Creative Victuals
James Parker is a fantastic writer. Enjoyed this very much. theatlantic: The secret of Modern Family’s runaway success: it’s just a sitcom. Structurally, Modern Family is pseudo-vérité, reality-infected, chasing its characters around their kitchens like an episode of Supernanny or sitting them down for chats with a never-heard offscreen interviewer. (Phil: “Claire likes to say you can be part of the problem, or part of the solution. But I happen to believe that you can be both.”) This is “mockumentary,” a once-radical form—pioneered by This Is Spinal Tap, refined by Garry Shandling and Christopher Guest, and popularized by Ricky Gervais—that has degenerated into a kind of postmodern whimsy. You see it all over the place these days. Round and round goes the camera, the un-Steadicam, artfully wobbling and puckishly zooming. The lens is two-way: the characters, rich in lovable foibles, peep through it and smirk or snuffle at the viewer, as if there are no jokes anymore, but only a single enormous Joke with all of us inside it, like the town under Stephen King’s Dome. Silence now encases the sitcom, the lovely, corny crackle of the laugh track having vaporized into little bathetic air pockets and farts of anticlimax. Enough, I say. This burlesque of naturalism has depleted us. Give me the honest joinery of The George Lopez Show, the fat gags and the cackles on demand, over Parks and Recreation or NBC’s ghastly version of The Office. Who knew irony could be so cloying? Everything James Parker writes is absolute fucking gold. Read more at The Atlantic

James Parker is a fantastic writer. Enjoyed this very much.

theatlantic:

The secret of Modern Family’s runaway success: it’s just a sitcom.

Structurally, Modern Family is pseudo-vérité, reality-infected, chasing its characters around their kitchens like an episode of Supernanny or sitting them down for chats with a never-heard offscreen interviewer. (Phil: “Claire likes to say you can be part of the problem, or part of the solution. But I happen to believe that you can be both.”) This is “mockumentary,” a once-radical form—pioneered by This Is Spinal Tap, refined by Garry Shandling and Christopher Guest, and popularized by Ricky Gervais—that has degenerated into a kind of postmodern whimsy. You see it all over the place these days. Round and round goes the camera, the un-Steadicam, artfully wobbling and puckishly zooming. The lens is two-way: the characters, rich in lovable foibles, peep through it and smirk or snuffle at the viewer, as if there are no jokes anymore, but only a single enormous Joke with all of us inside it, like the town under Stephen King’s Dome. Silence now encases the sitcom, the lovely, corny crackle of the laugh track having vaporized into little bathetic air pockets and farts of anticlimax. Enough, I say. This burlesque of naturalism has depleted us. Give me the honest joinery of The George Lopez Show, the fat gags and the cackles on demand, over Parks and Recreation or NBC’s ghastly version of The Office. Who knew irony could be so cloying?

Everything James Parker writes is absolute fucking gold. Read more at The Atlantic

Source: theatlantic

11 October 66 theatlantic
modern familyjames parkerthe atlantic

Notes

  1. lillian-jones reblogged this from theatlantic
  2. bigjeff180 reblogged this from theatlantic
  3. videos-divertidos reblogged this from theatlantic
  4. matthurst reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
    Structurally, Modern Family...pseudo-vérité, reality-infected, chasing its characters...
  5. nitesharora reblogged this from theatlantic
  6. hjparenthesis reblogged this from theatlantic
  7. nerbles reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
    A brilliant look at my favorite comedy on television.
  8. iampatrickw reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
    Interesting article on one of my favorite progrums.
  9. dizzzanielle reblogged this from theatlantic
  10. ap1pel reblogged this from theatlantic
  11. alfabettezoupe reblogged this from theatlantic
  12. creativevictuals reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
    fantastic writer. Enjoyed this very much.
  13. jrnels reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
    “farts of anticlimax.”
  14. quoms reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
    Parks and Rec is hilarious. The George Lopez Show is the polar opposite of hilarious. It’s the encrusted remnants of...
  15. shibbykoyote reblogged this from theatlantic

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