Audience Pleasures (4b) Bad Education

4. (b) Discuss in detail how one programme (Bad Education) offers audience pleasures. Give examples from the programme. [15 marks]

Bad Education

A narrative pleasure is the plot that is repetitive but has a different middle, which is typically Alfie messing up somehow, and finishing with him not losing his job. The excitement and build up to the catastrophe that Alfie creates brings an audience. ‘Bad Education’ is set in the same place usually, some times there is a trip but the scene stay the same of familiar throughout, the school, and has the same characters so the audience develops a relationship with them and watches them develop.  In the episode we watched Alfie began his bad day by having built up bad things throughout, which is the structure of his sitcom, he starts the day with a hangover and then is told he needs to mark his students mock exams or else they will fail. So all of a sudden he has the job of marking a lot of exams before that parents evening that night. Alfie struggles with it so he decides to let the students mark them which shows he is unprofessional. The deputy head who the audience are supposed to hate then reveals that she knows he got them to mark the tests so then all the students fail. This is another consequence of his bad choices which adds to his rising of bad choices in the lead  up to the main event. Throughout Alfie tries to flirt with another teacher who has been fundraising for a disease, Alfie pretends to know it then says a child in one of his classes, who is now presumed a push over, mother has the disease and over exaggerates her symptoms e.g. her fingers fell off.

The main character is Alfie wickers who is the teacher of a class of teens presumed to be 16. The class meets the usual stereotypes of a sitcom:

 1.The Logical Smart One – responsible, stable: This is predominantly  the Asian girl, Jing , which meets the stereotype of comedy and the media in  general.

2.The Lovable Loser – sarcastic, optimistic, needy, impulsive: Both Alfie and Joe show this trait as they have bad things happen to one another, Joe’s is usually because of Alfie

3.The Neurotic – awkward, nervous, controlling, worried: Joe, fits mostly at of them all

4.The Dumb One – friendly, naïve, gullible, no ulterior motive: Joe also fits this character as he is brought into trouble by Alfie

5.The Bitch/Bastard – mean, insensitive, insecure, doesn’t apologize: Mitchell and Remdog are the unliked ones of the sitcom as they bully people by taking the mick out of them

6.The Womanizer/Manizer (AKA “Slutty Spice”) – charming, seductive, horny, superficial: Chantelle fits this character as she tries to flirt with Alfie throughout telling him things like he’ll need a rebound after being embarrassed in front of Mrs Gulliver

7.The Materialistic One – judgmental, entitled, spoiled: Stephan is this character and also fits the stereotypical gay character

8.In Their Own Universe (AKA “Spacy Spice”) – odd, eccentric, uses illogical logic: The head teacher Fraser fits this character as he acts very childish and is an unconventional head teacher. In the episode we watched Fraser and Alfie were competing for Mrs Gulliver’s attention.

The fact that the teacher, Alfie, and head teacher, Fraser, are called and known by their first name shows that they are immature where as Mrs Gulliver is more professional and due to her calm and passionate nature throughout it reflects why she isn’t called by her first name. Mrs Gulliver is taken seriously.

Stereotypes are important in comedy as it can make the audience feel superior for example the ‘chav’ Mitchell is dumb and Alfie often take the mick out of his family’s situation. As Alfie is more snobby not only does it make him feel superior is does too for the audience. The smart one is usually of Asian ethnicity and outwits the other cast members, Jing will do this by saying something in Chinese under her breath but then Alfie will counter act it with a completely different topic not knowing what has been said. Chantelle also meets the ‘slut’ stereotype and often makes euphemism and ‘offers herself’ to Alfie she wears tight clothes and short skirts. In the episode we watched it carried on her stereotype as we meet her mother who is also very forward. This offers the audience gratification because of humorous it is to see certain characters being ridiculed. Plus, in some sense it establishes a relationship characters like Alfie and the audience due to the audience being able to relate with the characters with them agreeing with.