Episode 13: Big Wave Dave’s
TROPE #23: A Woman character is a Type-A “Straight Person”
This trope refers to a woman character who is positioned in the cast or story world of a sitcom as a foil to the zany or oafish male characters. This trope is alive and well in many 90s era shows. These characters are generally uptight and often have many Type-A personality traits. Generally a source of nagging or eye rolls in scenes, these characters are often one-dimensional peacemakers, or fixers. Common catch-phrases include: “Oh you guys” “You’re an idiot!” In Big Wave Dave’s Jane Kaczmerek’s character Karen is definitely a Type-A straight person (although she delivers funny zingers). She essentially swoops in to clean up the messes of the hapless (and thankless) trio of men in her life in every episode. She is basically there to remind the audience that they are numbskulls but she is forced to follow all of their whims. Other notable examples of this trope are Debra Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond, and Topanga Lawrence in Boy Meets World. Interestingly, Topanga started the series as an eccentric cerebral character, only to evolve into a work-horse people pleaser keeping Corey Matthews “in-line.”
TROPE #24: Homophobic Jokes
Sadly, these types of homophobic, or “gay panic” jokes were pretty standard for sitcoms from the 1990s. There has been much written about homophobia peppered throughout the series Friends and even squeaky clean Full House made mild gay jokes. Another series we explored Teen Angel, was full of brash immature gay panic jokes. In Big Wave Dave’s the trope takes on a weirdly pretentious form with a reoccurring joke comparing the Marshall character to Truman Capote.
See also: Episode 2—Teen Angel
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