Sitcom as Refuge, Sitcom as Prison: Nostalgia, anti-nostalgia, and the embedded multi-camera sitcom in WandaVision and Kevin Can F**k Himself

Reto Winckler

doi:10.1111/jpcu.13337

Author(s)

Reto Winckler

Related Research Unit(s)

Department of English

Detail(s)

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	221-232
Journal / Publication	The Journal of Popular Culture
Volume	57
Issue number	4
Online published	26 Apr 2024
Publication status	Published - Aug 2024

Link(s)

DOI	DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.13337 Final Published version
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Attachment(s)	Documents 194323764.pdf Final Published version, 212 KB, PDF Publisher's Copyright Statement This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Link to Scopus	https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85191701215&origin=recordpage
Permanent Link	https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/publications/publication(48ec35ef-75ce-462e-9857-a67f42fd2f26).html

Abstract

This article claims that the recent trend in television and web streaming drama series to feature segments shot in the style of a multi-camera sitcom, a phenomenon which is termed “embedded sitcom,” reflects the current popularity of nostalgia in popular culture. Situating the sitcom in the context of television history and theories of nostalgia, the article argues that embedded sitcom reveals the nostalgic quality of the sitcom genre as well as of the medium of television, and negotiates a larger cultural conflict between the lucrative potency of nostalgia for past media formats and a wariness of nostalgia as politically regressive. © 2024 The Authors. The Journal of Popular Culture published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.