The Simpsons Essay

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is a popular, prime-time, animated comedy program. Those who have never seen the program may dismiss it as being merely a children's show. That assumption could be made of many animated programs. However, those non-viewers are likely unaware that The Simpsons is a very cleverly written show. The humor in the show is written with various aspects that appeal to different segments of the audience. The characters are written in such a way that many people can relate to one or more of the characters. These factors allow the program to appeal to the large segments of the public in different ways.

The Simpsons is an animated program that will appeal to children simply because it is an animated program. The scenes rarely last more than two or three minutes so as not to bore those members of the audience who were raised on video games and therefore have very short attention spans. The Simpsons contains many levels of humor that appeal to vastly different segments of the population. The show contains very basic and even slapstick type humor which appeals to the members of the audience with average to below average intelligence, yet at the same time includes witty humor and satire which is better appreciated by the smarter members of the viewing public, sometimes even making fun of the show itself. The writers have incorporated comedic references to pop culture icons going back five decades which will appeal to different generations of viewers. Not everyone will understand every single reference, but most audience members will recognize at least one reference when watching an episode.

The Simpsons are portrayed as a traditional nuclear family. Homer Simpson is the bread winner and the head of the household while his wife, Marge Simpson, is a stay-at-home mother who raises her children and cooks for her family. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey for 2003, sixty-eight percent (68%) of all households in the U.S. were family households, and of those, seventy-six percent (76%) were married couple family households. Although many television programs portray households as having alternate lifestyles, such as a heterosexual single parent household or homosexual couples, most of the households in America are traditional nuclear families and can relate to the family as portrayed in The Simpsons.

The Simpson family is portrayed as a Christian family which attends church regularly. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004-2005, seventy-six percent (76%) of the adult population of the United States describes itself as religious Christian. This portrayal represents a majority of the American population and is another way that the audience can relate to the program.

Homer Simpson is a father who loves his wife and adores his children. Homer loves to watch television and drink beer, or hang out at a bar. Homer always puts his family first and will do whatever is necessary to keep them happy. Homer is always present in the household. Homer may not be very bright, and has other flaws, such as refusing to apologize to anyone for anything,