Situation comedy, character, and psychoanalysis: on the couch with Lucy, Basil and Kimmie

Situation Comedy, Character and Psychoanalysis puts the sitcom character on the analyst's couch and closely examines the characters of Basil Fawlty, Lucy Ricardo and Kim from Australia's Kath & Kim, in order to reveal the essential elements that must exist in a sitcom before even the first joke is written. Original in its approach, D.T. Klika uncovers major findings about the sitcom as well as human behavior and relationships that we find `arresting' and even "familial". By offering a new way of reading the sitcom using psychoanalytic theory, this book can be used as a basis for engaging in critical discourses as well as textual analysis of programs. Psychoanalytic theory enables a reading of character motivations and relationships, in turn elucidating the power struggle that exists between characters in this form of comedy. Situation Comedy, Character and Psychoanalysis shines a light on what is at play in the sitcom that makes us laugh, and why we love the characters we do, only to discover that this form of comedy is more complex than we first thought.

Introduction: (re)reading the sitcom : What is the sitcom? -- The psychology of the character -- Using psychoanalysis -- An overview: finding sitcom's subversive side. It begins with the (key) character : Narcissism and the comic character -- The comic character's struggle -- Post-Freud and the comic -- The character trapped in the gaze -- Narcissus and Echo as comic characters -- The key character as master of their world?. The perpetual (power) struggle of sitcom relationships : Fear and behavior -- Fear and desire -- Fear and power -- The key character's struggle for a cohesive "self". Echoing the key character : The key character and their echo -- Echo comic characters -- Group shows: the echo that lies within -- A return to the myth of Narcissus and Echo and its psychoanalytic roots -- Echo and Narcissus: two sides of the psyche? The tension of the (closed) narrative : The key character and the narrative -- Tension through the "diegetic reality" of the narrative. Premise, performance, and the discursive frame : Tension in the premise -- The key character's "frame". Conclusion: sitcom: a (comic) site of struggle. Appendix: theory in practice : Putting it on the page : To (re)c…