The Singapore Identity
~ Journey to Finding our Roots ~
A closer look at...
Sitcom - Under one Roof
Set mainly in the living room of the Tan family’s apartment in Bishan - a real life, typically sprawling public housing estate with colorful blocks of flats and landscaped public gardens, Under One Roof portrays and thereby celebrates close family ties and rich neighborly interactions between the different ethnic groups. The heartlands inevitably becomes the place to be for friendship and close ties to be forged in the minds of viewers. This has become a hot topic among Singaporeans since 1982 when the HDB flats were built and marketed as middle-income apartments
The show Under One Roof is built around the concept of a united Singapore, as reflected in the use of various races in the interaction of a HDB flat. HDB flats has always been portrayed by PAP to be a place for communal between among all 4 races, tapping on the idea of racial harmony. Furthermore, the close bonds between Lim Family and their neighbours link closely to the idea of ‘Kampung spirit’ which was constantly being discussed about by the pioneer generation as they felt that the ‘Kampung Spirit’ was greatly threatened with the construction of HDB flats. However, the show serves to counter this notion through portraying the good out of living in HDBs, emphasizing greatly on the positive interactions and relationships that would occur with their neighbours.
Under One Roof is perhaps the most successful Singapore-made sitcom as it bears all the hallmarks of the culture industry. Ideologically, the sitcom works to maintain the status quo by laughing over the tensions and contradictions of living in Singapore, and resolving all complex problems in late capitalist society by the simple expression of the allegorical happy Asian family and a sense of neighborliness in the heartlands of Singapore, showing how the Kampung spirit still lives on.
Television sitcoms and dramas that are made-in-Singapore, are viewed as products of a culture industry that is dominated by MediaCorp’s fundamentally commercial concerns and its nation-building responsibilities. Over the years, these local productions had helped to build a sense of community and identity for the Singaporeans as people were able to identify with the different types of Singaporeans depicted in these shows.
The show Under One Roof is built around the concept of a united Singapore, as reflected in the use of various races in the interaction of a HDB flat. HDB flats has always been portrayed by PAP to be a place for communal between among all 4 races, tapping on the idea of racial harmony. Furthermore, the close bonds between Lim Family and their neighbours link closely to the idea of ‘Kampung spirit’ which was constantly being discussed about by the pioneer generation as they felt that the ‘Kampung Spirit’ was greatly threatened with the construction of HDB flats. However, the show serves to counter this notion through portraying the good out of living in HDBs, emphasizing greatly on the positive interactions and relationships that would occur with their neighbours.
The local sitcoms are a popular hit among the Singaporeans, with the show aired at prime time, to allow families to watch the shows together in the evenings. This could possibly improve the relationship between the family members as they could easily relate to the content of these shows. These sitcoms showed the interactions between the different races, showing racial harmony. Hence, the strong viewership for these sitcoms resulted in the long-running seasons of the different shows, not just for Under One Roof, but other popular sitcoms as well such as Phua Chu Kang, Oh Carol, Achar and Living with Lydia.
