The Simpsons Coursework"Bart gets an F" Introduction: The word sitcom is short for "situation comedy", and is a comedy series usually
The Simpsons Coursework
“Bart gets an F”
Introduction:
The word sitcom is short for “situation comedy”, and is a comedy series usually set in a common environment, such as a family home or a workplace. The main characters in sitcoms usually remain the same age and will continue to have their unique personalities throughout the whole season or seasons, and in each of the typical half-hour episodes, they will be presented with one or more dilemmas to deal with and resolve. Sitcoms were originally broadcasted on radio in the 1950’s in America, but soon enough, with the invention and affordability of televisions, they spread across many homes in various countries. One of the first examples of a sitcom on television is “Leave it to Beaver”, which is about a typical American family with two children. It was about a cute and innocent 7-year-old boy that got up to harmless mischief which his older brother had to fish him out of. Of curse, like all typical sitcoms, each episode ends with family life going back to normal, with very few “to be continued…” Because most sitcoms are about every-day, normal people that face ordinary and believable problems, many people can relate to them. The humour of a sitcom is greatly increased if a viewer truly knows and understands the situations and the jokes.
Paragraph 2:
In this essay, I will be studying The Simpsons as a sitcom. The Simpsons is a cartoon sitcom designed for a great variety of audiences that consist of a typical family; Homer the dad, Marge the mum, Bart the son, and Lisa and Maggie the daughters. As The Simpsons program begins, we can learn a lot from the opening sequence. This begins with the “Aahh” chorus and an image of white fluffy clouds in a light blue sky. This makes the audience think of heaven and misleads them into thinking that the program is about something good and innocent. Then the white clouds part and “The Simpsons” materializes in a yellow, childish and clumsy font, which contrasts with the whole image of heaven, and is the audiences first true clue about what the show is really like. After this, the camera zooms through the letter “P” of the “The Simpsons” and flies over the whole town of Springfield and over it’s main landmarks. The Nuclear Power Plant and the Tyre Dump Yard, both icons of pollution and environmental health hazards, stand out immediately and sharply contradict the previous “heaven” scene. From the Springfield swoop, the camera takes us to Springfield Elementary School and through one of its windows, where we see our first member of the Simpson family, ten-year-old Bart Simpson. He is in detention, writing lines, which tells the audience that he is probably bad in school and is academically challenged. When the end-of-school bell rings, Bart runs out of the class and rides off hurriedly on his skateboard, and we come to the next part of the sequence. At the Nuclear Power Plant, Homer hears the whistle that marks the end of work. He eagerly removes the mask of his nuclear protection suit, hurries away, and the hazardous nuclear rod that he was working with falls into the back of his shirt without him noticing. The fact that Homer is happy that his work is finished shoes that he dislikes his work and that he is probably lazy. Also, the audience can see that he isn’t aware of his or anyone else’s safety. The scene changes again and the surroundings are now inside the Grocery Store, at the check out, where Marge is purchasing her shopping with her baby girl Maggie. Marge is standing by her trolley, reading “Mom’s Monthly”, and when Maggie is accidentally scanned through, Marge is relieved to see her get safely put back into the trolley. Marge reading “Mom’s Monthly” and her worries for her baby both show that she is a caring and devoted mother, and she seems like a typical housewife, because she is doing the shopping. In the next scene, the audience see the Springfield Elementary School orchestra room. There is a music lesson going on, but eight-year-old Lisa Simpson separates from the group of pupils and decides to play her saxophone solo. Her music teacher, Largo, dismisses her and she walks out the door playing her sax. From this, the audience can see that Lisa is intelligent and gifted, most certainly in music, if not in all her other school subjects. She seems independent, bold and a bit of a rebel, since she is brave enough to play a different tune to everyone else. In the next few scenes, we witness the Simpson family’s journeys home; Homer in a car, Marge and Maggie in a car, Bart on his skateboard and Lisa on her bicycle. All of them are rushing home and the reason for that becomes clear pretty soon. When the family get to the their house, they disregard each others’ safety; Lisa nearly hits Homer with her bike and Marge almost runs him over with her car. When the Simpsons enter their home, they don’t greet each other, but instead, run to the living-room couch to watch TV. This can be looked at in different ways because some people can argue that the Simpsons are close as a family and enjoy one another’s company, whereas others can argue that the Simpsons don’t care about each other, which is the reason for them not greeting one another, and that they come home hurriedly solely to watch TV. During the whole opening sequence, there are three gags. The first one is the “Chalkboard gag” where Bart writes about the silly things he shouldn’t do. The second gag is Lisa’s sax solo, which varies every episode. And the last and probably the funniest gag is the “Couch gag” where strange things happen in the Simpson’s living room e.g. the couch falling through the floor.
