This Is (Not) a Laughing Matter! A Diachronic and Cross-Media Analysis of Political Correctness in Sitcoms

Abstract

Political correctness (henceforth PC) is a topic which, due to its ubiquity, has effectively colonised the collective consciousness for decades. Given the surprisingly limited attention dedicated to it, this study intends to shed light on the complex relationship between political correctness and the TV genre known as situation comedy (or sitcom). More specifically, by analysing the pilot episodes of the three TV series, namely, All in the Family, The Office (US) and Family Guy, the dissertation aims to: a) understand the role of PC culture in the given shows; b) determine how the pilot episodes can facilitate such understanding; c) reflect on the existence of a possible connection between PC and the controversial comedy employed in the three programmes. In this regard, the study found both temporal and modality-based reasons that might help to account for the influence of PC on the three examined sitcoms. Moreover, the choice of the pilot episodes resulted successful since, by being the most representative of their respective shows, they perfectly reflected the programmes’ attitudes regarding PC. Lastly, the only connection detected between PC and controversial humour relied on a loose interpretation of the former which accommodated satire. Future research might compensate certain limitations of this dissertation and enrich the current analysis by taking into account multiple episodes of a greater number of sitcoms released in different decades, countries and languages.