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Breaking the Fourth Wall and Humor in Malcolm in the Middle

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Breaking the Fourth Wall and Humor in Malcolm in the Middle Breaking the Fourth Wall and Humor in Malcolm in the Middle Diplomarbeit Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Vedrana MARKANOVIĆ am Institut für Amerikanistik Begutachter: Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Klaus Rieser Graz, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ………………………….....……………..…….....……...…… 1 2. SERIES AND SERIALS ……………………………………..……......…………. 2 2.1. Episodic Series …………………….....……….……………….....……….…...… 2 2.2. Serials …………………….…………………………………………….…..….... 5 2.3. The New Series/Serials …….….……….……………………………….……….. 6 3. BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL …………..………………....…….….......... 8 3.1. Definition and Origins …………..…………...……………................................. 8 3.2. Breaking the Fourth Wall in Television …….…........…..............…………….. 10 3.3. Focalization ......................................................................................................... 13 3.4. Unreliable Narration ........................................................................................... 13 4. WHAT IS HUMOR? ............................................................................................. 14 4.1. Definition of Humor .......................................................................................... 15 4.2. Two Theories of Humor ...................................................................................... 16 5. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE ........... 18 5.1. Production ........................................................................................................... 18 5.2. Description of the Series ..................................................................................... 21 5.3. Classification and Distinctive Features ............................................................. 22 6. ANALYTICAL PART I - CATEGORIZATION OF MALCOLM’S ADDRESSES ................................................................................................................. 28 6.1. Methodology ..................................................................................................... 28 6.2. Explanatory Comments ........................................................................................ 29 6.3. Comments expressing Emotions ........................................................................ 40 6.4. Reflective Comments ........................................................................................ 55 6.5. To give Instructions to the Camera or to the Viewers .......................................... 71 6.6. Effect of Immersion ........................................................................................... 75 6.7. Effect of Alienation ........................................................................................... 78 6.8. Strengthening of the Protagonist .......................................................................... 81 6.9. Reliability and Authenticity ............................................................................... 83 7. ANALYTICAL PART II - HUMOR IN MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE ........ 89 7.1. Humor about Strange Relationships ................................................................... 89 7.2. Humor about Social Class .................................................................................. 96 7.3. Humor about Financial Problems ...................................................................... 98 7.4. Humor about Ethnic Groups ............................................................................ 100 7.5. Humor about (Homo-)Sexuality ...................................................................... 105 7.6. Humor about Disabilities ................................................................................. 108 7.7. Further Observations about Humor .................................................................. 109 8. CONCLUSION ………….…………....…………....…....………....…...……… 112 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………....……………....…………........…………... 115 Acknowledgements Zahvaljujem se od srca mojim dragim roditeljima. Vi ste mi bili stalna podrška, hvala vam da ste mi omogućili ove najljepše godine i da ste uvijek vjerovali u mene. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Dr. Klaus Rieser for his support, advice and motivation, especially during the process of finding the topic that suited me best. Maja and Philip – I cannot thank you two enough, since without your continuous and encompassing help throughout my studies, I maybe would never have come to this point. Thank you for calming me down in the most difficult moments of this process and for everything else that you have done for me. I would also like to thank my boyfriend Alex, who always prevailed upon me to keep on writing every time I was running out of motivation. Thank you also for the numerous moments that made me forget my thesis. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, especially my two best friends Christina and Lena, who always encouraged me to keep on writing, but also reminded me to sometimes take a rest and to simply enjoy the last months of my student life. Thank you for believing in me and listening to my problems in this nerve-wracking time. 1. INTRODUCTION Since television has won over audiences and replaced radio as the mass medium of choice in the late 1940s and early 1950s, episodic series about the daily life of supposedly ‘perfect families’ in the forms of situation comedies and soap operas soon ranked among the most popular shows and held that position for three decades. However, by the late 1970s and early 1980s, the prime time soap operas Dallas (1978- 91) and Dynasty (1981-89) had marked a groundbreaking innovation in the television landscape paving the way for the “narratively complex programming” (Mittell 2006: 32), which emerged in the early 1990s. In order to belong to these “new serials,” shows needed to surprise the audience with a concept that, on the one hand, combined features of episodic and serial storytelling and, on the other hand, blended several well-tried schemes from different genres in order to generate an innovative idea. This thesis aims to elucidate why Malcolm in the Middle (2000-2006)1 conforms to the requirements of narratively complex programming by paying special attention to the series’ peculiar characteristic, namely Malcolm’s occasional audience-directed addresses, or, using the technical terminology, his instances of “breaking the fourth wall.” Moreover, Malcolm’s motives for and intentions behind his viewer-oriented statements will be examined on the basis of illustrative examples from randomly selected episodes from all seasons. Since the technique of breaking the fourth wall temporarily enables him to additionally act as narrator and/or as focalizer, Malcolm’s reliability as well as the importance of his spatial position in particular scenes will be scrutinized. Apart from allowing the protagonist to narrate events himself and present his point of view, these direct addresses can likewise have different effects on the viewers, which will also be elaborated and represent a further part of this thesis. Owing to the fact that Malcolm in the Middle is a comedy series, a substantial part of Malcolm’s audience-oriented discourses additionally serve the purpose of making the viewers laugh. Hence, another focal point of this thesis will be the exploration of to what extent these addresses contribute to the humor of the series as well as to substantiate why they are considered amusing. After providing an overview of recurrent themes that constitute most of the humor in Malcolm in the Middle, a summary of the individual results will serve as conclusion for this thesis. 1 The airing time information has been retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212671/ 1 2. SERIES AND SERIALS 2.1. EPISODIC SERIES For a long time television has only been regarded as a medium of low-class entertainment and as less elaborate in comparison to literature or cinema. This pejorative opinion of television was the result of the entertainment-based and product- sponsored programs that had dominated the medium for about thirty years, to wit simple situation comedies and soap operas. Big companies served as sponsors for the creation and preservation of shows that particularly targeted housewives and in return the networks offered them advertising slots during the commercial breaks as well as product placements within the series themselves. With this strategy networks made sure to receive continuous financing for their programs, whereas the sponsors benefitted from their influence on the audience’s consumerist behavior. Taylor summarizes this cooperation by stating that: the magically spotless kitchens of those [...] wives and mothers, June Cleaver, Harriet Nelson and Margaret Anderson, amply stocked with all the latest durable goods, encouraged viewers to become model consumers and, by extension, model families. (Taylor 1989: 16) Taylor alludes to the fact that this strategy intended to convey the impression that the viewers could be more like their beloved television characters if they used the same products. Whereas soap operas continually extend their cast, relationships and storylines, refusing to offer conclusions to individual episodes, sitcoms revolve around stories of a limited cast’s lives and their minor, humorous mishaps that are resolved at the end of each episode. If the situation comedy is reduced to its very essence, it can be observed that the plot structure, regardless of the show,
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