Fawlty Towers, a British television series from the 1970’s, written by John Cleese and Connie Booth is famous for its eccentric characters, farcical humour and unintentionally funny moments. The life of Basil Fawlty, the choleric and perpetually overworked owner of a slightly run-down sea front hotel, his constantly nagging wife Sybil and their good-hearted but maltreated employees, the maid Polly and the Spanish waiter Manuel, is depicted throughout the series. All of them try to keep the hotel running and the guests satisfied despite several incidents and self-made catastrophes.
Due to the fact that the series focuses on a hotel, plenty of different guests visit the hotel Fawlty Towers during the 12 episode run of the series. Almost every visit leads to copious amounts of awkward situations and there’s always something Basil Fawlty dislikes about his clientele - may it be their outer appearance, personal taste, social class or their cultural background. Bearing that in mind this homework will take a closer look at the portrayal of foreign characters throughout the series and their interactions with the British hotel staff.
After a short introduction to the series and its main protagonists I’m going to point out how foreigners and people of different cultural backgrounds are portrayed in the series and which aspects of their behaviour or cultural peculiarities are made fun of. Furthermore, I will take a closer look at the English characters of the series as well.
How do they interact with the foreign characters? Which stereotypes, prejudices or clichés towards the different nationalities do exists in the minds of British people and how does the series Fawlty Towers make fun of them?
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Fawlty Towers
- Short overview of the series
- The Humour of Fawlty Towers
- Foreign characters of the series
- Manuel from Barcelona - The Spanish waiter
- Mrs Peignoir - The French antiques dealer
- Mr Hamilton - The American gourmet
- The German tour party
- Conclusion
- List of Literature
Objectives and Key Themes
This work explores the portrayal of foreign characters in the British television series Fawlty Towers. The main objective is to analyze how the series uses humor to depict interactions between British hotel staff and guests from various nationalities. The analysis focuses on the specific examples of Spanish, French, American, and German characters, investigating how their cultural backgrounds are represented and the stereotypes associated with them.
- The use of humor in Fawlty Towers
- The portrayal of foreign characters and their interactions with British staff
- Stereotypes and prejudices associated with different nationalities
- The role of cultural differences in the humor of the series
- The comedic depiction of the British characters' reactions to foreign guests
Chapter Summaries
- Introduction: This chapter introduces the British television series Fawlty Towers and its main characters. It highlights the series' comedic style, its focus on a hotel setting, and the abundance of awkward situations arising from the interactions between the hotel staff and guests.
- Fawlty Towers: Short overview of the series: This chapter provides a more detailed overview of Fawlty Towers, including its production details, setting, and main characters. It discusses the comedic style of the series, which is characterized by farcical situations, misunderstandings, and coincidences.
- The Humour of Fawlty Towers: This chapter explores the different types of humor employed in the series, including farcical humor, physical comedy, and occasional black humor. It examines how the humor arises from Basil Fawlty's character and his interactions with his wife, employees, and guests.
Keywords
The main keywords and focus topics of this text are Fawlty Towers, British sitcom, humor, foreign characters, cultural stereotypes, intercultural communication, and the portrayal of nationalities in television.
- Quote paper
- Selina Schuster (Author), 2012, Fawlty Towers. The portrayal of foreign characters in the series, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/233127
