Have we entered the era of the anxiety comedy? On the angst of being included from «Barbie» to «The Bear»

Abstract

Over the last decade, the TV situation comedy, and romantic comedy, have witnessed a transformation. Perhaps the most indicative example of this transformation is the case of The Bear, a critically acclaimed and culturally prestigious TV show that has seen its lead actor win Best Comedy Actor at the Emmys two years in a row, even though most viewers and critics consider the show to be the televisual equivalent of a panic attack. With this strange cultural moment as our starting point, the aim of this lecture is to outline an emerging genre of romantic comedy that I will call the anxiety comedy by way of The Bear and the 2023 film, Barbie: a romantic comedy all the same, but with two critical features missing from the genre’s predecessors, a marriage that reconciles social conflicts and a normative law that organizes and structures the desires of its central characters. It will be suggested that without these two features, the world of an anxiety comedy is closer to a state the classical French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, called anomie, a situation where individual desires are unable to find a foothold in collective norms and needs.

Content warning: Please note that this lecture contains discussion of sexual misconduct and violence in reference to the #MeToo movement, the Weinstein scandal and the wider fears that followed this in popular culture. Your trust and confidence in the speaker are appreciated.

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