The first time a friend explained Duck Dynasty to me, I thought he was kidding. After realizing he was serious, I still thought he had to be mistaking a satirical entity (The Colbert Report, TheOnion.com) for the real thing. Who would want to watch a bunch of southern caricatures live out a backwoods existence? As it turns out, a lot of people want exactly that.
Duck Dynasty continues to demolish cable records like a 12 gauge shotgun blasting a clay pigeon into pieces. Because I fancy myself as being “too enlightened” to enjoy extremely popular cultural phenomena, I did not plan on watching the show. However, while skipping through the channels one day, I stumbled on an episode, and honestly, I was hooked in about 15 seconds.
What is the attraction? What is the draw? (Aside from the fact that if you throw a Duck Dynasty-themed wedding, Willie might show up.) As I watched more episodes and learned about the cast, I began to wonder: exactly how do they enchant millions of us? I mean, even the reruns are entertaining. After some soul-searching, a few discussions, and a little phenomelogical comedy to cleanse my palate, I arrived at an answer, which I now present to you in 3 parts: genre, character, and tone.
Genre
Don’t let the “reality” label or lack of laugh track fool you: Duck Dynasty is a sitcom. A situation comedy, by definition, relies on consistent characters getting into sticky situations to produce humorous results. Duck Dynasty’s DNA is more akin to The Office than The Bachelor. A character will narrate the beginning of a scene, we see the situation unfold, and then we cut to a character interview for funny commentary. Appropriate sound effects are mixed in – a record scratching for a gaffe, crickets chirping for a failed joke, etc.
But fear not, Dynasty fans – just because something isn’t real, doesn’t mean it can’t be entertaining. Disbelief need not be suspended for good times to be had. Just like the Bible doesn’t need to be 100% literal for it to communicate God’s essential truth in Christ to humanity, Duck Dynasty can be scripted and still be awesome. Within the expanding canon of “rednecksploitation” programming – which includes the likes of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Hillbilly Handfishin’ – Dynasty is, both qualitatively and quantitatively, far superior to everything else. It even needs a website just to keep track of all its great one-liners.
The initial reason people gravitate towards Duck Dynasty is because in a cable landscape that is filled more and more with disgusting reality premises that showcase the worst in American culture, it is a breath of fresh air to see a show that highlights America’s greatest ideals – family, hard work, staying humble despite riches and fame, having good clean fun, being unique but not seeking attention, humility, confidence, faith that is simple and real. Reality TV usually depicts a misconstrued version of human activity that a) looks horrible, and b) looks nothing like the real world. Duck Dynasty depicts a reality that you would actually want to be a part of.
Characters
A sitcom’s primary tool is a cast of reliable characters. Reliable in this case means “unchanging.” Jase provides sarcastic, funny commentary on Willie’s optimistically ambitious attempt to, say, race a riding lawnmower against an old rival. If Jase were to mature and develop a sense of compassionate empathy, he might not be as funny the next time around. So he doesn’t, and in the next episode, during Willie’s optimistically ambitious attempt to take Sadie shopping/ride a Harley/race a camouflage limousine/attend a reunion/become a winemaker/etc., Jase can continue to provide sarcastic, funny commentary.
Despite looking like unemployable ZZ Top wannabes, the Robertsons are very smart. Everyone in the family knows their role and they stick to it. I imagine, despite 4 seasons and dozens of episodes, they are still referring to the initial script handed out on day one that reads something like:
Willie – come up with new idea or venture
Jase – provide facetious, deadpan “support”
Si – spout weird, anachronistic non-sequiturs
Phil – mix whimsical nostalgia with dubious hope for current generation
Other men – fill in conversational gaps with redneck stereotype
Women – be attractive, playfully scold / roll eyes / wag finger at men’s antics
The fixed cast is great for syndication. Like Seinfeld, it is endlessly watchable in any order, even starting halfway through an episode. Some reality shows, like horrible housewives of such-and-such area, have progression:
Viewer 1: Did she just say she is divorced? I thought she was married to a Banker?
Viewer 2: No, that was last season, when she started her own line of pet Botox. This season, she’s divorced. In the next season she marries a real estate mogul.
Viewer 1: America makes me sad.
The only conversation you need with Dynasty is:
Viewer 1: Oh, is this the one where they [do something entertaining]?
viewer 2: Uh-huh.
Viewer 3: Cool.
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Tone
The positive tone of the show is fairly unmatched in our current cultural climate. It is funny without being derisive. The playful jabs they take at each other are all in good fun, and this point is driven home in the family prayer that ends each episode.
For example, although I prefer dogs, I am aware that some people prefer cats. Cat owners are typically portrayed as weird loners, like a James Bond villain or “crazy cat lady.” This stereotype, like all stereotypes, can be mined for comedic purposes. Other shows would have approached the cat stereotype in negative, biting fashion.
In a broad, Big Bang Theory-type network show, the joke would go something like this: “You got a cat? What’s next, non-ironic grandma sweaters and starring in your own episode of Hoarders?”
But in Dynasty, their humor is self-directed, simple, and playful. Phil says, “Well, we’re cat people now. It’s all downhill from here.”
The funny-but-not-derisive tone is fertile ground for subtle social commentary. Sometimes it is not so subtle. The Robertsons sometimes say things we are thinking but perhaps aren’t vocal about for fear of appearing too conservative or too fundamentalist or too negative or too evangelical or too whatever. But because a redneck says it, we can laugh at them while quietly agreeing with the statement. Whether it is lamenting Millennials over-reliance on technology or the cautioning against the modern tendency to get swept up in frantic busy-ness, the Robertsons gently advocate for a simpler time.
Conclusion
The bottom line is, well, the bottom line. Duck Dynasty is entertaining, and millions of eyeballs glued to the screen means the show will continue to get picked up until those eyeballs – or the Robertsons – decide to go away. And remember, when executed with skill and charisma, even contrived scenarios can be really funny.
Matthew Pittman is a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication studying and strengthening the intersections of theology, media studies, and communication theory. His thoughtful takes on many of cultures most popular television programs can be found in our Television section as well as in regular featured articles.