Quality Television And A Examination Of The Simpsons Media Essay

case telly And A Examination Of The Simpsons Media EssayThere is a joint assumption relating to reference boob tube, which has been known for its park approach and vague forms of interpretation. fictitious character tv set, from the 1950s, was gener on the wholey associated with public video recording meshworks, which be government-controlled and funded. With the development of cable network in the 1980s and 1990s, Ameri rat cable networks, such as HBO put iodine across make a variety of video recording sights that atomic number 18 close toly nominate to as calibre television, such as, The Wire, Oz, Sex and The City and The Sopranos, etc. It describes a style of television computer programme that is of a better quality, because of its subject matter, style, or content andwhitethorn be perceived as universe comfortably for its collecters honorablely or educationally edifying exactly it may still be experienced as worthy, dull, conventional or pretentious. (Mc Cabe, Akass, p.21) quite an a a purget of television programs are labelled as world of a higher quality, and one has to take into flier a issue forth of individual considerations and educated guess. Kristin Thompsons alleges that quality television programs includea quality pedigree, a large ensemble cast, a serial memory, creation of a pertly genre through recombination of honest-to-goder ones, self- assuredness, and pronounced tendencies toward the controversial and the rattlingistic. (Cited in Wilcox, Lain truth).An American non-profit organisation, The Viewers for Quality Television (VQT) a corresponding offers its own assortment in regard to what quality television isA quality serial publication enlightens, enriches, challenges, involves, and confronts. It dares to take risks, its honest and illuminating, and it magic spells to the intellect and touches the emotions. It requires c at oncentration and attendance, and it provokes thought. Characterization is explo red. And unremarkably a quality comedy will touch the funny bone and the heart. (McCabe, Akass. p.41)A writer puts it this way that quality is non what is produced, hardly what it produces.The Simpsons, an American excite series was created by Matt Groening and produced by Gracie Films for Twentieth Century pee and the FOX Broadcasting Network. The arrangement was root aired in declination of 1989, change state the first off animated series on prime-time television since the 1960s. The Simpsons was ab initio created as a series of animated shorts, and then emerging as part of The Tracey Ullman Show around April 1987, and after a three- temper run the fork up was developed into a half-hour prime time show, and premiered as a series on the 17th of December 1989 on the FOX TV Sunday program, gaining the 0800 p.m. time slot. The series became an early success for FOX TV, and as a result becoming FOX TVs first series to mount to the Top 30 ratings in a season of 1989-199 0. From the time when it first appeared in December 1989, the show has broadcast a total of 454 episodes.The Simpsons ordinal season began airing on FOX TV in family line 2009, which confirmed The Simpsons as the tenaciousest-running American prime-time television series, displacing Gunsmoke for that qualification. A feature distance film, The Simpsons Movie, was released in cinemas worldwide on 26th July and 27th July, 2007, and earned around 527dollars. The Simpsons at the outset challenged true television programming and was the specific most significant program in ascertaining FOX TV as a valid broadcast television network.The Simpsons has won numerous awards since its first air as a series, including 26 Annie Awards, a Peabody Award and 25 Primetime Emmy Awards. The series was named by Time magazine issue of 31st December, 1999 as the trump television series of the 20th centurys, and on 14th January, 2000 the Simpson family was awarded a one on the Hollywood Walk of Fam e. The Simpsons has, further such(prenominal), influenced various adult-oriented animated dramas.The series has moody out to be the first successful animated program in prime time since Wait Till Your Father Gets Home in the 1970s. In the 1980s, animated shows were regarded as suitable just for children. Furthermore, creating animated show was considered excessively costly to attain the kind of quality acceptable for prime-time television but The Simpsons completely changed this perception. Taking advantage of the Korean life studios for filming, alter and colouring made the series cheaper. This brought near lower production cost and the success of The Simpsons motivated television networks to examine the prospects of its success, which led to taking chances on various animated series. This development led to a 1990s plosion in new animated prime-time shows, such as Beavies and Butt oral sex, Family Guy, King of the Hill, southeast Park, The Critic and Futurama. The Simpsons sufficeed in creating an hearing for prime-time animation that had been no(prenominal)xistent for s eeral years. galore(postnominal) dissimilar items be possessed of been developed over the years base upon this long running series. Video peppys of various types, collection of wide-ranging consoles, and a game Arcade have also been developed to compliment the series.The Simpsons centres on a nuclear family which lives in a make-believe town of Springfield. The animated series has cut across lines as it mockerys the diverse American acculturation time also influencing a broad range of social issues such as religion, sexuality, politics, advertisements, print media, entertainment patience and even technological advances. While they do not share certain qualities with past television families such as the Bundys, the Cosbys etc, the examination of their privateities whatso everwhat make a short letter. Something familiar with the series is the common subject matter in Spr ingfield, yet time progresses alongside as rise. In contrast to real brio shows, there appears to be overleap of difficulty to entertain them at that age yet there is more of modernised technology progressing along with the times. The use of satire and humour that characterised The Simpsons operates on many levels and arouses various interests depending on the age or gender of the audition. men could relate to Homer Simpson and his continuous daily battles with insufficient money and the production line he dislikes, while females could identify with Marge and her efforts in trying to keep the family unit together and working correctly. Some children would love to imitate baronet Simpsons naughty behaviour and appreciate Lisas academic talent, and also the way they interact with one an opposite as a kind of love-hate combination..Homer J Simpson, the head of the family, is a lovable semi- intelligent father with a number of personal hygiene problems though this description r ather says the opposite to the true grandeur of the man. Beneath this overweight figure lies the heartbeat of a man who invariably endeavours to help his family, friends, and his boss to a certain level of success, and ultimately ends up with the adoration and love of his children and wife. A very devoted but clownish character, he works as safety inspector at the comically but risky nuclear power plant. This, basically to him is an unimportant job, but one that he neither likes nor dislike, but is resigned to, or perhaps even contented with.Homer Simpsons wife, Merge, proves to be an enduring and devoted woman, who runs the family home, caring for her children and economize like classical American housewife and mother, representing a form of decency and respect superpower. This does not mean that Merge has never worked outside of the home environment a short period as a police officer gave her almost experience of the gloomy side of the shortcomings of Springfield, and t indiv iduallying at baronets and Lisas groom, Springfield elementary, nearly certainly did the same. She serves as a church warden and a franchise holder but always return to her role as wife and mother, which is a welcome relief for the clan as they constantly need her blend in judgment and support to keep them out of trouble. In contrast to other family sitcoms, Merge is characterised as more intelligent than her husband, but in symmetry with other forbearing programs, she never importanttains herself to be even though she is most times right. Merge Simpsons decent uneasiness is a obsess day-by-day subject matter, and determining the behaviours of the family members and towns people through ethical issues is a frequent incident.The Son, baronetholomew J Simpson is a ten year old troublemaker. Emerging as a type of anti-cultural symbol that he was, he is at school an underachiever much to the annoyance of his teachers and the schools principal. He never fails to irritate allone his parents, child and teachers with dirty pranks ranging from flushing a cherry bomb down the schools toilet to mental picture the lines in the teachers parking bay nearer together so the teachers would not be able to get out of their cars. Bart Simpsons refused to see sustenance the way adults dictate he should, consequently exposing his rebellion and audacity to typical wisdom. He is practically ignored, as people see him as a naughty child, and a failure, who is not hindered but is somehow proud of it. He knew that those who assume controls do not always know all the answers. This very often enables him to rouse out those things others do not see, consequently becoming a means of expressing and ridiculing peoples blindness towards unfairness, prejudice, discrimination and inconsistency in the world. Bart was perhaps unquestionably the favourite when the show began, but Homer is the main leading icon of the show.Lisa Simpson is a totally different character from Bart. She i s the genius of the family. Although this is noticeable, her remarkable and exciting personality goes unrewarded. She is, for all practical proposes, a absolute child who frequently reveals thoughtfulness that disagrees with her age. Added to her cuteness, she is a kind, gifted and charming personality, who referable to escaping peoples great expectation of her, is able to blot out shortcomings in the Springfields company something the adults would not have been able or failed to do. unrivaled would have love to see grownups discover inequalities and injustices in communities, instead of an eight year old girl. This makes the social interpretation of The Simpsons more significant, as this uses the sincerity and openness of Lisa Simpson to point out adults refusal and failure to confront deceit and corruption in the society. disrespect the fact that Bart and Lisa are two completely different characters, by acting as a kind of collective interpreters, they are well-placed insi de the chronic practice of using children in series like this to supple those hearings who despises the political structure and the general publics established interpretation. The speaking roles of these the two children is an recital that they know far more about true life, popular culture and everyday life issues than their parents.Maggie Simpson, the final member of the family, is the tenderest child who has advanced uncertainly throughout the eight year run of the series. Being very conscious of her environment, she can be seen emulating the course of action surrounding her. As a non talking tot, she never get into much trouble and She has carried out quite a number of adventures that suggest she is a very smart toddler once running away from the Springfield day-care centre, using her baby blocks to maculation out E MC, driving her fathers car, and writing her name on a board. She also shows some astonishing ability shooting a film at a picture of Homer in imitating Itch y and crude and hitting him on the head with a mallet. Notwithstanding her age, she proves to be an awesome sharp shooter, as depict in Who Shot Mr. destroy?, where she shots Mr. Burns with a handgun that falls into her hands by mistake, and in Papas Got a Brand New Badge, she was able to shoot a group of hoodlums in quick flow with a rifle that it seems has been hidden in her room. Maggie is ordinarily upset and annoyed by Homers attempts to bond with her, but have on quite a numbers of time step in to extradite him instead once from sinking, once from being shot by hoodlums, once from being kidnapped by a tow truck driver.The writer of Television Second Golden Age From Hill Street Blues to ER, Robert J Thompson, presents some essentials of what quality television program represent, pointing out several reasons to suggest all that quality television stands for. In examining some criterion of what quality television in regards to The Simpsons, the first condition of a quality television program, check to Thompson, is that it is not a regular TV, and as such must break the traditional rules of television and be like nothing ever appear before it. This became apparent in The Simpsons use of humour in its presentation as it does not make use of recorded jest track to prompt the viewers to hilarity when it is being humorous thereby engaging and inviting viewers to individually choose the lines and actions they telephone are amusing, based on their own individual awareness of popular culture and experiences. This is in sharp contrast to most hilarious shows on television, where the use of laugh track to prompt viewers to laugh is most common.The series also succeeded in encouraging its viewers active consumption. Nothing is ever nearly guarded with The Simpsons, as it ridicules talk shows, meaningless advertisements, and biased news stories appearing on their own television and also revealing the insincerity of the educational system, judicial systems, religious establishment, the medical profession and the political institutions. The series ability to entertain and at the same time revealing several things the audience could not have observed in general, leaves us to claim a status of quality to it.Through its clever use of pastiche, this program has called attention to the flaws and hypocrisies of such sacred institutions as government, organised religion, and the health care systems. (John, p.63)herein lies the beauty of The Simpsons its not afraid to cause upsets if the grade demands it. The Simpsons covers scores of thin social issues including the corruptions in the legal and political systems, the powerful elites in the society, moral decay in the society, violence, the crumbling educational system, media prejudice and the problems of the elderly. Quite a number of shows may have touched on these themes but none have accommodated, disguised and covered them with sense of humour as The Simpsons. some other(prenominal) de cisive factor of quality TV is that it tends to attract an sole(a) audience. Programs that were once proved to be unpopular and rejected with the elites are now accepted by urban, high-class, well-educated and young viewers. In its first two months that the series premiered in 1990, it climbed to make 15 into Nielsens ratings, which is a remarkable achievement, when one take into account that the FOX network could just about reach only 80 part of household at that time. The Simpsons not only ranked among the top 10 among the young, it also, in addition drew a load of grown-ups.One of several reasons why the series scores so high with the young audience by Newsweeks Harry Walters is thatit shamelessly panders to a kids eye view of the world parents dispenses dopey advice, school is a drag and happiness can be attained by subverting the system.(Walters,The shows appeals to grown-ups is as a result of honoring and developing a soft spot for series like The Flintstones, or The Jets ons, which were the last animated cartoon families to make it on prime-time television. These programs were full of mature satire which only adults could fully understand.The show appeals to the kids who like cartoons, to intellectuals who like satire and to thugs who like troublemaking here (Hughes).The series get winds the requirements for quality television as it is successful in acquiring remarkable demographics. In explaining the shows appeal to diverse audience, Groening asserted that they were not writing for kids, but for adults, describing the kind of family entertainment The Simpson offeredI like to think its something thats going to be family entertainment to new sense. Its going to offer something for every member of the family, depending on whatever level they are going to meet the show. Adults are going to enjoy the witty dialogue and the funny story turns and kids are going to enjoy some of the wild sight gags (quoted in Clark)Even if they were at the initial stages aiming for only the adult audience, the show ends up picking up the children along the way without much effort.Quality television is also defined to challenge genre categorisation by creating a new one, and The Simpsons is to an extent, a combination of animated cartoon and domestic sitcom, though the series is often labelled first and primarily as a sitcom. This can be seen through the shows use of drama, action, mystery, adventure, musicals, romance, regularly all indoors the same half-hour, which make the program to challenge genre classification in its combination of varieties of productions. An advertising executive was quoted as construction that its absolutely all that it is a sitcom comedy that happens to be animated, and in spite of this, the program takes various styles of television, combines them together to produce one of the most innovative and socialize series on air. There is an accepted assumption that The Simpson enjoys the double distinction of being perhaps the most important animated program ever to air on American television as well as the one of the most important sitcoms. These two aspects of the program reinforced each other The success of The Simpsons as a sitcom as help it to gain new audiences that would not previously have been interested in an animated program, while the shows animated status has helped it to break new primer and go where no sitcom had gone before. (Booker, P.48)The program denotes the domestic family sitcom tradition and is often associated with the other side of the Cosbys, the Andersons, the Nelsons, the Bradys and all other sitcoms family from the interpenetrate of television, suggesting the series to be another typical family sitcom, even as animation, with the usual individual problems to encounter and resolve each week. Matt Goering was quoted, saying at an early age I was affected by Leave it to vanquish and Ozzie Harriet. The Simpsons is my skewed reaction to those shows. In stating the significa nce of these earlier sources, he is suggesting the series not using the genre s standard, as all the fundamentals of its live action of the series is geared towards the family models. Unlike traditional sitcoms with a limited number of casts and background signals, the series animated structure gives the writer, producer and animators the prize to open the style from within instead of applying the typical usual settings. Jason Mittell suggests thatassumptions about animation and family sitcoms situate the program within hierarchies and power relations impacting the shows reception and the ensuing controversies that emerged. But it would be a mistake to regard this generic framework as fixed or static. Just as the show is positioned within clusters of already extant generic discourses, The Simpsons and its long-term cultural life have worked to reconstitute and change the very generic notions that were partially formative of its initial cultural understanding. The success of the show with adults, partially overcoming the stigmas of animations childish audience have somewhat eroded these notions (Mittel, p.194)The Simpsons position within the genre of television and animation is also a point to consider, as there is a kind of difference between animation and cartoon is significant. While animation indicates a technical practice and ocular method, cartoon involves a children audience and is mainly associated with children, is full of comical content with uncertain cultural meaning, and is often associated to the 1960s Saturday morning cartoons programs. In response to the success of The Simpson, Charles Solomon suggests thatWe tend to draw a blank that what we thinks as the great cartoons the Warner Bros cartoons of the 1940s and 50s, the Disney cartoons of the 30 were made for general audience and could appeal to the most sophisticated member of the audience as well as the least. During the 1960s and 1970s, animation became stereotyped as a childrens m edium because of Saturday morning, which was a distortion. Theres always been a big audience for animation, and this is one of the first projects thats been sophisticated enough in its approach to once again appeal to adults as well as children. (Shahid, USA Today)The series has climbed to the rank that is usually reserved for live-action programs to challenge the long-established programs that put all live-actions over anything that is animated. The rise of the cartoon network as a twenty four hour broadcast channel of animated programs, airing the dreadfully same animated shows that were once labelled as Saturday morning programming for children, suggests the vital role of networks practices in deciding a genres audience, which have allowed various animated series that has followed The Simpson to gained success.Another powerful influence of The Simpson is enhanced through its brilliant blend of comical, visual and vocal elements. Television allows us to take a critical port at the thought-provoking and tough situation of human experiences through the participation of spoken word, audio and dramatic visual element, and the blending of these essentials helps in creating a memorably practical rendering of familiar human situations. By enlivening The Simpsons, the writer made the effort of reaching a high overconfident measure of practicality, while at the same time yet entertaining, and as a result creating elicit and motivating stories for his audience.Despite the enormous of the series, The Simpsons is not without its own troubles as there have been several complaints against the program by significant number of viewers. Some of these complaints includes an ad for The Simpsons showing a setting where a homosexual had encounter with an alien, army recruits with a sign saying Welcome Suicidal Teenagers, Homer Simpsons equation of Christians with porn movie stars, Cain and Abel were depicted to be slaying each other with knives, etc. Although The Simpsons scores on important lessons such as human values, criticisms of society and the calls for reflection, all of which have enlarged its fan base over the years, but there are some agencies who suggest that this should not conceal the fact that the series is not suitable for children features violent scenes, some sexually evocative images and languages, instances or behaviours. They argued against some explicit contents contained in the series that are considered inappropriate for children including the occurrences with which Bart puts off his pants to expose his behind, in defiance of authority. The endorsement of cigarettes in a children program as Patty and Selma, Marges sisters, are chain-smokers. Sideshow Bob, Selmas ex-husband, attempts to kill her leave the gas on in order to set the house on fire once she lights her cigarette. Patty, her sister, revealed herself as a lesbian in season 16. Tommy and Daly, the cartoon watched by Lisa and Bart, is thought to be extremely violent. Cleto and Brandine, the ill-bred couples liveness on the border of Springfield, have no less than 15 children, none of whom attends school, while it is also apparent that they, as well as being married to each other, are family relatives, suggesting incest. The Simpsons furthermore exhibits alcohol abuse and drunkenness, which could be seen as the depiction of alcohol consumption in childrens programs. In one episode, after getting drunk, Homer and Ned Flanders marry strippers in Las Vegas even though they are both already married suggesting the idea of extramarital personal business and polygamy.In a Time Magazine Poll of 2005, 53 percent of people asked verbalise they think there should be stricter controls on broadcast-channel shows portrait sex and violence. While 68 percent believe the entertainment industry has lost touch with viewers moral standards, 66 percent utter there is too much violence TV, and 58 percent said too much cursing and50 percent said there is too much sexual content on TV. 49 percent says economy should be extended to cover basic cable. According to a BBC jacket crown of more than 1,000 people, 86 percent of the people think the government should tempt sexually explicit television and magazine images aimed at children. With the solidest support of 92 percent coming from 55- to 64-year-olds, an unexpected 78 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds believe tougher limits are needed to prevent adolescent sex. (Telegraph.co.uk, 9/7/04 stats)Generally, even the best television programs have a tendency to decline after a period of time, and there seems to be no case in point for what happened to the FOX networks long-running series. The show, was for the greater part of the 1990s, known to posses hilarious, satirical play and clever writing, with season three to eight featuring the best material ever produced, but the last ten seasons deteriorated into a distasteful, ordinary series that is totally different from the classic program it onc e was. Alberti commented thatalmost from the beginning fans have uneasily and in some cases fatalistically charted evidence of the programs artistic decline, especially as new writer are introduced to the shows, fears that increased with Matt Groenings involvement with Futurama. (Alberti, p.30)With Groening throwing all his exclusive attention to Futuruma, old writers and producers leaving to take on other assignments, another FOX cartoon series, Family Guy, had an adverse effect on The Simpsons, as the writers adopted Peter Griffins outrageous personality that resulted in a brand-new, but much less adorable Homer Simpson. Another factor for its decline could be attributed to the extreme usage of celebrity guest voiceovers, which was never a strong selling point for the show. That these stars are playing themselves with too much neutrality and with less involvement of satire actually became awkward.Television comedy, before the reach of the series, had past its best. A classic si tcom family is usually associated with the higher upper-middle-class family, with well brought-up children and intellectual parents, like Growing Pains, The Cosby Show and Family Ties. The feature that has made The Simpsons so popular lies in its portrayal of the American family convincingly. Quality television, according to Thompson, inclined towards realism, and The Simpsons is perhaps one of the best examples television audiences have of a realistic family sitcom. Though animated, the portrayal is much more like that of real families allowing the audience to experience the surprise of self-identification. People can identify with the body fluid that the creators acquire out of a normal family life stressing and spreading interesting statements about the individual and the society at large.