Bart is the eldest and only son in the family, and is a bit like an American Dennis the Menace. He is always up too mischief and trying to be the centre of attention (usually succeeding), and occasionally pulls off really amazing practical jokes, like in the episode where he realised that two megaphones put together doubled the loudness of the sound, and subsequently put 10 or so megaphones together so when he spoke through them it sent a shock-wave through town, breaking every piece of glass and giving everybody a loud ringing in their ears. In another episode it was April fools day and Homer kept getting jokes on Bart, and avoiding his sons attempts. This got Bart annoyed and drove him to shake up a can of Homers favourite drink (Duff Beer) for the entire day. Homer opens the can just as Bart jumps round door shouting “April fo-“ but is cut short by the resulting mushroom cloud that puts Homer into Hospital. But in other episodes Bart can be very considerate towards his family. In one episode he and his sister Lisa are playing against each other in an Ice hockey match and it comes down to a penalty shoot-out between the two of them. But Bart, against the will of the crowd and their father, throws down his stick and skates over to his sister to hug her and end the match with a tie. Bart isn’t very bright at school, and doesn’t seem to care.
Lisa is another idealistic character, and is almost the exact opposite of Bart. She is vastly intelligent, charitable and caring. She has adult views on many aspects of life. At school she finds the work she is given very easy, but the teachers refuse to give her the challenge she thinks that she needs in a school system unable to cope with her intelligence.
Maggie is a 6 month old baby girl communicating only through the odd “suck-suck” on her dummy (albeit quite effectively). She never speaks, cries, changes her facial expression and has had more experiences from her life than the normal adult.
The characters in “The Simpsons” are very believable because none are truly perfect, all have imperfections. The imperfections the characters have bring the American dream down to more attainable standards than it is made out to be. In the past family sitcoms portrayed people as they never could be. They would have families whose children succeeded in school, social handicaps were overcome and disagreements were mild and easily settled. Sitcoms like this portrayed a sort of dream world. The Simpson family is plagued with arguments, financial trouble, a dead end job and one child failing school with school failing the other. This portrays a much more grim, yet more realistic view on today’s world.
“The Simpsons” is watchable by nearly all age groups because the humor within it works on so many levels. The easy to pick up slapstick visual humor is great for young children, while the more hidden gags and social comment make adults laugh. “The Simpsons” contains many types of humour, including parodies where a scene from film or television is recreated, satire which is like sarcasm, slapstick where a visual joke is played out and the occasional straight forward Question-Answer joke.
“The Simpsons” has many stereotypical characters, including Groundskeeper Willie the Scottish janitor with an outrageously over the top accent and bright red hair, Apu Nahassapimapetalon the Indian Quiki-Mart owner and Martin Prince the swot boy who is always picked upon by the older bullies. These characters almost parody American society with its largely mixed community, what makes it really funny is because it is so true.
In the Episode “Sweet Seymour Skinners Badaaaaaass Song” Bart gets his school principal fired because he lets at dog loose in the air vents when a school inspector arrives. Much of the episode criticises the American Education system when Ned Flanders, Springfield’s devout Christian is made principal to replace Seymour Skinner. Ned gives children sweets in detention and teachers stop working altogether. Ned’s career is finished when he reads a prayer out over the intercom to the school. Showing how people in America are wary of causing offence. In many other episodes including “Cape Feare” the Police force is always made fun of. Police Chief Wiggum is a fat, lazy, doughnut eating man who never really seems to care much about enforcing the law. He doesn’t seem to know the law himself and makes many errors in his work, like letting prisoners go free, accepting bribes and using an answering machine to take emergency calls.
In the End I think that “The Simpsons” is much more than a cartoon because it points out so many things that are wrong with today’s society. By mocking itself and parodying other media works it shows that a lot of television is far too idealistic. It also points out problems with the way society is run, with the education system, police force and government always being made fun of. Because the writers make us laugh at these problems it helps to understand them more than it would if we just sat there feeling all depressed.
