Pick a colour, any colour. Now, tell me your dream city to live in. Oh, and what’s your star sign? If you answered red, Amsterdam, and Capricorn, then you’re the outgoing friend. If you said purple, Berlin, and Virgo, you’re more helpful with an encouraging outlook. Or perhaps you’re the smart friend, and none of these apply to you. Whatever you choose and whatever you represent, you still have a place in a sitcom quartet!
An interesting trend emerges in women-centred sitcoms when you begin paying close attention to the form. The trend I’m referring to is the ‘foursome’, a group of four women whose lives and perspectives guide the storyline of the series. For writers, this is a tried and tested formula. It’s simple – each woman is assigned a character trope (supposedly covering the four most prevalent personality types) and then, as the show continues, these tropes are subverted by the writers as a comment on culture.
There’s the career-minded woman chasing after the next job title, the sexual woman with a lewd comment for every occasion, the woman perceived as less knowledgeable perhaps because she’s a little more traditional, and finally, the everywoman. The first three are pretty one-note across the board, but the everywoman changes from sitcom to sitcom based on genre, time period, or writer preferences. These surface-level tropes are constantly being subverted, dissected, and extended upon by the writing, but this is only successfully achieved when the foursome are brought together as a group. This is, of course, the basis of the show.
Supposedly simple women are shown to be complex beings with overlapping characteristics who discuss issues such as heteronormativity, gender disparity, race, and class, and their conversations and opinions can be dissected through a feminist lens. Countless shows follow this pattern but Living Single, Girlfriends, and Sex and the City are the examples used in this article.
There are a few reasons why the tropes are initially applied to women, even though they will be subverted. Pitching to studios is easier if there’s a focus on characters and a way to explain each arc with buzzwords. More importantly, it allows fans to align or identify themselves with one of the women. Which Girlfriend’s Character Are You? Today, these archetypal women can be assigned an ‘aesthetic’ or, if the show becomes popular enough, they become their own aesthetic – are you a Samantha or a Carrie?
The fan conversation only evolves beyond this when the characters are brought together. When this happens, the feminist themes present in a series are at the forefront of discussions, dissecting the women’s viewpoints, their relationships with each other, their relationships with others, and implications within their society. When fans engage with the characters as a group, new meanings are brought out and a greater understanding of the themes are presented.
Though the women in the shows are trapped in the time they were created, the reignited engagement from fans constantly brings their decisions into a new time and a new culture, remodelling our perspective of these characters. Yes, the formulaic constructions help fans relate to the women, but their group interactions is what help us dissect them. This is the factor that makes these sitcoms so incredibly timeless.
But if these women are so different, what do they actually talk about? One of the prevalent topics is the character’s navigation of the labyrinthian romantic relationship, mostly heterosexual. At first, the shows are often designed around this topic, following the women as they navigate their lives, with an add-on of relationship drama. When they discuss a romantic interaction with each other, viewers are offered four different opinions to choose from and an example of how to stick with your beliefs amongst friends. The result of this theme being so prominent is not to portray women as relationship-oriented but to emphasise the importance of their friendship. The interesting parts of the episode once again consist of the moments when they gather together to suss out the effect a new relationship could have on their lives. Is it worth it to pursue? Maybe not always.
When a series shows itself to be popular with audiences (and through network approval), the storylines expand to other terrains, covering careers, family lives, a facet of culture newly discovered, and personal issues. It’s not that these topics weren’t covered before, just that they can now be given exclusive attention without the need for an overarching narrative about romance. Episodes targeted around addressing cultural issues are the most dated ones of any series because they can only go as far as the understanding of the times. They can work as an interesting capsule of changing beliefs, usually ones that have progressed into more nuanced discussions.
Race and class are also incredibly important to the lives of these foursomes. Living Single, which has long been credited for inspiring Sex and the City, as well as Girlfriends, builds upon the areas where Sex and the City lacks. Where the women in City are extremely privileged, other sitcoms represent a more intersectional viewpoint, one that a larger variety of women can relate to – and they are all the better for it. These themes are interlaced with the aspirations of the quartets.
A dilemma continuously addresses is what women can achieve for themselves, and what they must rely on for others. This is where trope subversion prevails in adding dimension to these women. Toni Childs, who is the most outwardly sexual of the foursome from Girlfriends, is also shown to be career- and money-minded. She states her career goals but also wants a man who can match her ambition. She is a real estate broker who advocates for herself, constantly pushing forward with her career goals. She somewhat mirrors Max Shaw from Living Single who is a self-catchphrased ‘Attorney at Law’, because both have similar attitudes towards men. Both can be seen to inhibit a ‘man-eater’ role yet are fiercely independent and ambitious. Living Single and Girlfriends focuses on the lives of Black women and their holistic, confident portrayals are important for challenging stereotypes. Fans seek to critically examine the choices these women have with their careers, whilst also judging their romantic lives, and offer solutions for how to navigate them.
Race is discussed in these sitcoms as it prevails through several areas of these women’s lives, from their careers to the way they navigate outer relationships. Toni and Joan Clayton from Girlfriends discuss colourism as early as episode four of the first season, as it pertains to Toni’s view of dark-skinned Black men and how she believes Joan views her in a negative light. There’s an awkward back-and-forth as they try and call each other out, showing the weaknesses of the two women. It’s not so much a lesson for the viewer, but a deterrent. On a wider note, all the women face racism, and their acute awareness of its effects on their lives is played both for laughs and seriousness. It’s another barrier for women and the frequency with which it is addressed speaks only to truth.
These quartets provide an example of solidarity for audiences, of women who actively choose each other again and again through the good times and the disagreements. These shows portray the complicated relationships women have with each other and that working through them is the result of communication and acceptance of the differences. They’re not perfect but we desperately need more of them.
