User:Brmcdonough/sandbox

Semiotics in Portlandia Portlandia episodes are comprised of 22-minutes of sketches stitched together and are in a non-linear format and have self-contained narrative arcs.1 There are aspects of Portlandia’s format, comedic approach, and narrative structure that are derived from other shows.2 The idea to create television episodes with satirical skits that can be broken into smaller media clips harnesses the power of online digital media and broadcast television. Portland is lauded by popular media as well as planning and design professionals as a model city.3 Portlandia satirizes this celebrated model urbanism orchestrated by artisanal values and hipster ethics.4 Portlandia has also been successful in branding Portland, Oregon, as a destination for many young college-educated professionals. The show has dubbed Portland as a place “where young people go to retire”.5 Portlandia has inferred that young migrants to Portland have a low value on work and traditional careers.6 There are other critics who have depicted a highly-competitive job market that has made it exceptionally difficult for new residents and college-graduates to find jobs or careers that are steady with high salaries.7 The mythology of Portlandia conveys the importance of fabrication, whether physical or atmospheric, as a means to convey a truth and to portray Portland not as it is, but as it should be.8 Portlandia, through satire, provokes the viewer to consider the topic from a basic fundamental level. A sociologist discussed how the speeding up of time and cultural change in the modern period created a sudden longing for the past. It is a fear based reaction to anchor our world in the familiar and stable world of the past.9 Portland is known for its preference or reliance on locally grown foods that have created many “locavores”. The city has a cult of local food seen in farmer’s markets and food carts.10 In Portlandia’s debut episode, “Farm”, where the couple orders chicken from the restaurant, they start off by asking if the chicken is local. The server in the restaurant produces a file on the chicken’s statistics along with its diet. Portland has adhered to the social code of being “locavore”. The skit portrays how a person can go from being a supporter of a cultural shift to ruining the experience for the whole.11 Portlandia is not merely a send-up of hipster, hippie and twee cultures; it is also a commentary on community and what those labels or behaviors signify to people.12 The Vegan restaurant is a skit that demonstrates the “locavore” concept in another extreme form. The restaurant accommodates patrons who experience gas and bloating with a “fart” patio. Vegan is an indexical sign of healthy meals and overall wellness. Portlandia portrays the ideological codes of Portland where the “counter-culture” is the accepted norm, and traditional values of adherence are not recognized favorably. There is a pursuit in Portland to be different in one of several preapproved countercultural ways.13 Portland, Oregon, has been viewed as a city that takes it progressivism very seriously.14 Based on its geographic location, Portland is isolated from international capitalism, too small for urban sprawl, and too remote for major development.15 The idea of counter-culture in the show also ironically reflects the social codes of an elitist in the episode, “Grover”. Grover is a 4 year old boy whose parents prep him for an interview with the elite preschool in Portland, “Shooting Star”. If Grover is successful in the interview and accepted into “Shooting Star”, he will progress down a path to an Ivy League college and a successful career. If he is not selected for private pre-school, he will descend down a path of failure leading to Community College and a mediocre career. This skit uses the “Education Mama” trope that is counter-intuitive to the non-conformance of Portland’s image through television satire. Portlandia’s writers and producers have used many semiotic tools to construct satire and deconstruct the stereotypes of American urbanism.