5/ While the casts of shows like Friends, Seinfeld, The Office, Big Bang Theory, and Modern Family are indeed quirky and usual, they are also easily identifiable. In these on-screen caricatures, we recognize some of the characters in our own lives.
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16/ The point is, on the basis of the group’s guaranteed cohesion, sitcom characters are able to do something that is virtually impossible in real life: be absolutely honest with each other all the time.
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17/ The fictional characters can tell one another what they really think without alienating one another. They can make comments about one another that would fundamentally jeopardize trust in real life. A sitcom’s ultimate caricature is a fictionalized version of honesty itself.
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18/ What endears us to sitcoms? Trust. We are mesmerized by the idea of friends who will remain friends no matter what they say and do to one another. And their vulnerability leads to an fictionalized intimacy on screen that is endlessly attractive to us.
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19/ They are know and are fully known by one another. At the same time, they never need to strategically tweak the truth to risk hurting each other’s feelings. They enjoy 100% openness and 100% acceptance.
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20/ In real life, however, trust is extremely fragile. Actual human beings don’t follow scripts. They are not contractually bound to show up again next week. What you say/do to your real friends matters. It matters a lot. Such is the plight of not living in a television show.
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21/ Sitcoms point out the inescapable psychological dissonance we must navigate in our own relationships: our desire for mutual authenticity balanced with our desire for communal stability.
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