Two Aspirins and a Comedy: How Television Can Enhance Health and Society (review)

Metta Spencer is best known among sociologists as an activist and as the author of a popular introductory textbook, Foundations of Modern Sociology. The highlights of the applied side of her career to date include the book under review and her editorship of Peace Magazine ( http://www.peacemagazine.org/ ). A specialist in peace studies, she was inspired to write about commercial American television out of a desire to improve the quality of popular entertainment: “Indeed, of all conceivable ways of fostering a global florescence of civilization, I think the most promising approach is to improve entertainment.... A culture of peace can be stimulated by depicting warm, likable characters in TV dramas handling wisely the same difficult conflicts that trouble us all” (pp. 5, 7–8). While this idea might strike some readers as naïve, a look at Spencer’s edited and co-edited books (Separatism: Democracy and Disintegration, The Lessons of Yugoslavia, and Women in Post-Communism) would quickly banish any thoughts that her aspirations for transforming society neglect structural considerations.

That said, the reference to “comedy” in the title is a little misleading, perhaps. Although Spencer does write about screwball comedy as a genre, she is actually more interested in “blaming stories” and “healing stories.” The latter are defined as stories which “insightful people ... use to illuminate others’ existential predicaments and ailments” (p. 218). Spencer contends that viewers must have a high level of empathy with a story’s characters in order to have the personal motivation to follow a television series; reflecting this belief, Two Aspirins and a Comedy provides a very thorough summary of the literature on the sociology of emotions. (Indeed, Two Aspirins and a Comedy is recommended by Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists writing about emotions today.)

Two Aspirins and a Comedy is best evaluated, perhaps, as sociologically informed social criticism. As such, it has a lot to offer. Academic sociologists may prefer the second half of the volume, which is a perceptive study of the content and production of the TV crime series Street Time as well as an informal discourse analysis of the dramatic comedy Northern Exposure. Spencer made observations on the set of Street Time for some 300 hours, often knitting because it seemed less obtrusive than openly staring at people, and also viewed tapes of the program with a small group of friends. (Her field notes about the filming of Street Time can be found on her website www.twoaspirinsandacom-edy.com .) Her findings about the left-wing politics, conventional family life, Euro-American ancestry, and high levels of social skills of the actors and producers of Street Time are consistent with the observations of other sociologists working in similar milieux. Spencer’s objective in this part of the book was to “see how a gritty crime show might offer reformist criticism of social institutions” (p. 170). Street Time is not, however, the kind of program she is promoting in this volume as conducive to a culture of peace: “The world is not a better place because of Street Time. But the show implicitly challenges the culture of blame. Just for this, it almost deserves our approval” (p. 190).

For both academic and non-academic readers, the high point of Spencer’s book will probably be the last two chapters on the ethical messages of Northern Exposure. Much of this section consists of Spencer’s personal reaction to Northern Exposure, but it is a very sophisticated reaction by a self-proclaimed fan, complete with references to Greek philosophy, Freud’s writing on humour, restorative justice, and emotional intelligence: “Probably the best moral lesson of the show is on how to respond intelligently to emotional stupidity” (p. 200). Spencer writes perceptively about the eclectic mix of Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Judaism, and Native spirituality which characterizes Northern Exposure. However, like fans in general, she can also be...