to maximum quantave and qualitave effect” (Barton, 2015) that make the catchphrases more humorous. In this way, the stereotypical funcon of catchphrases in sitcoms are undermined by their use in Arrested Development. This is another type of comment on techniques used in sitcoms. Besides the use of catchphrases in the show, there are a lot of gags which are observed throughout the series. When George Sr., for example, uses a former one-armed employee, J. Walter Weatherman, to stage intricate scenarios in order to frighten the Bluth children into 'good' behaviour and teach them some lessons, or the literal-doctor who is seen in numerous episodes as he delivers bad in the most literal ways. Aer Buster (in S02E12, Hand to God) is aacked by a seal, the doctor tells the family he will be all right:

Dr. Fishman: Excuse me. Are you the Bluths?

Lucille: Not Dr. Wordsmith. How’s my son?

Dr. Fishman: He’s going to be all right.

Lindsay: Finally some good news from this guy.

George Michael: There’s no other way to take that.

Dr. Fishman: That’s a great atude. I got to tell you, if I was geng this news, I don’t know that I’d take it this well.

Lucille: But you said he was all right.

Dr. Fishman: Yes, he’s lost his le hand. So he’s going to be “all right.”

Lucille: You son of a bitch. I hate this doctor!

Lindsay: How do we keep geng this guy?

Michael: Mom, he’s a very literal man.

Dr. Fishman: Yes, that’s more the way I would take the news.

Another momentous instance occurs in S02E01 (The One Where Michael Leaves) when he tells the family that Tobias “looks dead”, but is merely referring to the blue paint on his body, while he is, in fact, sll alive.

37 In the way that sitcom is very in-your-face about gags, Arrested Development does the same at mes. However, besides these obvious gags, there are many “easter eggs” in the show which would require mulple viewings in order to become apparent. These easter eggs include the actual occurrences of jokes, jokes in the background and foreshadowing. This is obvious in the first three seasons when there are mulple references to the Bluths’ company's involvement with . A cooler box with evidence is labeled “H. MADDAS” (Saddam H. backwards), the resemblance between the Bluth model homes and model homes built in , and a contract signed by George Sr. and Saddam Hussein is found in the walls of the Bluth offices. In a sense, these “easter eggs” are not apparent to the viewer, but instead burn on a “low-boil” throughout the series. In fact, the show’s catchphrases and recurring jokes are such a prominent feature of the show that there are dedicated websites such as arresteddevelopment.wikia.com, recurringdevelopments.com, apps.npr.org/arrested-development, NPR’s guide to running gags of the show. On these websites, the jokes and catchphrases are not only listed but also indexed according to episodes and character. All the running jokes and catchphrases form a network of references where jokes can reemerge. The humour is furthermore quite layered in terms of evoluon and connuaon, as is the case with the story and characters. Many of the jokes become storylines. This is achieved in two ways: the irony or joke becomes increasingly meaningful and funny as it evolves from one phase to another, or it slowly builds momentum that could mature instantly, or over a longer course of a compacted story and joke. This is obvious in what might be many audience members’ most memorable incident: Buster loses his hand in a confrontaon with a “loose seal” in the episode, labeled Hand of God. Before he loses his hand which gets replaced with a hook would say things which might not seem out of context, but as one re-watches the show the subtle joke becomes clear and hilarious. Some examples include Buster saying that, "This party is going to be off the hook!" (S1E20); upon seeing his long-lost hand-shaped chair again: “Wow, I never thought I’d miss a hand so much” (S2E03). In S2E06, Buster wins a toy seal from the claw machine. When he returns home the narrator menons that, “Buster had goen hooked playing”. In another episode, Buster sits on a bench near the beach where his seated posion crops the words on the back of the bench to say, “ARM OFF” (S2E11). This is a typical example of foreshadowing in the form of “easter eggs” in the form of various hand-related jokes and references to different types of seals - and to make maers worse, his hand was bien off by a “loose seal” which sounds similar to ‘Lucille’, the name of his mother whom he was trying to defy by swimming in the ocean. This joke has been so significant in television, that it made the list of 100 More Jokes That Shaped Modern Comedy which compiled by Vulture (online) that features jokes that have influenced American humour for the past 170 years. This prompted Hurwitz to reverse the tradional sitcom format by creang a joke that would change the meaning of these previously harmless ones. According to Vulture (online), this has revoluonised the ming of jokes. The audience becomes an acve parcipant by having to really dig deep to find the jokes, and has allowed for a new level of sitcom density where easter-eggs are common pracce.

38 S2E11 - Out on a Limb: Foreshadowing of Buster losing a hand S3E03 - Forget-me-Now: Foreshadowing of Rita being mentally disabled as see sits on a bench and obstructs “Wee Britain” so that it reads as “Wee Brain” While Arrested Development oen makes use of subtle and layered humour, the show includes a fair amount of cringe comedy that is all about agonising laughter that arises from the awkwardness of social interacon as well as characters’ lack of self-awareness (Time, online). The building block of cringe comedy is the awkward silence that hangs in the air aer a thoughtless comment. Cringe comedy is popular in comedy vérité programs as opposed to sitcoms and oen borrows techniques from reality TV such as fly-on-the-wall footage and talking heads. The humour is presented in the difference between the way a character sees themselves and the way that they come off to other people. Tobias is a typical character who makes viewers cringe by just looking at him in his over-sized glasses and moustache. He is somemes seen wearing ouits to appear macho but instead rather appears as a sexual deviant. When he wanted to appeal to his daughter’s interests and buy a leather ouit that screamed “leather daddy”, the cringe-worthiness is also present. While Tobias is obviously intelligent, he lacks any self-awareness. This becomes obvious through the excessive amount of Freudian slips and awkward puns throughout the show that includes lines like “I suppose I’m buy-curious”, and when his numberplate, which is supposed to indicate “a new start”, reads as “ANUSTART”. This is obvious to to everyone but Tobias. He is constantly aempng to hide his existenal crisis about his career, his marriage and also his own sexuality.

Absence of a Laugh-track The fact that Arrested Development does not make use of a laugh-track, allows the show to distance itself even further from the sitcom format, and as such assumes the typical nature of comedy vérité. By removing the laugh tracks, it naturally follows that the audiences or viewers will need to rely more heavily on the available visuals and language jokes. Hurwitz pointed out that audiences do not always know “when to laugh”, and by leaving out the laugh track it is almost guaranteed that the audience will also never find out (online). By oming the laugh track, there is no need for actors to pause aer a joke or catch-phrase. This allows the dialogue to flow in a more natural way that is not afforded in a theatrical mul-camera show that pauses dialogue and acons to allow for laughter from the audience and viewers. By oming the laugh-track, the humour is given space to move and be fast-paced, organic and at mes barely noceable. Clearly, Arrested Development is a very dense show that is packed into sitcom’s 20-minute episode length. By eliminang the laugh track, the show does not have to pause for audience laughter, and more humour and narrave content can be packed into the show. By pairing sitcom- style jokes with the comedy vérité format and not having an audience to respond with laughter, lines do not necessarily have to succeed at being funny. Instead, lines can be “iconic, poignant, or just a line” (Thompson, online). For a first-me viewer, many of the jokes might not necessarily be funny, but aer repeated viewings, these lines increasingly make sense and fit into the overall humour and narrave of the show. The pronounced absence of laugh-tracks, of course, has a huge benefit in the sense that no me is wasted during which the audience laughs, and the cast or producon team has to wait for the laughter to end. With the density of plot-lines and stories in Arrested Development, it would be quite hard for an audience member to untangle and keep up with each of these individuals strands or storylines. The fact that laughter-tracks are absent is a saving grace in the density of these plot-lines - if it was decided to approach it differently, almost certainly the episodes would have run out of me for audiences to digest the thick storylines, and huge slabs of meaning and references would be lost, in my opinion.

39 Blocking / Staging Pracces Arrested Development challenges the sitcom by having more dimension in terms of what we see on the camera. In the sitcom, all the acon unfold on a stage that is set up specifically for the cameras and the audience. Everything that is happening in the scene is clear to the viewer. In this way, Arrested Development breaks with the convenon of sitcom. This is most prominent in season 4 of the show where the family is together in the living room and at the police staon, and the viewer sees the individual storylines of nine different characters unfolding over 15 episodes. The basic strategy deployed here is that of “retelling the same story from mulple perspecves, oen called the ‘Rashomon Effect’ aer the landmark Kurosawa film” (Miel, 37). Each me the viewer sees the living room scene, more of the scene is revealed. A character which was not observed in the same scene in a previous episode now becomes visible because of blocking, camera angles and dialogue between characters. As such, the acon does not unfold on a one- dimensional sitcom stage where blocking is prevalent and characters are standing in such a way that they are all visible to the audience, but rather in mulple dimensions enabled by documentary techniques where the camera can enter a space and create depth. This is yet another way in which the show is self-reflexive. The same scene being repeated episode aer episode confirms the ‘arrested development’ of the characters. While the scene might not be that funny the first me a viewer watches it, it gets funnier each me it gets replayed from a different character’s perspecve.

Narrave Complexity Arrested Development has been described as “a sitcom embracing genre blending and narrave complexity” (Barton). Narrave complexity can be described as “a redefinion of episodic forms under the influence of serial narraon - not necessarily a complete merger of episodic and serial forms but a shiing balance. Rejecng the need for plot closure within every episode that typifies convenonal episodic form, narrave complexity foregrounds ongoing stories across a range go genres” (Miell, 32). The narrave complexity, in my personal experience, is one of the factors that can contribute to making the show in a sense inaccessible to some viewers. It is a definite niche audience that the show is meant for. I believe this is proven by many of the unique factors inherent in Arrested Development: the rich, fast narrave; the supplemented dialogue by references to past events and material, the faster conversaon in the face of the absent laughter track.

Audience Engagement and Mulple Viewings As menoned earlier, a lot of the humour in the show is layered and pivotal events are foreshadowed in a very subliminal way and instead of being obvious and predictable, it is at mes even invisible to the average viewer. Through mulple viewings, the humour reveals itself layer by layer that demands a different type of aenon from the viewer than a convenonal sitcom or comedy vérité program. Joanne Morale writes that increasing numbers of sitcoms “are no longer simply self-referenal, but they also incorporate intertextuality, parody, and play with the sitcom form, indicang an even greater emphasis on the discursive relaonship set up between text and viewer” (110). Arrested Development has so much material and details in each episode that it might have been doomed for broadcast life according to Hurwitz (Thompson, 71). The show demands audience engagement, repeat viewings and awareness of the many media texts referenced in 40 order to be fully comprehensible. Hurwitz explained that Arrested Development is actually a show for new technology - “We are making a show for Tivo, and we’re making a show for DVD, and it really becomes part of our objecve in making this thing” (NPR interview). Hurwitz is suggesng a spectator posion that demands acve, engaged viewers that might replay a part of the episode or pause to think about the episode’s relaon to previous episodes. In order to be fully comprehended, Arrested Development (and parcularly season 4) requires binge-watching. Arrested Development takes its relaonship with the audience to an extreme level so that a viewing experience is created that is completely detached from the characters’ experiences. The characters are oblivious to the network of references, coincidences, foreshadowing and effects on one another’s narraves. An example of this is the loose seal with a yellow bowe which was used by Gob in his magic shows and later released into the ocean. This was the same seal that eventually bit off Buster’s hand. Miell argues that programs that are narravely complex “invite temporary disorientaon and confusion, allowing viewers to build up their comprehension skills through long-term viewing and acve engagement” (37). A narravely complex show like Arrested Development encourages a new mode of viewer engagement. Through this mode of implied viewer engagement, viewers need to be parcularly alert for spong - and then recalling - the jokes and foreshadowing that might not become evident for another few episodes. Arrested Development is an experience in intellectual exercise (33), that requires aenon and engagement that is not demanded from convenonal sitcom or comedy vérité programs as the audience not only watches the show to get swept away in the narrave but to see all the gears at work. While these references add to the humour and narrave complexity of the show, they all draw the viewers’ aenon to producon and creaon of episodes and the series as a whole. Miell suggests that “[a]s programs become established in their own complex convenons we also marvel at how far creators can push the boundaries of complexity, offering baroque variaons on themes and norms” (35). By encouraging the viewers to engage with the show not only on a narrave level, Arrested Development creates a complete viewing experience. The viewer is made aware of the fine balance between genres, connuity, and complexity, while ensuring that despite the wealth of informaon, stasis or arrested development persists throughout the series.

Intertextuality Arrested Development frequently makes use of intertextuality. It oen references other media works such as the Mrs. Doubire (1993), when Tobias dresses up as an elderly Brish nanny from “Blackstool” in England in hopes of spending me with his daughter and hopefully reconciling with his wife. However, unlike the movie, the Bluths are completely aware of Tobias’s presence and take advantage of his cleaning and cooking. Another example of a direct reference to another media text is the same home-video footage of George Michael pretending to be a Jedi, fighng against nobody with a fake lightsaber or when Lucille gives her adopted Asian son some money to “go see a Star War”. The media texts referenced in the show range from , House M.D., Peanuts and The Fantasc 4, among others. But while it references texts in more direct modes, it also very subtly refers to past work of its cast and crew. There is a memorable scene where Buster dances in the car to Styx’s Mr. Roboto and gets his hook caught on the dashboard. This is a reference to a Volkswagen commercial that the actor did in the 1990s where the same song is playing in the car. In season 4, it is revealed that Rita has had plasc surgery and then cuts to a “before” picture of in makeup from the film Monster. Throughout the series, there

41 are also mulple references to where the role of Fonzie was played by the family’s incompetent lawyer, Barry Zuckercorn ().

How Arrested Development transforms the sitcom It is clear that Arrested Development is selecve in its use of tradional sitcom components. There is no evidence of a laugh track, punch lines, episodic narraves, a set-up stage with an audience or mulple cameras. It does, however, embrace other convenons such as catchphrases, restricted episode length of 22 minutes (seasons 1-3), the occasional flashback and ignorance of the camera. In S.O.B’s (S03E09), the series conclude with a live ending which has been used in many sitcoms like Will & Grace (1998-2006) as well as on 30 Rock. Live endings are typically used in an aempt to boost rangs. Aer compleng the live ending, one of the characters comments that they (the cast and crew) will now have to repeat the scene for the West Coast feed. In this moment, it becomes clear that the characters on Arrested Development are actors who form part of a scripted instead of a documentary or reality television program. By only embracing a handful of sitcom components throughout the series, Arrested Development firmly makes itself part of the sitcom genre, but turns the genre on its head. By being self-aware and self-reflexive, Arrested Development shows what the sitcom is capable of.

4.3.3. Arrested Development as an Intersectional Cross-Genre When one studies Arrested Development in the context of documentary and sitcom, it becomes clear that the show does not neatly fall into the category of one specific genre but borrows from the above-menoned genre as well as mockumentary and drama. In order to survey the different elements of Arrested Development, I have compiled a table that includes codes and convenons of Arrested Development in relaon to the genres of documentary, mockumentary, comedy vérité, sitcom, and drama. The codes and convenons used by Arrested Development include camera techniques and lighng set-ups associated with documentary, the use of a narrator, creang a more complex and detailed narrave by incorporang supplementary materials, and ulising flashbacks. It makes use of serial and episodic narraves, the script is wrien with great aenon to detail, it uses gags and catchphrases related to sitcom - but then turn the genre on its head by abandoning the laugh- track. The text is also narravely complex in that it is self-referenal, intertextual and makes use of “easter-eggs” that take weeks, or in some cases even years, to pay off.

42 Table 1.1. Summary of Arrested Development as an Intersectional Cross-Genre

43 This table makes it clear that Arrested Development borrows aesthec and narrave codes as well as convenons from at least five established genres (documentary, mockumentary, comedy vérité, sitcom, and drama) and establishes its own aesthec, which is not quite mockumentary, it is distanced from the tradional sitcom and lean more towards a comedy vérité aesthec by using documentary elements. It also adds elements from dramac television narraves to increase narrave complexity. Even though Arrested Development is clearly a comedy, it can be concluded that it is almost a hotchpotch of genres which cannot ulmately be aligned with one specific genre.

4.4. Arrested Development as social critique

Aer this above lengthy analysis and scruny of Arrested Development, I believe that an important noon and awareness are ulmately communicated through this show. It almost serves as an equalising message about the irony of life. The first subtle understanding that the audience will get is a tacit message that rich people are presumably callous. This is confirmed by the fact that the family’s housing development company literally had to ‘arrest’ its latest phase and project, as the CEO, George Sr. was arrested for embezzlement. Besides this foundaonal message, Arrested Development criques many issues and atudes of society that ranges from the environment, racial stereotypes, sexual orientaon, the fine line between charity and crime, incestuous relaonships, disabilies, self-interest, decepon, the Enron Scandal, the Bush administraon, the housing crisis in America, among others. As an arcle from the Washington Post read: “more than any other show, Arrested Development drew economics into its texture - harping on the corporate scandals of the day” (Washington Post, Online) Demper (in Barton, online) points out that several of the characters are primarily propelled by their fixaon with money and greed - not having enough money, coming up with schemes to get money or the lavish and impulsive spending of money they do not have. The characters and plot are not necessarily driven by the availability of money, but rather by their atudes toward money. The Bluths are accustomed to luxuries and lavish lifestyles of yachts, fur coats and country clubs that have been funded by company accounts that are no longer at their disposal. Even though the family is constantly on the verge of financial ruin, they absolutely refuse to acknowledge that hard work and honesty are associated with money and success; they thus resort to scheme their way into money so others will acknowledge and admire their financial success. Oen these schemes allow for a temporary gain that is directly related to another’s loss. Queen for a Day (S02E08) is an applicable example of the family manipulang, undermining and tricking each other and the company in their quest for self-indulgence. The family lawyer, Barry, informs Michael that the company stock is unfrozen. Michael enquires about the possibility of selling some stock in order to buy a car and is assured by the lawyer that it should be fine - as long as the rest of the family do not sell their stock, as they will conceivably lose their control over the company. Michael sends the family leers requesng that they do not sell their stock - while he goes to the car salesman to buy an economical, family car, but instead ends up buying a luxurious sports car. As the plot connues it is revealed that the family members have clearly ignored Michael’s request. Lucille has used her poron of the stock to move a wall in her bathroom so that her neighbour, Lucille 2, would have a bathroom that is two inches smaller. Gob is intent on buying a yacht, Lindsay intends to pay for the country club, and Tobias has bought the Queen Mary (a drag

44 bar). Clearly, the Bluths do not care about the consequences of their acons and enjoy spending their money on absurd and unnecessary things. This is proven me and me again as the family approaches Michael to ask for money for what they consider essenal - in one episode (S01E20), this money is desperately needed for Buster to have surgery, as Lucille is irritated by the sound of his clicking jaw when he eats. This equates and ‘hooks up’ to the idea that cheang and lying lead to financial success instead of honesty and hard work. When Lindsay works as a salesperson in a clothing store, the family queries her new ouits. She insists that she has shoplied these items, as the is preferable to working like an ordinary, responsible cizen. There is a deep-rooted and direct connecon between this type of criminal behaviour displayed by the Bluths and their charitable acons. These charies range from a bacheloree aucon to save the wetlands; Lindsay’s an-circumcision movement H.O.O.P (Hands of Our Penises), which received most of its funding from the Bluth company; Ladies of Literacy; and S.A.D. (the sons and dads project) which reunites Gob with his illegimate son, Steve Holt. Before the Bluths’ dire financial predicaments, they would host annual charity galas. When they could not think of any worthwhile cause, they put “TBA” (To Be Announced) on the invitaons. It was never clarified what TBA was - but the Bluths kept pockeng the donaons as guests assumed TBA was a crippling disease. Their success prompted them to repeat the event the following year. They even showed a clip of George Michael reenacng and presented it as a symptom of TBA. Perhaps the most notable, almost violently-natured covered as a cause throughout the series was GVA (Gra Versus Host) featured in -In (S03E07). Gra Versus Host is a medical condion that Tobias suffers aer receiving hair implants and the hair (the gra) rejected his body (the host). The condion resulted in Tobias losing control of his muscles and eventually needing a wheelchair, as well as his teeth falling out. Instead of geng the implants removed and healing from the afflicon, Tobias suffers through the agony in order to have a full head of hair. It is not only Tobias who is selfish but also the family as they take advantage of his disease in the hopes of obtaining donaons. Gob even films Tobias and produces a documentary on the disease. Although he is injured mulple mes during filming, Gob and Lindsay are completely unconcerned with Tobias’s injuries - in fact, Lindsay is thrilled about Tobias’s disease as it is beneficial to her and she forbids him from geng the life-saving surgery: “That horsehair is my cket back into society. You cut it aer those idiots at the gala accept me as one of their own”. It is clear that the Bluths, and especially Lindsay, are never concerned about any of these causes and will even support an opposing cause as long as they can think of themselves as the charitable protagonist. They so badly want to be charitable that Michael and Lindsay make a bet on which one is the most charitable in the episode entled Charity Drive (S01E06). Lindsay, in an aempt to prove how charitable she is, volunteers in the wetlands where she ends up spraying a bird with mace and spearing a frog, doing more harm than good. Michael, in his aempt to prove that he is more charitable than his sister, offers the woman he believes to be his mother’s housekeeper a ride and ends up geng arrested for kidnapping. Their callous selfishness and philanthropic acons are in direct opposion to each other and are only ever pursued for individual selfish gain and oneupmanship. As a family, they are weirdly united, but will not hesitate one second to harm on of the others through their selfish greed that obviously also undermines the family as a larger concept. In spite of their wealth and so-called standing, the family members have not developed as human beings and had been literally arrested in the course of normal emoonal growth and intelligence. At one stage Michael says that “the average American male is in a perpetual state of

45 adolescence. You know, arrested development”, and before he can finish his sentence, Howard exclaims “hey, that’s the name of the show!”. It is clear that the tle of the show was carefully considered and the complexity of the potenal only adds to the irony and pathology. As one watches the show, it becomes clear that the Bluths are not capable of understanding or altering their situaon, which keeps them in a perpetual, never-ending and self-destrucve state of arrested development. This arrested development becomes hugely important in the context of the family analysis. The various parents and siblings have a marked lack of personal self-insight and understanding. However, Michael, the son who is trying to save not only the company but in a sense the family as well, realises that he is somehow different from the others. This is something that the other family members cannot or will not entertain. In fact, they are so insistent on keeping themselves from any individuaon or self-development in any respect that they take actual measures - such as when Gob drugs himself in a rare moment of self-realisaon in order to stay oblivious of any external knowledge that can affect his inflated ego. In S3E03, tled Forget-Me-Now, Gob explains the premise of the Forget-Me-Now when they give a pill to Rita (Michael’s love interest played by Charlize Theron) to forget the fact that the Bluths had kidnapped her and rendered her unconscious. It is a pill that is the mainstay of every magician’s toolkit and which can “create a temporary sort of forgeness” so that as soon as someone finds out how a trick is done, the pill will make them forget. Later in the episode, it is revealed that this lile forget-me-now is actually rohypnol, commonly known as the date rape drug. In Colony Collapse, Gob falls into what is described as a “roofie circle” to forget his indiscreons from the night before by willingly taking a Forget-Me-Now to erase the memory. However, the consumpon of the pill itself is forgoen, thereby creang a vicious cycle where “the vicm of the roofie circle finds himself constantly trying to re-erase the memory but only succeeds in erasing the memory of the aempt to erase the memory” (S4E07). Another incident where we see a character forcefully and purposefully keeping themselves from any self-development and remaining in a period of stasis (as the tle of the show suggests), is when Tobias (who is quesonably bisexual or a homosexual), listens to a recording of his own speech and talking in S2E10 (Ready, Aim, Marry Me). Michael walks in on Tobias who is covered in blue paint as he is hoping to join the Blue Man Group. When Michael points out to Tobias that he is painted blue, the laer explains that he “blue” himself and goes on to say that "I’m afraid I prematurely shot my wad on what was supposed to be a dry run, if you will, so now I’m afraid I have something of a mess on my hands". While it is patently clear to any listener that his talking is almost unintelligible because of the many double innuendos that he uses, Tobias himself cannot - or will not - make this conclusion and calls himself a "blowhard," adding even more ironic significance to the innuendo (Sanders, 46). Disability and percepons of disability are also addressed in the show. We see this when Michael has a one-night stand with his father’s prosecutor, Maggie Lizer, who happens to be blind in Jusce is Blind (S01E18). It is later revealed that Maggie is not blind but feigns her disability to boost her career, as her disability garners her so much sympathy that judges and juries rule in her favour in spite of the actual work she does in the courtroom. This creates the idea that people are willing to bend the rules and sympathise with disabled people, even though this is in direct opposion of how Buster is treated once he loses his hand. His family is afraid of him and prefers that he stays out of sight, and he refers to himself as a monster and half-machine. In the fourth season aer he gets a hand transplant he even becomes the polical tool of polician, Herbert Love, as his abnormally large hand is inmidang to the opposion. People with disabilies can

46 either get praise and sympathy or they can become outcasts, is what the series seem to communicate about this quite sensive societal issue.

4.5. Conclusion

If one has to eventually categorise or classify Arrested Development as a specific genre, it seems that it most closely resembles sitcom in comedy vérité style. It remains possible that in the way that mockumentary has branched off into various forms, sitcom and drama can also develop and evolve into other televisual styles, such as comedy vérité. Arrested Development is clearly one of the most dense and layered television series that has been influenal in relaon to the genres of sitcom and comedy vérité. It has broken ground to establish new variaons on the sitcom genre and has rather changed the story from “the death of sitcom to its rebirth” (Weinmann, 57) by paving the way for new approaches to the comedy genre, and by blending mockumentary and drama elements into the tradional sitcom format.

47 5. CONCLUSION

4.1. Introduction

In the first part of this thesis I have presented my research quesons, my research method and the main subject under invesgaon, Arrested Development. In this study, I hoped to demonstrate that a narravely complex television show such as Arrested Development cannot be confined to or categorised as one specific genre simply because it clearly embraces disnct elements from that genre. In Chapter 2, I proceeded to offer a theorecal overview of documentary by looking at the codes, convenons, documentary modes and funcons of the genre. I have also aimed to uncover reasons as to why documentary has fragmented into other genres such as reality television, docusoap, docudrama, and docuficon (which is a broad term for mockumentary). Aer determining mockumentary’s connecon to documentary, I invesgated the characteriscs and degrees of mockumentary in Chapter 3. I considered the genre in relaon to the sitcom and the televisual style that emerged from that relaonship, namely comedy vérité, which is a sitcom in mockumentary style. I have subsequently examined the reasons why the sitcom genre has distanced itself from the tradional sitcom format in order to embrace a new style of sitcom - comedy vérité. In Chapter 4, I applied an extensive analysis to Arrested Development, I looked at the ways in which the show borrows from documentary convenons and criques the genre, and how it challenges the sitcom form. It became clear that Arrested Development not only appropriates and borrows from sitcom and documentary, but also from reality TV and dramac television shows. Thus, the show cannot be categorised as a product of one specific genre, but instead it becomes an interseconal cross-genre that borrows from several genres to create a unique (and at mes) befuddling show that defies labelling. This is clearly illustrated in the following diagram that links to the findings and observaons in Chapter 4.

48 Figure 2.1. Visual Representation of Arrested Development as a Cross-Genre

There are many other insights that can be elaborated on, but I do not have the necessary space. Some of these discernments include the commentary of Arrested Development on other non-ficonal genres through the ficonal references we see on the show and how the characters become parcipants in these (Lucille in Real Asian Prison Housewives of the Orange County and Tobias in To Catch a Predator). The show criques on an array of other pernent aspects which I have discussed. Merely nong that the Bluths never bothered to learn the name of Lucille’s adopted son, Annyong, during the course of three seasons proves their self-obsessed, oblivious and even racist characteriscs. The characters also postulate reflecon on society and its self- obsession and self-aggrandisement. This is evidence of the rich context and content of Arrested Development. In essence, I can affirm that I not only enjoyed this strange, rare story of one dysfunconal family for many years in the past before I undertook this study, but that I also found real pleasure in pung the content and background under a microscope to learn more about the producon techniques, modes, aesthecs, code and convenons. What was intensely revealing and insighul, was how one family’s narrave and its characters can be used to construct a deeply fascinang portrait and cameo of a modern, ill-adjusted assemblage of people who are fiercely loyal to each other in one sense, but in another also devoid of any consideraon for or devoon to each other. I personally observed this much-discussed and dissected producon in popular and academic literature to deliver some fierce social commentary and crique on the state of families and their strange senses of loyales to one another. It also sheds light on how the hugely consumerist, capitalisc ethos that modern families exist in, can contribute to cause an almost pathological narrave of a family and the members thereof. The blatant narcissisc choices oen made by the parents and siblings convey harsh crique on the socially fractured world modern families live in. On the other hand, however, producons like these generate vast excitement and opmism about the future of television products that can transcend, dissect, merge and cross various genres to offer new material to researchers, academics and audiences.

49 REFERENCES

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