The traditional sitcom has always been a staple of American popular culture as it explores the idea of what it means for a family to embody the “American dream.” The sitcom wife and husband happily assume their opposing gender roles — the breadwinner and the homemaker; the rational husband and the emotional wife; the charming husband and the nagging wife.
The American family “situational comedy” provides us comfort in teaching us how to act, know what our place is, and exist happily within the traditional gender roles that Western society expects of men and women. In its efforts to do so, it creates two-dimensional characters built on stereotypes, essentially flattening the human experience — especially at the expense of the housewife. Why would the financially cared-for, dishwasher-using, homemaking housewife have a reason to be unhappy with her life? Why wouldn’t she want to be at the beck and call of her man-child husband? Obviously, there is nowhere better for her talents to be used — she should be proud of and fulfilled by her role!
For some, maybe living out the American sitcom-wife life is the ideal. But not for everyone. The new, groundbreaking AMC television series Kevin Can F Himself, starring Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek), reclaims the persona of the “American Sitcom Wife” – on her own terms.
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In this dark comedy, Murphy stars as Allison, the stereotypically more beautiful and intelligent wife opposite her goofy, immature, and narcissistic husband Kevin (played by Eric Petersen). The show opens with the blinding bright lights of a traditional multi-camera sitcom with Kevin, his sidekicks and Allison in their living room.
The characters feel oddly familiar, as if we can already predict how they will behave. Allison dotes on her husband while he makes jokes at her expense to the delight of his loyal “buddies” and the mandatory laugh track. Kevin may be an idiot, but he sees himself as the main character of his life, things always seem to go his way, and he expects them to – especially when “things” involve his wife.
Conversely, caring Allison continuously faces unfair scrutiny and dismissiveness, being compared to “wallpaper” and told that she ought to speak up more but not try to be funny. Suddenly, Allison exits the room as the frame changes to a single-camera drama and her dreary, bland reality is brought into existence. Kevin does not exist here, because he does not try to empathize outside of his own existence – and, literally and figuratively, he can not “see” Allison’s reality.
The audience gets to look behind the curtain and learn of the dreams Allison has left behind in her pursuit of the traditional heteronormative American dream and the marital expectations placed on her by Kevin. Additionally, we learn of the ways that “harmless,” fun-loving Kevin has actually been deceitful in his marriage and controlling of Allison’s life choices. Allison realizes she has no girl friends, hates her job, and has not done anything solely for herself in years.
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The audience is shocked that Kevin is capable of what he has done, or maybe they’re not – that’s the question about male partners like Kevin. Allison essentially starts giving zero fucks about others “to be like Kevin,” thinking this will bring her true self-fulfillment. Along the course of the series she learns the hard way how adhering to his narcissistic way of being only brings chaos and harm to those she cares about.
Kevin Can F Himself causes us to question many truths we take for granted about the stereotypical American sitcom housewife and husband, their gender roles, and how modeling them to a T in real life can be unhealthy for those involved. It also offers empathy to the sitcom wife and a sense of comedic catharsis. How do our relationships suffer when we are unable to see past the gendered boxes we put the people around us in? Are they equal, and if not, would our partners be amenable to achieving that equality? Who would we become had we learned we had the option to step outside of these rigid, culturally-constructed gender roles? Who would the sitcom wife have become had she been the main character of her own story rather than the supporting character of her husband’s? Kevin Can F Himself pioneers exploring these questions and reveals the secret life of the American sitcom wife.
Have you watched Kevin Can F Himself? What are your thoughts on it? Let us know below!
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