All about The Simpsons TV Show!
The Simpsons is a long-running animated television series, with 17 seasons and 359 episodes since it debuted on December 17, 1989 on FOX. The TV series is a spinoff of The Tracey Ullman Show; it is produced by Gracie Films for 20th Century Fox.
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Highly satirical, the show lampoons many aspects of the human condition, but
primarily parodies the "Middle American" lifestyle its titular family exhibits,
and more generally American culture, society, and even television itself. The
Simpsons is seen by many critics as the greatest animated series ever, including
Time, which named it the best TV show of the 20th century in 1998. It has had a
huge influence on post–Cold War popular culture. It is considered a sign of
definite status as a celebrity or other important figure to be featured or asked
to parody oneself in an episode of the show, an honor once and still associated
with being referenced in Mad Magazine.
Setting, characters, and plot
The main characters were originally created by Matt Groening as part of a series
of original animated segments for The Tracey Ullman Show. Over the course of the
series Groening has used many of the themes present in his long-running comic
strip series, Life in Hell. (For instance, the idea of creative school children
constantly being persecuted and suppressed by totalitarian grown-ups stems from
the strip.) Many of the characters in The Simpsons take their names from
important people and places in Groening's life—for example Lisa, Marge and Homer
share names with Groening's sister, mother and father respectively. Bart,
however, is an anagram for brat.
The show's basic premise centers on the antics of the family: Homer and Marge,
their children Bart, Lisa and Maggie, the colorful citizens of Springfield, and
occasional guest stars.
The Simpsons sports a vast array of secondary characters. Homer, a safety
inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, is a generally well-meaning
buffoon whose short attention span often draws him into outrageous schemes and
adventures. Marge was once intelligent and sophisticated, but has come to
conform with the stereotype of housewife/mother. Bart, the oldest sibling, is a
troublemaker and classroom terror ("the devil's cabana boy" is how Lisa once
described him) who thinks of himself as a rebel while Lisa is a brainy student,
vegetarian, Buddhist and jazz music fan who dreams of a better future (she is
referred to as "the future of the family"). Maggie is an eternal baby, and
despite the fact that numerous years (and birthdays) clearly pass (for example,
many Christmas episodes), the Simpsons do not appear to age. Some characters'
ages have fluctuated throughout the years; this is most likely due to simple
oversight on the part of the writers.
Homer describes his family as "upper lower middle class", and this appears to be
about right. The Simpson family (which sometimes includes Homer's father,
Abraham) lives in a relatively large five-bedroom house bordering a friendly
neighbor on one side, Ned Flanders, and many varying things, including a
cemetery, on the other. The Simpson lifestyle yo-yos depending on whether or not
Homer is employed at the time; Marge is largely a stay-at-home mom. The Simpsons
go several years into the internet age before acquiring a computer, reflecting
the fact that the Simpson family is perpetually several years out of date. A
particularly interesting note are the cars. Homer has a pink sedan made by an
unspecified company in Croatia, and Marge has a large orange station wagon of
about equal vintage. Both of these cars appear to have been made in the
mid–1970s, and when the show was new, this would have been a jab at the family's
income that they could not afford anything newer. However, after seventeen
seasons on the air, both vehicles are legitimate antiques at this point,
although both appear to be in rather poor condition. It becomes of a question of
where they get the parts.
Homer has enjoyed repeated hirings by Mr. Burns, and has been fired at least
once and has quit several times. In one episode, he is fired, becomes a used car
salesman and ends up as an ambulance driver in the space of twenty-two minutes
plus commercials.
The show also has a vast array of quirky supporting characters, including
co-workers, teachers, family friends, extended relatives, and local celebrities.
Many of these characters have developed a vast cult following of their own. For
a comprehensive list, see characters from The Simpsons. Some of these, like
Itchy and Scratchy, super-violent versions of Tom and Jerry, are fictional even
within the Simpsons universe.
Setting
Main article: Springfield (The Simpsons)
The Simpsons is set in the fictional United States town of Springfield.
Throughout the show's history fans have tried to determine where Springfield is
by taking the town's characteristics, surrounding geography and nearby landmarks
as clues (as Lisa once said of the state, "It's a bit of a mystery, yes, but if
you look at the clues, you'll figure it out.") However, both the town itself and
its location are fictional. Nearly every state and region in the U.S. has been
both suggested and ruled out by conflicting "evidence" of a location for
Springfield, so that the town could not really be anywhere. It seems it is kept
indeterminate on purpose so that the location can suit any plot, as Springfield
and its surrounding areas have been shown to contain coastlines, deserts, vast
farmland, and tall mountains, or whatever the story requires. (See Where Is The
Simpsons' Springfield? for more information on this issue.)
Creator Matt Groening has stated that Springfield has much in common with
Portland, Oregon, the city he grew up in (see Matt Groening's Portland), and the
name "Springfield" was chosen because virtually every state has a town or city
with that name.
Animation scholars and fans have noted that the series uses the medium of
animation to its advantage, allowing the show to take place in many settings and
feature a far greater cast of characters than a live-action sitcom. The cost of
having an episode of The Simpsons take place in the mountains, Europe, the city
park, or a cruise ship on the ocean (all of which simply use drawn and painted
backgrounds) is hardly more than placing the family in the more conventional
sitcom settings of a living room, a kitchen, and perhaps one or two related
settings. This allows for far more flexibility in plot development than a
typical live-action sitcom constrained by physical limitations and logistics.
Themes
Authority, especially in undeserving hands, is a constant target of the show's
often sharp satire. This probably explains the often strong negative reaction to
the show from social conservatives. This negative reaction was most pronounced
during the early seasons of the show. Nearly every authority figure in the show
is portrayed unflatteringly: Homer is thoughtless and irresponsible, the
antithesis of the ideal 1950s TV father, though he always comes through for his
family in the end. Marge Simpson is also of the 50's stereotype category, and
exercises tyrannical control over her family to ease her own loneliness.
Springfield police chief Clancy Wiggum (voiced by Hank Azaria in an Edward G.
Robinson-influenced tone) is obese, stupid, lazy, corrupt and not overly
concerned with constitutional rights (not to mention that he somewhat resembles
a pig). Mayor Quimby — who sounds like John F. Kennedy — is a corrupt,
spendthrift womanizer. Seymour Skinner (who sounds like Charles Kuralt), the
principal of Springfield Elementary School, is an uptight, humorless bachelor
who lives with his domineering mother. He has frequent flashbacks to his capture
and imprisonment by the Viet Cong, and in early seasons, Skinner was repeatedly
likened to Norman Bates in Psycho though this ultimately was dropped later on in
the series. Ms. Edna Krabappel is Bart's depressed, chain-smoking elementary
school teacher who is impatient and ignorant of her class, and demands darkness
and silence when she is hung over. Reverend Lovejoy, the pastor of the local
church, is judgmental and moralistic (but only regarding other people), with a
monotonous voice that always puts Homer to sleep during Sunday sermons. While
most of these characters are more incompetent than truly evil there is one true
sadist: C. Montgomery Burns, owner of the Springfield Nuclear Plant and Homer
Simpson's boss. Evil and cruel, Burns is aided in his campaign of terror against
the residents of Springfield by his trusted assistant Waylon Smithers, who
secretly harbors an unrequited love for Burns.
Promotional artwork for The Simpsons' milestone 350th episode.During the more
recent years of Simpsons production, some social conservatives have come to
embrace the show. One of the main explanations of this shift is that the
Simpsons portrays a traditional nuclear family among a lineup of television
sitcoms that now portray less traditional families. The show has toyed with the
possibility of extramarital affairs, such as when Homer falls for a female
nuclear technician who shares his love of donuts, or when Marge's ex-boyfriend
Artie Ziff tries to rekindle their old romance. Nevertheless, these affairs
never occur, and by the end of every episode, Homer and Marge's marriage is
strongly affirmed. Social conservatives and some evangelical Christians have
also pointed to the positive role model of devout Christian Ned Flanders, whose
fretfulness is occasionally ridiculed but whose decency never wavers despite
constant provocation from Homer. In several episodes, God actually intervenes to
protect the Flanders family, invoking such Protestant concepts as
Predestination. As compared with the Simpsons family, the Flanders family is
relatively well-off and less dysfunctional, fulfilling certain theories
expressed by sociologist Max Weber in his seminal work, The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism.
Race relations are also the subject of satire in the show, as the handful of
African American characters are almost always portrayed as being more
intelligent and rational than their "Yellow" counterparts. Some people interpret
this as a satire of Hollywood and liberal TV's portrayal of exaggerated 'reverse
stereotypes' in which the computer genius is always a black actor. For instance,
Dr. Hibbert, despite a tendency to laugh at the most inappropriate times, is
arguably among the least dysfunctional characters in the series, and is
certainly more professionally qualified for medical practice than Dr. Nick
Riviera. Furthermore, Officer Lou is constantly lecturing Chief Wiggum on his
inept law enforcement practices, and even Homer's co-worker Carl, in addition to
possessing a Master's degree in Nuclear Engineering, occasionally lambasts
Homer's stupidity.
The show also routinely mocks and satirizes show business conventions and
personalities. Krusty the Klown has an enthusiastic following among
Springfield's kids, but offstage he is a jaded, cynical hack, in poor health
from a long history of overindulgence and substance abuse. He will endorse any
product for a price. Kent Brockman is a self-important, spoiled TV news
anchorman with little regard for journalistic ethics. Many wealthy characters
are members of the Republican Party, which meets in a dark castle. Even Rupert
Murdoch—whose corporate empire includes The Simpsons' broadcast network, Fox—has
been gently spoofed in a couple of episodes. In fact, Fox itself has been
ridiculed many times, and Fox News has been portrayed as extremely biased
towards conservatives.
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