Elements of Frasier

Besides the characters and the interactions between them, other important facets about Frasier that make the show meaningful, and thus popular, to the audience are the various elements of the program. These can be classified into temporal elements and the spatial elements; these bind the realism created by the show, and the actual reality it exists in (the 30 minutes it actually occupies in the schedule).

Temporal elements

• Introduction
• Ending

The introduction of the program is unique, in that it's brief and almost non-existent. The only indication that the show is about to begin is the simple Frasier logo that is drawn against a black background. As the show begins, when characters begin to interact with each other, further credits are run at the bottom of the screen, but these become hardly noticeable as the viewer is drawn more to the development of the particular episode.

This particular format chosen for the introduction of the show, is interesting in how it relates to the male persona. Men are (stereotypically) known to be more straight forward than their gender counterparts, choosing to do away with excess and unnecessary glitz and glamour (as decided by the men, of course). By doing so, men believe it is a more efficient use of time and effort. The show's introduction borrows from the same mentality, it skips the time and production effort that goes into the creation and presentation of an introduction, and goes straight to the meat of the program.

With the use of split screens and various other visual distractions the networks use to cram as much advertising in as possible, the ending (closing credits) of Frasier tends to be ignored due to all the noise. However, to sometimes understand, or find closing in a particular episode's more subtle plot arcs, one must view these last scenes. These closing shots are presented without any dialogue, and are performed within the span of the show's closing song, which itself has an explanation.

Rather than 'waste' the space by merely putting the closing credits on the screen, the producers of the program have used these last few moments of the show to effectively tell yet another part of the story. This efficiency in the use of temporal space is also another example of the male mentality. Rather than take in information at a leisurely pace, making the most of what is available is another widely generalized male character trait, and is evident in the structuring of the final scene. Lasting only a few seconds, the scene is still able to bring closure to a loose end proposed during the episode.

Temporal Elements | Spatial Elements

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