Art to Guide the Masses

Can sitcoms save the day?

Back in the 80s, there was a very funny show about a detective agency, Moonlighting. It was a take on the classic enemies-to-lovers trope with a very prim and efficient Maddie Hayes up against the fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants David Addison. Of course the two fall in love. In one episode, before having sex - I think for the first time - they have a brief conversation about condoms!!! It was unheard of! We had been taught to use safer sex and were all told to use condoms. It was the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, but other STIs were also pretty common. Yet nobody had shown us what it looked like to actually talk about condoms without killing the mood. If these two very beautiful people can make it sexy, then maybe we could too. 

Imagine if sitcom characters wore a mask whenever leaving the house? 

I mean, we know that the film industry is one of the most Covid-conscious industries out there, often with everyone on the set masked to protect the stars. They know the value of their well-paid employees who are essentially irreplaceable. The problem with so many other industries is that they see their staff (and clients and patients and students) as entirely replaceable. 

Imagine the madcap antics that could happen with characters trying to date. Maybe a funny female lead falls in love with a guy who, once unmasked, has horrible teeth. Fleabag did something similar but with a newspaper hiding a buck-toothed smile instead of a mask. Or imagine two people going on a date - to a movie with no popcorn - and then an awkward hug at the end of the night because neither are quite sure if they want to bring the other into their inner circle of unmasked people! It's really complicated out there for the Covid-conscious, and that could spur lots of funny scenarios. The older sickly grandma who doesn't believe all the Covid malarky and keeps getting sick could be the new stand-in for the shockingly racist grandma of the past. 

Sitcoms are full of tropes that we can relate to, but they get less and less relatable when they're all living like it's still 2018. It's nice to watch a fantasy world from time to time, but we look to the arts to see how to live with our current situation. Since political leaders have deserted us, we need more writers guiding us through this mess! 

It's a tragedy we're living through, definitely but that often makes for some of the best comedy, and we either have to laugh or cry at the state of things today.