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.
