The situation comedy chosen for this analysis is 3rd Rock from the Sun. The program concerns a group of space aliens who have come to Earth to study human life and who have taken on the form of human beings, though not necessarily of the same age or sex that they would be on their own planet. The comedy would be considered farcical, but it is also very much character-driven and depends heavily on the personas selected by these aliens and on the fact that no one around them recognizes them as different.
The episode under consideration concerns a football game at the college where the chief alien, Dick, teaches. He begins by scoffing at all the celebration around a homecoming game, and then as he becomes interested in studying the concept of football, he goes overboard in becoming a team booster.
1) This show offers a number of satirical levels by which to judge meanings in 1990s America. The fact that the aliens are outsiders makes it possible to see American customs from a fresh perspective, while at the same time the way the aliens often misunderstand the meaning of these elements gives a different view. The show is popular because of these contrasting levels, all presented in a broad comedic way.
In this episode, the game of football is one element of American society satirized, along with the idea of school spirit, rivalry between different cities or schools, and relations between men and women. Indeed, gender issues are featured in the show in two ways. Dick is having an affair with a female member of the faculty, and his "sister" in the show is a male alien inhabiting a woman's body. In this episode, the sister's character is satirized first as she tries to prove she can be like others by getting a school secretary to be her best friend, like other women have, and second as she tromps onto the field and tells the coach how to win the game, advice he listens to carefully. Taken for granted in this show is the ...