{"title":"当代美国情景喜剧中的自闭症谱系障碍:叙事和社会含义","authors":"Betty Kaklamanidou","doi":"10.1177/17496020231163306","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The Big Bang Theory, Atypical and Community are sitcoms paradigmatic of a recent representational shift, in which center stage is assumed by individuals who face psychological and neurological challenges. Sheldon Cooper ( TBBT), Sam Gardner ( Atypical) and Abed Nadir ( Community) are young male protagonists who all fall somewhere on the spectrum of autism. These representations signal a breakthrough from past, mainly cinematic depictions, which stereotypically addressed mentally challenged individuals as unstable, problematic, and crazy. Our goal is to examine the narrative and social function of autism in these three sitcoms. The theoretical context uses Thomas Elsaesser ’s concept of “productive pathologies” (2009) to argue that autism is also a “productive pathology” that can be applied in the study of contemporary sitcoms. Autism spectrum disorder as a “productive pathology” is then combined with the Incongruity Theory of humour in order to analyze how Sheldon’s, Sam’s and Abed’s developmental disorder is used to create a distinct type of incongruous comedy and at the same time destabilize notions of identity and social “propriety.”","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Autism spectrum disorder in contemporary American sitcoms: Narrative and social implication\",\"authors\":\"Betty Kaklamanidou\",\"doi\":\"10.1177/17496020231163306\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"The Big Bang Theory, Atypical and Community are sitcoms paradigmatic of a recent representational shift, in which center stage is assumed by individuals who face psychological and neurological challenges. Sheldon Cooper ( TBBT), Sam Gardner ( Atypical) and Abed Nadir ( Community) are young male protagonists who all fall somewhere on the spectrum of autism. These representations signal a breakthrough from past, mainly cinematic depictions, which stereotypically addressed mentally challenged individuals as unstable, problematic, and crazy. Our goal is to examine the narrative and social function of autism in these three sitcoms. The theoretical context uses Thomas Elsaesser ’s concept of “productive pathologies” (2009) to argue that autism is also a “productive pathology” that can be applied in the study of contemporary sitcoms. Autism spectrum disorder as a “productive pathology” is then combined with the Incongruity Theory of humour in order to analyze how Sheldon’s, Sam’s and Abed’s developmental disorder is used to create a distinct type of incongruous comedy and at the same time destabilize notions of identity and social “propriety.”\",\"PeriodicalId\":51917,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Critical Studies in Television\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.9000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-03-09\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Critical Studies in Television\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020231163306\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"艺术学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Critical Studies in Television","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020231163306","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}
Autism spectrum disorder in contemporary American sitcoms: Narrative and social implication
The Big Bang Theory, Atypical and Community are sitcoms paradigmatic of a recent representational shift, in which center stage is assumed by individuals who face psychological and neurological challenges. Sheldon Cooper ( TBBT), Sam Gardner ( Atypical) and Abed Nadir ( Community) are young male protagonists who all fall somewhere on the spectrum of autism. These representations signal a breakthrough from past, mainly cinematic depictions, which stereotypically addressed mentally challenged individuals as unstable, problematic, and crazy. Our goal is to examine the narrative and social function of autism in these three sitcoms. The theoretical context uses Thomas Elsaesser ’s concept of “productive pathologies” (2009) to argue that autism is also a “productive pathology” that can be applied in the study of contemporary sitcoms. Autism spectrum disorder as a “productive pathology” is then combined with the Incongruity Theory of humour in order to analyze how Sheldon’s, Sam’s and Abed’s developmental disorder is used to create a distinct type of incongruous comedy and at the same time destabilize notions of identity and social “propriety.”
期刊介绍:
Critical Studies in Television publishes articles that draw together divergent disciplines and different ways of thinking, to promote and advance television as a distinct academic discipline. It welcomes contributions on any aspect of television—production studies and institutional histories, audience and reception studies, theoretical approaches, conceptual paradigms and pedagogical questions. It continues to invite analyses of the compositional principles and aesthetics of texts, as well as contextual matters relating to both contemporary and past productions. CST also features book reviews, dossiers and debates. The journal is scholarly but accessible, dedicated to generating new knowledge and fostering a dynamic intellectual platform for television studies.