Introduction
A worldview refers to the lens from which we view happenings and attempt to understand the world around us (Sire, 2015). It is the approach through which we can understand God, the world, and man’s relationship with God and the world. The biblical worldview believes that the sole purpose of life is to be of service to God and love him. The following paper will explore the various worldviews demonstrated in the series Three’s Company.
Existential worldview
In the twelfth episode of season 2, the show introduces a character Fremont, an uncle to Jack. He comes across as a free spirit; someone who likes to have fun and takes a ‘life is what you make it’ approach (Hoffman et al., 2020). Soon as he meets jack, he makes remarks about interacting with the ladies, and he reveals that he has been traveling. In response to Jack's question of whether he settled in San Diego, he asserts that “you can either settle down or live, you cannot do both.”
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He also meets Jack’s roommates Janet and Chrissy, dressed in swimwear as they plan to go to the beach. Even though Jack tries to explain himself, uncle Fremont dismisses him saying, "I know how you live here; you have died and gone to heaven," which is synonymous with the belief that heaven is a lovely place. Additionally, it presents the presuppositions that he has (Sire, 2015). Jack believes that he needs to be single and have many women for good fun. He calls the building a miracle when he meets Mrs. Roper, another beautiful woman. When he learns that Jack cannot afford the month’s rent, he offers Mr. Roper, the landlord, a fake cheque. He devises a plan to have Jack get it back on realizing what a mistake he has made. However, Jack refuses to take back the check, insisting that that act is stealing, and he would never do it.
Christian Worldview
Jack displays a Christian worldview when he calls his uncle out for handing his landlord a fake cheque. The plan hatched by uncle Fremont to help Jack get back the phony check does not work out, and he convinces Mr. Roper to invest in his non-existent company (All of us, 2020). Thankfully, in the end, Jack does the Christian thing to return what was stolen. However, he is not honest about the circumstances due to the fear of eviction. He says that the company faced losses, but the uncle returned Mr. Roper’s original investment. It is a clear depiction of how God's power is known but not acknowledged in everyday life. The character Mona Carmichael exposes a Christian worldview through her actions and dialogue. In episode 12, she pops up on Jack’s doorstep to pick up his uncle Fremont, with whom she has had a relationship. She tells him that she has arranged for the driver to take them to Las Vegas, where they can be joined in marriage by a minister. Fremont decides to visit an island in South America instead, as there is bound to be women and freedom there. Mona does not go after him but wonders why he would do that when she would have given him everything.
There are gender roles explored in episode 13 and 15 of the second season of Three’s Company. In the Bible, husbands are depicted as providers and heads of the house. It is a universal worldview of all Christians, as Sire (2015) asserts. Episode 13 begins with a quarrel between Mr. and Mrs. Roper over whether he should increase Mrs. Roper's allowance. Mrs. Roper alleges that she cannot shop without money.
On the other hand, her husband cautions Mrs. Roper on how she spends money while she does her shopping. Infuriated, Mrs. Roper decides to take a cashier job so that she can earn her own money. The day's work proved overwhelming for Mrs. Roper, and they both prefer to go back to the original state where Mrs. Roper is a housewife.
In episode 15, they are arguing about money again, this time concerning a vacation. Mrs. Roper is excited that they are finally going to Las Vegas, as her husband had promised. However, Mr. Roper is not able to go through with it. He throws accusations at her asking, “what do you think of a woman who wants to drive her husband to the poorhouse?” Mrs. Roper, on her part, retorts, “what do you think of a man who wants to drive his wife to the nuthouse?” Finally, Mr. Roper agrees to a tradeoff to get his wife a $400 jacket instead of a $600 trip to Las Vegas. It further reinforces the biblical worldview of husbands being loving towards their wives (Andrews, 2017).
Jack, Janet, and Chrissy also portray the Christian worldview in episode 14 of season 2 when preparing to celebrate Christmas. It is revealed through gift exchanges where both Janet and Chrissy bought Jack pairs of socks. They get into a fit after Jack unravels the presents, accusing each other of duplicating gifts. Both of them are sure that they got their presents last. The Christian worldview comes through in the spirit of forgiveness with Janet and Chrissy apologizing to each other after Jack intervenes, saying he likes both gifts. Chrissy ends up feeling homesick as she recalls how her father, a church minister, would lead the family to sing Christmas carols and how she and her family would listen to him preach.
The characters each hold onto their worldview and express it through action due to their experiences, as Uncle Fremont does. Others like Chrissy have been molded by the families that have influenced them to adopt their worldviews. Indeed, different factors impact how we view life in general.
References
All of us (2020). Three's Company Season 02 Episode 12 . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJZ-PtjMbNU.
Andrews, E. D. (2017). HUSBANDS LOVE YOUR WIVES: How Should Husbands Treat Their Wives? (Vol. 1). Christian Publishing House.
Hoffman, L., Ramey, B., & Silveira, D. (2020). Existential therapy, religion, and mindfulness. In The Science of Religion, Spirituality, and Existentialism (pp. 359-369). Academic Press.
Sire, J. W. (2015). Naming the elephant: worldview as a concept . IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press. https://platform.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/276434/sp/178887174/mi/570572018?cfi=%2F4%2F0%5BRS_pagebreak_1%5D%2C%2F1%3A0%2C%2F1%3A0&menu=table-of-contents.
