Also Matt Groening in enabling these mediums to do crazy appearances, he applies crazy noises for any type of audience once again to be conventional and illustrating such cartoons that have strange and vivid colours, always reassuring characters do not change age and mixing endings to how the episodes go, (usually happy or continuous episodes following). These things had to be made as a cartoon and not by actors because actors are real life people and can’t be immortal and never change age as this is impossible!
Although it is a cartoon “The Simpsons” is generically a sitcom because it is more based on normal American life but in a mixed situation of comedy as well. This can involve satirising normal American life. More proof of this is it relates to normal family units such as “Friends” but mixes it with cartoon conventions to give it an outstanding look for a sitcom convention. Stereotypes connote in “The Simpsons” by giving a view of a group of people that also involves with “The Simpsons” family, such as Apu in the corner shop. Such things are very importantly used in the show to make it known as a sitcom. Many more things are used to make it a sitcom such as; Comedy. What do the family do during the episodes and series and also the structure of episodes.
The structure of episodes makes it even more like a sitcom by using normal everyday life. Matt Groening is very clever and uses errors and interruptions and reasons why things working, for the ending to be a happy ending as the lesson has been learnt by “The Simpsons” family.
Humour is the main reason why “The Simpsons” has achieved such widespread popularity. By focussing on “Homer Badman” we can see why “The Simpsons” is so appealing to both adults and children by the humour that has been used to explain each singular character from “The Simpsons” family. Humour is shown differently in the series and episodes of “The Simpsons”. One of the ways is satirical humour, in most episodes there is much ridicule, irony or sarcasm involved with the family, especially Homer Simpson, (the dad). Referring to one episode called “Homer Badman”, he is the source of humour as sarcasm and exaggeration relates back to him throughout this episode. This concludes to all episodes as they basically mock most things there are on modern television. This is what fills the show to be hysterically funny to watch and viewable to all audiences.
If we look closely now at the opening sequence of “The Springfield Files” many of the main features of “The Simpsons” popularity can be observed by the title sequence. These include having a opening with five clouds introducing the main characters of “The Simpsons” family. It has a effective vision for the audience by giving bold yellow writing for the audience to see what it is about. Also the ending of the title sequence is effective as it uses a couch gag. This helps us know about the family and also the name of the producer that is shown on the television.
The title sequence uses a variety of visual effects to create an impact. An example of an effective visual effect is the use of close up, especially the school. It includes edits. It also shows most of the screenshots in the title sequence starting at mid-point. Sound is important as well, for example this is the theme of “The Simpsons” which shows that it sounds busy and a normal happy city.
Many of the minor characters represent common stereotypes in American society. We can observe a stereotype by examining the character of all the characters in the title sequence and this can be more observed in the actual episodes. Sections of the sequence change from episode to episode, for instance Bart’s board and the ending with the cough gag. The creators add these changes in order to show that it is not really what the audience thought it was right at the beginning of the title sequence.
“The Simpsons” popularity is very much due to it is use of humour, yet some have argued that it does have a harmful influence on young people. This can affect audience as some people find “The Simpsons” humour shocking for audiences to take as role-models. But in this case I do not think it is because it very well describes that our world is “hysterical” this proves that “The Simpsons” tries to make a point and the only way to do this is by adding humour.
In my conclusion to all this, I think that “The Simpsons” is very good and overall is a considerable achievement that is why it is so popular. Also sometimes I think that “The Simpsons” goes’ over the top with the ideas of being funny about crime and robbery and in this case I think that it displaces the position of it being a role-model in most episodes – not all. However it illustrates a normal basic American life with lots of mischief in it, and that to me is what makes the programme strong and effective to all.
