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Politics : Did Slick Boink Monica? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Zoltan! who wrote (11703)	3/21/1998 11:28:00 AM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20981

Well, Duncan, what is missing about understanding Niles and Frasier is their mother. In the story, she is dead. But all the references to her seem to indicate that she was a very intelligent, intellectual woman who was quite different from the father in her interests, and I would assume, background and social class. There is one scene at a steak restaurant, which is the father's favorite, where both Crane boys are making fun of the baked potato topping and just about everything else, really hurting their father's feelings. He flips out and says something about their mother, how she was very upscale (not the word he used), but she had real class--she could go to a baseball game and really enjoy a hot dog. He was implying, of course, that the sons were simply haughty and rude--condescending. There is a whole little effete intellectual niche, certainly on the Left Coast, where these guys fit in pretty well. I have known people like them. They act not so much gay, but just totally ineffectual when any practical considerations pop up. If you hang out on Sacramento Street in San Francisco, where almost all of the therapists have their office, and watch them in the neighborhood coffee houses and antique galleries, you will see marked similarities. But yes, I think it is meant to be exaggerated snobbery. Daphne is not a maid--she's a physical therapist of some sort, for the father's hip problems. Don't forget, Frasier is quite rich, and can afford really good help. The character comes from an English working class family, and sort of wants to live on her own and be ambitious, but she is ambivalent about that, and enjoys the family life that the Crane household provides for her. I like Frasier because it is funny, but at the same time deals pretty heavily with feelings, one of my favorite subjects. And don't forget, television comedies are full of exaggerations. Where would you really meet people like George, Elaine and especially Kramer? They are all stick figures in the same way. So what I look for is stuff that makes me laugh, and there are lots of laughs on both shows.