The Success of The Simpsons
In recent years, a certain animated sitcom has caught the public’s
attention, evoking reactions that are both favourable and
unfavourable, but hardly ever apathetic.
As a brilliant, socially aware satire, Matt Groening’s ‘The Simpson’s’
has effectively stirred different emotions from different factions of
the culturally deadened American populace and for this alone, it
should be recognised as quality programming. The Simpsons is a brutal
satire of our society and our family structures yet it offers several
redeeming qualities such as feminism, endurance and most of all
humour.
The American animation was created by Matt Groening as shorts for the
Tracy Ullman Show and was bought by Fox Network, which began screening
it as half hour shows in 1989. Initially its success was restricted to
the 9-16 year old age group, but its success grew quickly and it is
now popular in many countries with many different audiences.
The Simpson’s is one of Americas most popular television shows. It
ranks as the number one television programme for the viewers under
eighteen years of age.
Matt Groening intended for them to represent the American typical
family “who love each other and drive each other crazy.”
The improbable long term success of the Simpson lies in its producer’s
ability to understand the expectations of the television audience and
the culture that surrounds them. This understanding, combined with
wry sarcasm, topical themes, and superb scripting that puts most other
comedies to shame, as well as some old slapstick comedy, makes the
Simpsons one of the most popular television programmes in televi...
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get out just like Bart. We all do ‘pull a Homer’ sometimes. It just
happens; the show doesn’t make us do it. If this world did not have
the Simpson’s children would behave in the same manner, they just
might laugh quite as much.
Matt Groening is an extremely intelligent and intellectual man who
should be given a tremendous amount of credit. He has made a cartoon
that can be viewed and understood at so many different levels. For
example, a child could relate to each character for their face value
and get enjoyment out of simple humour. It could also be viewed simply
as a humorous cartoon with an unforgettable family and furthermore it
could definitely be viewed at an educational level. Which ever level
it is viewed at, in every episode Groening makes it clear there is
nothing more important than family.
Vaudeville was very popular from the late 1800s to the early 1900s in North America. Vaudeville shows were made up of many random acts that were placed together in a common play bill. Some acts were, for example, plays, clowns, jugglers, comedians, etc. Once the radio was introduced, vaudeville’s started to become less popular as the radio’s popularity started to increase. The radio started out with maximum five programs but as the demand for radios increased so did the amount of programs, which went up to almost 500. Radios was the place families and friends gathered to hear the news, sporting events, music, entertainment, etc. One show millions of people listened to was The Burns and Allen Show, starring George Burns and Gracie Allen. Allen was the one who had all the punch lines and was very silly and Burns was the straight man, serious, and was the one who allowed Allen the opportunity to say her punch lines. Burns and Allen were one of the few people who succeeded in different medians and brought changes to the way entertainment was performed.
Family comedies have evolved throughout the past century. What was once revered as classic has completely changed forms and turned into the comedic experience we witness today. Family sitcoms in particular have been converted to show a broader picture of how family’s interact in today’s world. This greatly appeals to today’s audiences and is what people want to see. Modern family specifically has tapped into what nontraditional families are all about and even with being so alternative has resonated with every type of family, making it one of the most popular shows on TV at the present moment. The pilot episode of Modern Family uses hyper-irony, allusions and uses references to technology to enforce comedic impact.
Move over Jetson there is a new beloved animated family in town, the Simpsons. The Simpson’s originally aired on December 17th, 1989 and has yet to make us stop laughing. The Simpson’s follow a not so typical American family from the fictional town of Springfield. The episode follow the satirical lives of Homer (Dad), Marge (mom), Bart (brother), Lisa (sister), and Maggie (little sister). Though this is a satirical TV show many episodes provide excellent points and example of material covered in a sociology class. The episode “Marge not be Proud” gives multiple examples of deviant behavior and this essay will discuss two of them.
Younger generations and the more vulnerable in society can be influenced in avoiding peer pressure, but for the individuals filled with wisdom, the shows can reflect based on American modern society. Everybody Loves Raymond and Full House are great shows who faces similar life obstacles a typical person living in the US has today. As a result, most modern family comedy sit-coms are reflecting our society’s generations and the more vulnerable. Based on the success of early family sit coms, American’s adapted to a fast pace lifestyle with the help of modern
Although animated cartoons have long been associated with children’s entertainment, the content of many cartoons suggest they are for adults as well. From character portrayal to perceived gender roles, cartoons such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby Doo both reflect societal values from their time periods as well as perpetuate the developed stereotypes. Cartoons produced more recently such as The Simpsons start to challenge these stereotypes instead of following blindly. Comparing the earliest popular cartoons to more recent productions, shows progress towards a less stereotypical character portrayal in regards to gender.
Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded. During the 1950s and 1960s, 97% of the families were Caucasian. In the first five years of the 1990s, nearly 14% of the television families were African-American (Bryant 2001). These statistics obviously show the substantial impact our American culture has had on African-American television families.
Socialization plays in important part in the passing on of culture from generation to generation. It is defined as the lifelong process of social interaction through which we acquire a self-identity and the skills needed for survival. The agents of socialization provide the necessary social interactions to teach culture to individuals in a society. The four primary agents of socialization include parents, education, peers, and media. The most pervasive one, media, has a major role in teaching messages about the norms in culture. The purpose of this project was to observe the subtle messages that a TV series, like The Simpsons, send about gender, class, disability/ability, and age.
Saturday Night Live (SNL) continues to attract audiences from all over the country by producing numerous comedic sketches; often mocking contemporary society, people, and trends. Late night shows seem to be a favorite among Americans (Heller). Saturday Night Live in particular, has cultivated into becoming not only a comedic late night show, but also an iconic cultural phenomenon. From its consistent popularity, the addressing of controversial issues, and its connection to the audience, SNL has transformed what Americans see and feel on television, despite possibly offending major groups of people.
The Simpsons: Appealing to the Middle-Class For this assignment I watched the show The Simpsons, which comes on the Fox network on Sunday nights at eight. The show is about an animated nuclear family and their everyday lives. The Simpsons targets the middle class families that live in the suburbs of America. The show mainly appeals to families that composed of parents who work at blue-collar jobs and have children, between the ages of 10-18. You can tell this from the commercials, how The Simpsons life style is portrayed and the jokes contained in the show.
Today I received a referral from a family who is seeking help regarding their dysfunctional family structure. The Simpson’s are a nuclear family that is having difficulties living as a family. I have already spoken to Marge Simpson and agreed to find a way to get her husband and children to therapy. She has very high aspirations of attending therapy with her family because she has longed for a “normal” functioning family in which her husband and children interact in a much healthier manner than they do now. She described her husband of being careless, her son uncontrollable ate times, and her daughters disconnected from the family. We have set up the meeting for next week, Wednesday at six, when she believed her family would be more willing to attend and actually participate in the therapy session.
leave one with an empty happiness. If a person is ignorant, they might try to
Some television critics have abused “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Several statements declare he is a wimp because of his general caring approach on the show. Not only have television critics made negative remarks, but the children’s show has also been made fun of on late night television shows such as “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson as well as Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live (Bianculli 43). On a different level of criticism, the older siblings of those who watch the show develop negative opinions of “Mister ...
Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, season one, episode four entitled “Everybody Hates Sausage”, the stereotypes that continue to fuel racism are examined in a satirical motif, and class is presented in a comical way, but carries serious undertones which present a somewhat realistic view of the different social strata within the United States.
At a young age it is instilled in the mind that hard work pays off, and that following these words of wisdom can ultimately lead to success throughout life. For those skeptics and nonbelievers, Jay Leno has been a real-life example in proving this theory through his great success in the comedy industry. Though Jay Leno is known as the king of late night television today, he didn’t start out on top, and it was a long journey to get there. Jay’s success didn’t happen over night and for most of his life he was constantly working towards his goals and the achievements he now holds. During Jay’s childhood, his goals and dreams became set in his mind, and his journey as an aspiring comedian began. As Leno grew older and began searching for employment, he was forced to see the harsh reality of the hard work that becoming a comedian would entail. Finally, after many years of working towards his ambitions, Jay reached his “pay off” as becoming the host of The Tonight Show, where he enjoys enormous success and a loyal audience. In fall of 2009, Jay will face a different challenge in his career in hosting a new show in a prime time slot on NBC. Though Jay Leno’s journey to success may have been a difficult one, it is obvious that he now reaps the benefits of his constant efforts toward advancing in his career. Though ‘hard work pays off’ can seem to be a meaningless and empty phrase for some, in Jay Leno’s case the saying rings true.
In this essay I ultimately want to address the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Once More with Feeling" (season 6, episode 7). However, I do not want to look at this episode in isolation from the remainder of the Buffy franchise but rather argue that it exemplifies a certain entertainment strategy that courses through the Buffyverse. Now it seems to me that entertainment is either too often denigrated as a specific ideological formation that produces negative effects of audience passivity as against more overtly challenging texts, or, alternatively, entertainment is celebrated within a postmodern theoretical framework that views the multiplicity of pleasures afforded as inherently productive and even oppositional. Alternatively I want to concentrate on entertainment for entertainment's sake which is to say as a dialectical operation that in Fredric Jameson's terms intermingles wish fulfilment and repression by arousing radical fantasies in order to contain them (Jameson, 1990: 25).