Class, Identity, and Finding the Right Wine in Schitt’s Creek: A Place to Love

Following its meteoric rise, the Emmy award-winning series Schitt’s Creek (2015-2020) has become a cultural force with its catchphrases and meme-able moments. In Class, Identity, and Finding the Right Wine in Schitt’s Creek: A Place To Love, contributors focus on three central themes explored in the series: love, place, and identity. While considering the intersections of these themes, chapters analyze the representation of class, sexuality, community, self-growth, fashion, and fans, putting the show in dialogue with classic literature from Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens, as well as contextualizing it alongside its television peers and predecessors. The book argues that Schitt’s Creek, at its core, derives its power and impact from telling the story of a family whose members reconnect with each other while discovering their own individual selfhoods in the process. Employing philosophical and psychological interpretations, engaging with fan studies, trauma theory, and place studies, and applying feminist and queer readings, chapters offer a variety of lenses through which to read the show. Ultimately, the book argues that Schitt’s Creek’s inclusive ideologies and strongly formed characters encourage a process of self-growth and acceptance with an emotional and intellectual depth that recognizes the value of self and community.

James Deys is associate professor of English at Nichols College.

Kellie Deys is professor of English at Nichols College.

Nikki Anderson is assistant professor of English at Nichols College.