You've Got My Attention

Axial Characters often have axial skeletons

The axial character is key to the success of a sitcom, for he draws the attentions of the viewer and contextualizes the rest of the cast in terms of his personality. Other characters in a show are oftentimes, not even perceived as complete figures, but rather the fragments that the axial character sees them as. These other characters need not be fleshed out fully in order for the axial character to complete a story arc. Indeed, it is often better that these characters are not completed for it always for a sense of empathy with the title character not afforded to those less important in the cast, giving more meaning to the axial character as a whole.

Such a Happy Family

The axial character is central to the show "Everybody Loves Raymond," for the character of Ray Romano defines not only the characters around him, but also the entire world of the sitcom itself. Ray is always the main focus whenever he is in a scene, and the world seems to be defined by his pessimistic attitude. While his immediate family is gradually formed as the series progresses, they are still defined in the roles in which Ray views them. Ray's overbearing mother constantly guilts and manipulates him in to performing tasks for her, while his cantankerous old father shows deep resentment of anything "girly." Ray's brother is a morose and ponderous fellow, who always complains that Ray has everything better than him, a fact which is oftentimes correct. Ray's wife is always exasperated with him, and often seems just on the brink of a breakdown. These characters are usually seen only through the cynical lens of Ray, warping our perceptions along with him. Thus we can see the importance of the axial character, for all the other characters as well as the world itself, are viewed only through the lens of Ray's pessimistic attitude.