Itchy and Scratchy cartoon Essay

The purpose of this study is to discuss the extent to which The Simpsons is representative of American family and social values. I will discuss how each member of the Simpsons family behaves, as well as highlighting what may be socially expected of them. Secondly, I will examine how the Simpsons family interacts with the surrounding community, concentrating particularly on the images that they portray. In order to do this, I will examine the regular codes and conventions of the series to show how the characters work together in the whole scheme of things Introduction Set in the north-western Illinois town of Springfield, The Simpsons is an animated sit-com about the day-to-day tribulations of a disfunctional lower-middle-class family. The main family itself consists of the father, Homer, his wife Marge, son Bart, and daughters Lisa and Maggie. Other family members include Homer’s father, Abraham Simpson, as well as Marge’s sisters, Patty and Selma. Occasionally, Marge’s mother, Mrs Bouvier, makes an appearance, and on one occasion, Homer discovered that he had an adopted older brother, Nigel. Since its official launch in 1989, The Simpsons has become one of the world’s most popular animated series, and has been enjoyed the world over by children and adult’s alike. Originally, the show occupied a space on the Tracey Ullman Show between 1987 and 1989, and was then called The Bart Simpson Show. Its immense popularity proved so great that Twentieth Century Fox decided it would be worthwhile to launch The Simpsons as a show in itself. In this format, the first episode was broadcast in 1989, and in this season there were thirteen episodes. In fact, the show was so immediately popular that a huge wave of cross-media production and merchandising took place, and this culminated in the release of a single, â€Å"Do The Bartman†, in early 1991. Other examples include toys, comics, and computer games But what is it about The Simpsons that continues to make it so popular? Is it Homer? Is it Bart? Or is it just the culmination of the shows different elements? These are some of the ideas I hope to cover in the course of this study. To this day, The Simpsons is still largely rated as the greatest of all the animated sit-coms. Since its release there has been a whole trail of subsequent cartoon impersonations, such as King of the Hill, South Park, Daria, and Beavis and Butthead. Unlike most cartoons, the comedy in The Simpsons is not based solely on situational comedy and site gags. The characters themselves make the comedy, with their personalities, their uniqueness, and their own personal points of view. Having such strong characters means that the writing can practically do itself, and that is one reason that The Simpsons has been able to endure for so many years. Innovative comedy, including the lack of a laugh track, makes The Simpsons one of the funniest shows on television. As well as this, a continual supply of hilariously stupid jokes also helps to keep the comedy running smoothly. For example, when Bart asked why he thought he was receiving money for nothing, Grandpa Simpson replied, â€Å"I just figured the democrats were back in office†. Also, when the zoo director is asked if he’s going to save Ned Flanders from baboons, he replies, â€Å"Ooh, I’d like to, but if they don’t kill the intruder, it’s really bad for their society. † These are just a few examples of Simpsons humour. Simpson family analysis Homer From the shows beginnings, Homer has been portrayed as a well-intentioned, yet moronic person. Homer’s virtually disabling stupidity is what makes him so funny. His job in the powerstation often provides much of the humour, as do his experiences at home and in Moe’s bar. In one episode, when Homer takes on a student from Albania as part of Bart’s foreign exchange programme, he takes him on a tour of the powerstation, unsuspicious of why a 10-year-old would show interest in such a tour. Later we find out through F. B. I. agents that the boy was actually a communist spy and Homer had unwittingly given him detailed plans of the station’s nuclear reactor as well as several sticks of plutonium. In another episode, Homer and Bart adopt a new son and brother respectively. In a subsequent fight scene with Bart’s new brother, Homer was punched in the face, and he fell and bent his back over a fire hydrant. To this he said, â€Å"This is even more painful then it looks†. Another facet of Homer’s persona is his love of food and beer. At work, Homer consumes unending amounts of donuts, whilst at home his passion is pork, whether it be pork-rinds, pork-steaks or pork-chops. Homer also has a famous passion for ‘Duff’ beer, which at one point became so extreme that Marge challenged him to give up alcohol for a month. And he did. In another episode, Homer sneaked out of work half-an-hour early just so he could take a tour around the ‘Duff’ factory. Here he managed to consume one casket each of several varieties of beer, just to find out the difference in taste. Thus, his stupidity, combined with an amazing luck, forms the basis for one of the funniest characters on television. Homer will manage to find the only way to completely ruin a situation and then, through sheer luck, he will find the only way to repair it. Indeed, he always manages to â€Å"pull a Homer. † Marge Marge is portrayed as the most straight-minded, straight-thinking member of the family. Past episodes, namely the one where Marge and Homer tell the children how they met, portray Marge as an intellectual, linguistically gifted student with great career prospects. At least that was the case until she met Homer. However, it cannot be said that Marge has not used her linguistic skills to her advantage. In one episode, â€Å"Marge vs. the Monorail†, Marge single-handedly battles to stop the building of an unsafe, fraudulent rail line around Springfield. In the end she wins the battle, and the citizens of Springfield are grateful to her for saving their lives. In another episode, she becomes board with her housewife role and she decides to open up a business, choosing a pretzel franchise to make her fortune. As well as this, Marge is the pillar that keeps the Simpson family standing. She is always the one who maintains the sanity and keeps the family going. She is the only voice of reason in the household, as evidenced when she goes away and the household nearly collapses. No sooner had she left for her healthfarm weekend then the family began telephoning her to ask her all manners of questions, such as Bart’s question, ‘where do you keep my socks’? Her answer, ‘In the sock draw’. Another example can be seen in her crusade to ban the violent Itchy and Scratchy cartoon. This came about after she witnessed Maggie trying to stab Homer with a knife after she saw the same thing on TV. She continued her crusade, despite the fact that she knew Bart and Lisa were getting bullied at school, and eventually she won. Marge provides the reference on which the rest of the family is based, so the audience can see just how bizarre everyone else is when in immediate juxtaposition with Marge. It would be strange to imagine what the show would be like if this were not the way of things, as much humour is born out of the family’s dependence on her.