The Zany Vicar

The Vicar of Dibley hosts several zany characters that often create awkward moments for poor vicar Geraldine Granger. Although Geraldine is depicted as the sanest character in the show, I would still argue that she fits into Nagi’s depiction of a ‘Zany’ character. As a female Vicar (in the 90s) she was breaking social norms much to the confusion of the characters around her, Nagi writes “This attempt to deal with distinctively feminist as well as distinctively aesthetic problems— “desire and humor”—is also, of course, distinctively zany.” (222) Geraldine as a character often struggles with her occupation as a vicar and the extra societal expectations put upon her being a woman in this profession. There is a running gag that she is overly interested in men (horny) and tried to flirt with multiple men through the series: verry often miss reading the situation, she once thought that someone wanted to marry her but instead wanted her to marry him to someone else. She is also flirted with on several occasions by the older men on her parish committee. These situations often lead to a deviation from Plakias’ social ‘script.’ When she discusses Awkward hesitation (28) the idea that awkward pauses or not knowing how to/ responding in the wrong way, leads to awkwardness. (29/30) again the idea that Geraldine is deviating is reflected with her often being able to navigate what script she should be following. (20)

In this clip she is trying to flirt with someone (while still at church) and finds out his wife has died. She first says “good” then realises her miss judgment of the situation and reverts to her professional script to say “god”. Geraldine is constantly at odds, “Since awkwardness is caused by a lack of social script, people who don’t fit easily into a social role— or who sit uneasily at the juncture of more than one— might be especially prone to awkward situations.” (33) which aligns with Nagi’s idea that “One could even argue that it involves an extra layer of ambivalence.” (215) As a character the Vicar is constantly in situations and creating situations that those around her find awkward. There is a scene after some of  the congregation finds out that she is sleeping with a man out of wedlock (which is made all the funnier when one of the characters doesn’t pick up on social queues… another deviation from script) with the chairman finding the situation against social norms and expectations. Her role as a vicar creates a very specific script that she and those who interact with her should follow but she as a female vicar becomes ‘Zany’ when those scripts and as Kotsko puts it becomes awkward because she “does something that is inappropriate for a given context.” (6)