Miranda Audience Pleasures

Miranda is a sitcom following the main character’s life as she runs a shop in a small town. The program features a wide range of audience pleasures, one of which is the pleasure of anticipation and snowballing narrative. At one point in an episode, Miranda lies about her name and identity to a businessman which she then realizes wasn’t a good idea but carries on anyway. This causes the whole party of businessmen and women to welcome her into their group, eventually meaning Miranda will have to give a speech in front of the group. The audience knows from the start that this isn’t going to end well for Miranda and she will have to embarrassingly confess for her lies which create a sense of anticipation waiting for the moment.

Another pleasure offered by the programme is the slapstick comedy type, the character of Miranda

Is recognised (another pleasure) for being clumsy and out of control which is always shown with Miranda falling and tripping over. This is shown after Miranda desperately tries to show she’s still ‘cool’ and relevant where on leaving the scene, she trips over a coat stand and falls face first into the ground. The audience find this amusing because whenever this happens, Miranda always manages to shoot right back up to say a witty line to show how the fall didn’t really hurt her.

Slapstick is also shown at other points in the show like where an attractive man walks in to the shop and Stevie, Miranda’s friend/co-owner of the shop, makes a comment that puts Miranda in a bad light to which Miranda instantly responds with a quick shove to the ground which is greeted with a loud thump. Despite the obvious severity of the shove, Stevie once again pulls herself up, unscathed so the audience don’t feel bad for laughing at it where alternatively, had Stevie remained on the ground crying in pain, it wouldn’t be funny.

Throughout the show, Miranda makes sure the audience feel superior to her which is another pleasure. Throughout every Miranda episode, there are countless moments where Miranda puts herself in an awkward position like in one episode where she gets up and encourages everyone to start dancing to Billy Joel and when no one cares, she still continues dancing. Later in the same scene, Miranda makes a joke to one person at the table and when no one finds it funny, she then goes round the everyone at the table, trying the joke to get a few laughs. When no one in the scene finds it funny, Miranda turns towards the camera and tries the joke for a final time, once again getting no laughs from the audience at the joke but this action of breaking the fourth wall is another audience pleasure because this gets the audience to become familiar with Miranda’s train of thought.