How are the characters constructed:
Jen- Jen is constructed as being a young adult in her 30's who is the complete opposite to Roy and Moss. She shows sociable skills and that, while she is able to get boyfriends, she always seems to never find the right person and a running gag throughout the series is her poor judgment when it comes to men. However, she lacks a serious understanding of IT knowledge and use with computers and is often seen struggling to figure out how they work.
Roy- Roy is a man in his 30's who is ill-tempered and seems to hate his job, being stuck as an IT person in the basement of an office. He is desperate to get a girlfriend but his lazy and slob like lifestyle coupled with his nerdy tendencies make him a deterrent for women despite his efforts to impress them.
Moss- Moss is another IT worker in his 30's and is meant to reflect the stereotypical, socially inept nerd of modern day society. Moss is presented to have a lack of social skills as demonstrated when struggling to speak to girls, but has an amazing knowledge of computers and how they work and so proves to be a highly intelligent character despite his autistic and awkward behavior.
In what way are Roy and Moss "standard nerds":
The two characters are presented as nerds in that they show exceptional talent and skills in computer and software and speak using technological IT terms that only people like them would understand, alienating them from everyone else. They also show a lack of social skills and struggle to talk to girls, usually having awkward behavior around them and showing almost autistic tendencies, although they try very hard to get girlfriends, something very stereotypical of a nerd.
What is comic about Jens appointment as IT manager:
She shows that she has no knowledge of IT or computers beyond sending and receiving emails, a basic everyday tool that everyone knows, yet she has been placed in charge of two highly intelligent IT workers with know common knowledge herself but still pretends to know in order to seem smarter than the men.
Give examples of how R and M are socially inept / inadequate
ReplyDelete'Standard Nerds': who is the target audience for the show? Men mostly, 15-45, computer savvy
Is the audience positioned on equal terms /omniscient (yes as we understand the jargon and the jokes against the other staff).
Are we positioned as superior?(yes, as M and R are social failures and Jen is IT illiterate).
Topic sentence: stereotypes are part of sitcom genre
You should use the 4 audience pleasures framework
Grade B/C