The Simpsons :: essays papers

The SimpsonsThe American animation The Simpsons is now in its 10th flavour as a show in its own right. It was created by sluggishness Groening as shorts for the Tracy Ullman Show and was bought by the Fox Network, which began screening it as half-hour shows in 1989. Initially its triumph was restricted to the 9-16 year obsolete age group, and for animation there is nothing remarkable about this. Its success grew quickly and it is now popular in many countries with many variant audiences. In the 1990s we be seeing dramatic transformations in media industries and media cultures. In geographical terms, these transformations may be seen in the shift from national to globose media. The Simpsons can be seen as both a remarkable tack on of global culture and as a hugely successful gash of global tv. (One need only look on an Internet depend engine to discover that there are literally millions of Simpsons fan-sites some the world.). The Simpsons themselves are a simple family in a small town in Middle America called Springfield. They are Homer (loyal but stupid father), margarine (dissatisfied, trapped housewife/mother), Bart (rebellious son), Lisa (unappreciated genius daughter), and Maggie (silent baby). The show also revolves around a number of other of the townsfolk, such as Mr Burns (Homers crocked boss), Smithers (Burnss loving assistant), Apu (Indian shop owner), Principal Skinner and Moe (owner of the local bar). There are a number of reasons why we cannot simply view The Simpsons as a cartoon like any other. The rules and conventions that it follows are far more those of television or cinema than those of animation. The humour within The Simpsons exists on many divers(prenominal) levels ranging from the obvious to the subtle, from the literary to the movie reference, and beyond. But most importantly we mustiness consider the shows ability to make significant social comment, on everyday issues of culture and society, but more specifically on t elevision, film and media, and on audience viewing and acceptance of these media. Traditionally, cartoons have been action driven and animation. excursion from the use of cameras to create the visual illusion of depth (Walt Disney famously explained the complicated proficiency used to allow Mickey Mouse to walk along a street without distorting depth or perspective), cartoons had a language of their own, unique and intermit from that of cinema or television. They were simple and without layered meanings.