Its always sunny in Philadelphia is a comedy based on a group of friends in Philadelphia that own. Work at a bar. The 5 main characters Charlie, Mac the tough guy that’s not so tough, “sweet” Dee who constantly being picked on and as superficial as her older brother, Dennis who thinks he is the most intelligent beautiful man in the world. They don’t only stereo type gender, race, religion but themselves as well. Being 5 kids that grew up in catholic school, they make many remarks mocking Catholicism. Within the first season, they cross the line quite a few times, but evidently with the ratings people love it.
An episode in particular is from season one “The gang gets racist”. Dee enters the bar and tells the “gang” that she has met a guy from her acting class, and then an African American man walks in the bar. Mac, Charlie and Dennis automatically get up and say “ Hey we don’t want any problems” totally stereotyping not only an image of an African American man causing problems but the white men being scared to death. Once they have learned this man is the guy Dee is dating they befriend him. Anytime he talks about his brother or his sister, Mac asked “do you mean your brother or do you mean your brotha‘” poking fun to the “slang” terms of some cultures and eagerness of Mac trying to fit in. Also Charlie proving that he is not racist , asks out an African American girl.
The writers of its always sunny in Philadelphia use stereotyping as a huge part of there comedy. Sometimes I think it can be offensive but they put them self’s down as much as anyone else.
Besides this episode, the writers really attack the characters. They use topics like abortion, welfare, homosexuality , incest but audience members are responding pretty positively to these touchy subject. I think this show really pokes at everyone. I enjoy this show a lot and I think its defiantly different then other sitcoms in the past but at the same time its interesting to see how being offensive to a race on national TV is so entertaining to people. I wonder if this is going to cause more racial profiling or does it show people how ignorant they look when the judge on skin color, religion or lifestyle.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/6705/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-the-gang-gets-racist
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It's funny how racist jokes can only "fly" on sit-coms like 'Sunny.' If they were to air anywhere else on television, there would be red-flags all over the place.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your last sentence: I believe that comedy shows, like Sunny, have very unique positions when it comes to being able to be blunt and straight-forward with their messages (like racism, sexism, religiosity, etc). They can be brutally honest and not be flagged for it. They have an advantage than other shows to send a message to a nationally televised audience without causing too much confrontation because of their comedic approach in things. However, their messages are sometimes drowned out because of their comedic approach.
(DayMan! ah~aahhhhHH~!! Fighter of the NightMan! ah~aaHHHHHH~!!!!) haha
-I love this show! <3
Yes, this brings up interesting questions -- For example, is depicting racist characters a stereotype? More importantly, does depicting racist characters, even if it is to critique racism, keep stereotypes alive?
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