Jenn’s been watching a lot of Modern Family lately. Take a wild guess how I feel about that show.
I think the things that bothers me most about sitcoms are the feel-good formula 99% of them follow, and the way the characters’ entire world consists of maybe half a dozen individuals who all share the same space.
I think Seinfeld is the only show I’m aware of that didn’t do the feel-good formula — even the crude shows like Family Guy do it, virtually without fail. What I’m talking about is that each episode is comprised of a fight or misunderstanding between a few of the characters, some zany mayhem ensues, and in the last two minutes everyone apologizes, a lame joke or two is made and hoo-ray, we’re all left feeling rosy.
Except for those of us that despise feeling rosy.
As far as the tiny worlds go, I think virtually any sitcom (besides Seinfeld, of course) is a perfect example — Modern Family, Three’s Company, Family Ties, The Office, whatever. You have a small group of people who either live or work together, and they don’t have lives outside of that group of people or location. Everyone is basically all, “I live in a home/work in an office with these crazy kooks, and that’s it!” I hate that. It’s so fucking unrealistic that I can’t suspend my disbelief because all I can think of is, don’t these people ever go home/go to work/go to school/hang out with friends/DO ANYTHING AT ALL THAT DOESN’T INCLUDE THE REST OF THEIR FAMILY/CO-WORKERS? I can’t get past it.
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Today while Jenn was watching Modern Family, there was a reference to Tawny Kitaen. She was a model in the 80’s who appeared in Whitesnake’s terrible rock music video, Here I Go Again. She was a real ‘it’ girl for a year or whatever back then. I wondered what she was up to these days so I looked her up and holy hell, she is a monster now. She has had so much plastic surgery that she, well, looks like every other out-of-touch Hollywood freak. I suppose she isn’t a unique story but it just reminded me of how
a) stars lose touch with reality,
b) people who have made their living on being a beautiful young person have a very difficult time with aging,
c) women are the primary victims of this ‘cult of youth and beauty’ culture and it’s horribly sad that we do this to them,
d) Jenn has talked about how we really should pity the beautiful ‘it’ girls, like all the current Instagram influencer babes, because they’re encouraged to go this route, to sell themselves short and focus 100% on their beauty, regardless of its ephemeral nature. They are not aware that they will likely end up as fucked up as Tawny Kitaen and every other woman who was taught they didn’t need anything else — these girls and women are ignorant of and ill-prepared for the harsh reality that looms in their near future, so as annoying and as entitled as they may seem now, you have to look a few years down the road and feel bad for them.
crimson highway 