Studies in 20th-Century Literature (368-0-23)
Topic
Sitcom Styles, Nostalgic Revivals, & Narrative For
Instructors
Elizabeth Caitlin McCabe
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 212: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
During the first two years of the pandemic, many of us binged sitcoms from before we were born. Netflix released new family comedy series with old-style vibes and camera angles. Crowds lined Michigan Avenue to visit "The Office" Experience-a large-scale installation designed to put visitors inside their favorite sitcom workplace (even while they might be working from home). For at least five years prior, reboots and revivals of ‘80s and ‘90s sitcoms were popping up faster than you could say "Friends Reunion." What is it about the sitcom-that half-hour-ish mainstay of US televisual life-that keeps us coming back? How might studying sitcoms help us understand narrative, nostalgia, or even how we read? What social formations can the sitcom represent or imagine? In this class we will study the sitcom by looking at traditional examples, recent revivals, and boundary-pushing experiments alongside short fiction, essays, and theory that will help us interrogate the form. Course texts may include episodes of Abbott Elementary, Friends, BoJack Horseman, PEN15, and more (students will have some choice), and writing by Haruki Murakami, Kelly Link, Don DeLillo, Jason Mittell, and others.
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area