The Simpsons is a popular family-based situation comedy which touches on some major issues that we see in the world today or even issues within the family itself as it represents the typical American family. This in turn makes the show more relatable to its target audience; the show is family based so can still relate to an audience of a wide age range.
As an audience we expect family orientated sitcoms to be appropriate for persons of all ages to watch and have relevant issues within its storyline. Obviously the show should be more relaxed and not some sort of thriller action epic as this would lessen its appeal to us as an audience. Also we expect its humour to be more of a light humour and for it to be relatively easy to understand. The Simpsons is mostly what we come to expect of the ‘sitcom’ genre and has an element to it that is easy to understand for younger people watching the show, as well as deeper meaning behind the jokes and storyline which the more mature audience may understand about more serious issues within the world at the current time. The Simpsons does in a way differ from what we expect of a sitcom as it is firstly an animated show and some of the adventures and antics the main characters get up to can be quite extreme.
The Simpsons has been released on some other platforms other than just TV. ‘The Simpsons Movie’ being much like the popular television show, but the adventure and storyline is set on a greater scale obviously. The genre slightly shifts from a family orientated one to more of an adventure type story. In terms of other platforms the Simpsons has been featured in console and PC games. For some of these the genre has competed changed to become more objective based obviously as it is a game. In others the genre is quite similar to the TV show and keeps a comic element to it although does slightly change to make it fit more of a comedic type game.
The underlying structure of the Simpsons is one of a typical American family, it shows how the typical or ‘nuclear’ family have struggles and how they deal with their problems; a lazy, irresponsible father figure who sets off most of the wacky adventures and has a wife who plays more of a passive position in the family. The family has three children, the eldest of which is a troublemaker like his father, the next eldest being nearly the opposite with honestly and trustworthiness and then the youngest whom is the baby of the family. This clear not only in the TV show, but the Movie also.
The Simpsons Movie has parts within it of which can link in with the structure of the ‘hero’s journey.’ For example, in the area of which the Simpsons live in called ‘Springfield’ The father of the family (Homer) manages to cause much trouble in the town, meaning that a higher power now seizes the place and places a large glass dome around it. Managing to escape the family then move away and refuse to help the town. But after more events later in the film they then decide to help and succeed and triumph for the town, this also ties in with the ‘Hero’s return’ part of the Hero’s journey.
Within the characters of the Simpsons there are some role models. Although nearly all of the characters have mistakes sometimes there are few who serve as more of a role model type figure. In essence, Homer (The father of the family.) is a sort of role model to the children of which his son follows mostly. Although Homer is by far not the ideal role model, as a father it is part of his duty in being part of the family. In a way, Marge (The mother of the family.) is a much more beneficial role model as she plays a much more mature and wise character compared to Homer, although she is usually a passive character because Homer seems to be the centre of attention. Other than these characters there are various role models placed throughout the TV series such as well known celebrities playing the voice of reason within the storylines.
These pivotal roles can also have an effect on the audience who view the show, the audience can gain knowledge of what is right and what is wrong as well as other life lessons that could be relevant to our everyday lives. It seems that no matter how odd or unbelievable the adventures are that happen in the shows, they always end up as they did at the start, back to normal. This is usually because something happens which shows them what they should do to get things back to the usual again.
The main characters of the Simpsons consist of the family; they can represent different types of groups. For example, the parents represent a middle aged, working class group of average people and the children represent average children or teenagers and their struggles. Also, combined, the whole family represents the average American family with some somewhat dysfunctional relationships within the family of which is relatively common in reality. They encourage us to sympathise with these types of people, in some episodes it seems to try and make us sympathise with the parents feelings, or one of the parents’ feelings about an issue, and in others they try and make you sympathise for the children, the teenager generation. This all depends on what happens during the episode and as this is so different from each episode they can make us as an audience sympathise with nearly all the main characters at one point or another.
In the Simpsons minority groups are represented by characters that are not usually in the main line up of characters, there are often not in multiple episodes. Groups in the minority within the Simpsons consist of characters such as ‘Apu’, an Indian man who owns the local convenience store and ‘Carl’ who is Homers friend an African-American. There are not many characters in the Simpsons of different nationalities or races. In essence, the Simpsons can poke fun at the idealism of racism and such topics not because the show itself is racist, but as this is a relevant issue today is shows awareness of the problems. The minority groups in the Simpsons are rarely featured but in a way are good representations of how the world see’s these groups in America today.
The main family consists of two males and three females although the rest of the characters are predominately male, so the balance of males to females is more towards the male side. Although there is no discrimination in terms of the storylines, the females can have leading roles in episodes as well as the males. The female characters in the Simpsons are often the more mature people, although can also be more passive in terms of their personality, Marge is a prime example of this. In comparison to the male characters who are usually the cause of the adventures and most wrong things that happen in the show.
In terms of social groups, the Simpsons has covered many groups over their episodes but this is usually in a brief way and will not go in to much depth within many social groups as the main focus of the show is towards the family itself.
