Collaboration Project Research: Investigating Popular Comedy Characters

 Investigating popular comedy characters in order to understand what makes their personality 'defining'.

Mr Bean - Mr Bean 1990 - 1995

Homer Simpson - The Simpsons 1989 - To Modern Day

Peter Griffin - Family Guy 1999 - To Modern Day

I have picked several characters from different eras of comedy in order to understand what made them so popular in their respected time. Each characters shows have different target audiences and so the comedy is very different. By observing different types of comedy it will help us come up with the target audiences for our animation, allowing us to identify what types of jokes should be included. 

Mr Bean (Mr Bean)

PERSONALITY: Child in a grown mans body 

Mr Bean is a sitcom which centres around a character of the same name as he attempts to complete seemingly normal everyday tasks. The problem is however, tasks which seem simple to the everyday man, prove to be complex for Mr Bean, who is am incompetent man-child. This leads to many strange situations occurring in not so strange circumstances, leading to the joke being Mr Bean 

Audience

The comedy relies heavily on physical comedy and is inspired by acts such as Charlie Chaplin. This isolates Mr Bean from other characters in the scene as he is not capable of forming a full sentence, only words, actions and grunts. Because of this Mr Bean is able to be enjoyed internationally, as he is very visual. This makes it so you don't have to understand what he is saying because it is acted out clearly. Mr Bean is also harmless, with no graphic imagery and very low stake situations. This means it can be enjoyed by all ages. His character was so popular with kids in particular, that a spinoff cartoon was created. 

Character Design

He wears a brown tweet jacket, a white shirt, red tie, brown trousers and black shoes. He also has a smart haircut. This contrasts against his personality and strange facial expressions which are often childish. He is presented as a regular, everyday man, who you would see walking on the street, however he does not act like this. This causes him to stand out more and makes him seem even weirder than he is. He has very wide eyes which often look directly into the camera, as if talking directly to the audience. This helps with setting up the jokes as the audience is able to read a situation more clearly.

Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)

PERSONALITY: Stupid, Kind at heart, Embodiment of American Working Class. 

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom which is centred around a family of the same name. It first aired in 1989 and continues to be made to this day. The main character is Homer Simpson, a family man who works a 9 till 5 job.

The show is a satirical parody of America and so to reflect this, Homer embodies many American working class stereotypes. He is obese, aggressive, lazy, immature, unprofessional, outspoken, balding, likes beer, junk food and TV. Despite his flaws however, he is a good man who is very protective of his family.

The comedy in The Simpsons is found in the irony of the real world. It pokes fun at the state of the world, particularly America, by using over-the-top situations to reflect real world struggles. By making Homer, an everyday man, the centre of this, it makes it relatable, even if the situation is completely insane. You know someone like him which is the key to The Simpsons comedy. 

The Simpsons was originally meant to centre around the families son Bart, however Homer slowly became the focus due to his relatability, which allowed for more jokes to be written. Writers of the show saw themselves in Homer and so used their own experiences to influence the adventures he goes on.

Homers character has changed over the many years the show has aired, with him starting as an angry father. This later changed to him being dumb yet well meaning, which sort of developed into him being boorish and unthinking, but never mean on purpose. These changes were done as the writers began to understand the character more, which then lead them to changing his personality in order to fit jokes relevant to situations. As the character grew, the wackier the adventures he could go on. This same development in his personality can also be seen in his intelligence, with him slowly becoming dumber throughout the years. This was mainly done to fit certain jokes and is a result of the writers wanting to top each joke as the show has progressed. This meant they had to make the character dumber in order for him to be put in more extreme situations. The audience will be able to understand that he got put in that situation due to his lack of intelligence. This understanding of the character is essential in order for the audience to understand the comedy. For example Homer is controlled by his impulses and is seen multiple times strangling his son. The writers are allowed to get away with this seeming funny as the audience knows that Homer means well but is not thinking about the consequences of his actions. His thoughtlessness leads to upset in his family, which he will then do anything in order to fix the problem.

The Target Audience

 Show is a reflection of real life archetype of a typical nuclear family, meaning it is relatable to a wide audience. Each character is a stereotype of their respected counter part and so their is a type of relatability which feeds into the comedy. The Simpsons features adult themes, however it is toned down enough for children to watch. The programme is rated PG and airs at 6PM, a time in which really young children will be asleep by. 

Character Design

The family as a whole is designed so that they would be recognized from their silhouette alone.

Most characters in The Simpsons have yellow skin (as opposed to white) as it is an eye-catching colour. It also helps to distinguish it from the real world, which is a visual reminder that this is just a parody and not trying to be realistic.

Homer himself, as previously mentioned, reflects the qualities of the average American working class. For this reason he is obese, lazy looking, has a beard and is balding. His everyday clothes are a white shirt with short sleeves and open collar, blue trousers and grey shoes. He can often be seen holding his favourite food, doe-nuts, or beer, which plays into his characters stereo-type. As well as this he has round features which present him as friendly and is often smiling with friendly looking eyes. Homer is visually animated and has iconic lines such as "D'oh" to sell his reactions to situations.

Peter Griffin (Family Guy)

I have decided to look at Family Guy in order to understand what makes a defining character. Family Guy is essentially the same concept as the Simpsons (previously researched) however it is made for a much older audience. I want to investigate how the change in audience effects the main character and comedy. 

Like Homer, Peter Griffin is a stereotypical American blue collar worker, who also has a family set in a fictional city in America. The show once again is a parody of real life and frequently makes references about real world events and people. However this is taken a step further with its adult themes and quick cut-a-way gags, which have the character recall a situation which occurred, leading to a punchline by the end of the short skit. The comparison between the two has not gone unnoticed, with the two shows collaborating on different occasions. One episode of the Simpsons pokes fun at Peter Griffins characters, referring to him as Homers clone.

Family guy is known for pushing the boundary in pursuit of comedy. Nothing seems off limits in order to reach a punchline. The show is known for featuring racial, violent, gory and dark humour, multiple times per episode. This has resulted in many controversies surrounding the programme, however non have ever effected it enough to stop, as it always comes down to it being a satirical comedy animation. Recently however, Disney has acquired Fox, which owns Family Guy and certain jokes including sensitive events such as 911 have been removed from episodes. This fits Disney more child friendly brand (not meaning the removal of such jokes makes the show child friendly, they simply cross the lines Disney is willing to go).

Character Design

Peter Griffin is an American, obese, blue collar worker, with a strong Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts accent. His accent is an essential part to his character as not only is it unique and recognisable, but it also helps to make him sound ignorant about the things he is talking about, feeding into a stereotype. 

He wears a white dress shirt with green trousers, brown shoes, a belt and glasses. One of his more prominent features is his large cleft chin, which makes his character design stand out compared to the other characters. Its a purposefully overexaggerated design choice which feeds into his representation of an obese American. On paper the character bears a sort of resemblance to Homer Simpson as both shows have the same theme surrounding stereotyping America, however this is executed differently. One significant different between the two is Peters skin colour. Unlike The Simpsons, where characters skins are yellow (representing white skin tone), Peters skin is white. The Simpsons made a continues decision to distinguish from real life and so the characters stand out. This same comparison has been acknowledged by Family Guy creators, however following typical Family Guy humour, purposefully wanted the characters to mirror real life and made the character white. Family Guy also takes Peters obesity a step further by having him be visually a lot larger than Homer. This perfectly summarizes Family Guys approach to comedy in comparison to The Simpsons. Where The Simpsons draws a line on what is acceptable, Family Guy continues to push past what is deemed ok in order to find its comedy. 

By researching different popular comedy characters, it has helped me to understand the importance of the audience. I now understand that the comedy comes with an understanding of who will be watching. Some find Family Guy and even The Simpsons, an offensive and informal approach to comedy. On the other hand others may find Mr Bean as annoying and unfunny, due to the strange nature of the character.

Although each character is meant for different audiences, the one thing they have in common is the fact that they all have a defining character trait. For these three examples it is that they are all stupid. In order for the audience to believe the strange situation the character has gotten themselves in, you have to first persuade them of the character they are watching. If they believe the character is stupid enough to get themselves in said situation, then they will have a suspension of disbelief towards the character and will be able to watch the comedy play out. 

I want to take what I have learned from researching the characters and apply them to my own character in order to create a successful comedy skit animation. I will refer to the character design of these characters in order to design my own.