The
answer is in the
question.
Sitcoms aren't real, merely
realistic, and this is the
point. If they were too
real, they'd be
documentaries; if they weren't real enough, they'd be
fantasy. Sitcoms balance on the edge of the
realistic and the
believable,
teetering only slightly at
certain moments; the idea being that the events in a sitcom
could happen in
real life, but probably wouldn't.
Sitcom
relationships are so
excellent because they're meant to be; if a sitcom relationship
isn't perfect, there's a reason for it. Perhaps the
mishaps are
funny in a
ridiculous sort of way, or perhaps the
characters aren't meant to be together in the first place. This question goes
hand-in-hand with the other questions about sitcoms:
Why does everyone have so much money? Why is it that, no
matter how funny a
situation may be, no one cares about the
long-term consequences? Why do all the characters live so close to each other and only
hang out among themselves? Why is everyone always
so damn happy? How do so many
bizarre things keep
happening to the same people? And just where does that
laughter and
applause keep coming from?
Ultimately, it's important to remember that sitcoms are
entertainment; their main
function is to
enthrall their
audience and
make you laugh. It's a sad
fact that
no one wants to watch a
show about a group of people that are
broke,
depressed,
lonely and all
hopelessly addicted to drugs. Sitcoms provide
subconscious role-models and often a
lifestyle to
imitate; in this respect, they are the
opposite of most soap operas (I say "most" because there's always the
exception, a show too
glamorous and
unrealistic to be a soap opera, the
serious sitcom without
jokes, making it just a "
sit"). Still, sitcoms are
fun and there are some really good ones out there (i.e.
Friends,
Frasier,
Seinfeld,
Will and Grace). Soap operas,
on the other hand,
piss me off. Why?
I'm not entirely sure. Being a more
truthful representation of life than sitcoms, surely soap operas are "better"? The point of
TV, however, is not to be presented with the
truth, but to be entertained. Sitcoms might be
plastic, but
that's entertainment.