It really is strking, how the U.K. seems to easily portray working-class characters, isn't it? The only American programs I can think of that managed the trick succesfully even remotely recently were Rosanne and (though I couldn't stand the show, credit where it's due and all that) King of the Hill.
I think you're right about the American fantasy that everyone is middle class is part of the problem, but maybe it's also that mainstream U.S. television deals almost exclusively in advertising-driven fantasy, whereas an awful lot of the British television I've seen seems to have pretensions towards art. I've always been struck by how many British programs are "By so-and-so", where so-and-so" is the writer.
P.S. Another couple of series which dare to portray the Amecian working (and under) classes are the brilliant cable series, The Wire, which starts out as a really good police procedural in its first season, then becomes so much more in the next four. By the same guys is Treme, which seems more experimental yet still rivetting. It looks like it's going to get two seasons at least and I for one can't wait.
P.P.S. A couple of gay/lesbian characters in The Wire, one of whom is portrayed as a sort of Robin Hood figure (the other is a cop). As a straight guy, I thought they were well-realized.
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American working class
Date: 2011-03-21 11:31 pm (UTC)I think you're right about the American fantasy that everyone is middle class is part of the problem, but maybe it's also that mainstream U.S. television deals almost exclusively in advertising-driven fantasy, whereas an awful lot of the British television I've seen seems to have pretensions towards art. I've always been struck by how many British programs are "By so-and-so", where so-and-so" is the writer.
P.S. Another couple of series which dare to portray the Amecian working (and under) classes are the brilliant cable series, The Wire, which starts out as a really good police procedural in its first season, then becomes so much more in the next four. By the same guys is Treme, which seems more experimental yet still rivetting. It looks like it's going to get two seasons at least and I for one can't wait.
P.P.S. A couple of gay/lesbian characters in The Wire, one of whom is portrayed as a sort of Robin Hood figure (the other is a cop). As a straight guy, I thought they were well-realized.