Cirrus@Austlit

'In Australia, we have a limited set of character types to talk through our collective visions of suburbia. Kath & Kim and Upper Middle Bogan deliver parodies of the nouveau riche philistine, while Chris Lilley dons brownface to draw laughs from a stereotype of Polynesian identity. Over on commercial and cable, reality television shows such as the Real Housewives construct characters out of participants’ lives, fortifying a sense of ‘realism’ across our screen fictions.' (Introduction)