The Genius of Bob's Burgers: Comedy, Culture and Onion-Tended Consequences

Given the limitless freedom of animation, why would anyone use it to make a sitcom about a struggling family-owned burger place? And why would audiences embrace this greasy fantasy, not just by tuning in but by permanently decorating their legs and arms with images from the show and writing detailed backstories for its minor characters? This book-length critical study of Bob's Burgers examines the moments in which the animated sitcom exposes the chasms between generations, explores gender and sexual identity, and allows fans to imagine a better world. Essays cover how the show can be read as a series of critiques of Steven Spielberg's early blockbusters, a rejection of Freudian psychology, or an examination of the artificiality of gendered behaviors through the cross-casting of characters like Tina and Linda. By tracing the ways that the popular reception of Bob's Burgers reflects changing cultural attitudes, the essays provoke broader questions about the responsibility of popular entertainment to help audiences conceive of fantasies closer to home: fantasies of loving and accepting parents, of creative, self-assured children, and of menus filled with artisanal puns.

Author: Margaret France
Publisher: McFarland and Company, Inc.
Published: 12/17/2021
Pages: 201
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9781476669373
ISBN10: 1476669376
BISAC Categories:
- Performing Arts | Television | Genres | Comedy
- Performing Arts | Animation (see also Film | Genres | Animated)

About the Author
Margaret France is an instructor of English at Yakima Valley College in Yakima, Washington. She has also taught at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and at UC Davis. She has published scholarly articles on Daniel Defoe and 18th-century personal advertisements.