Ms. Laura Raedle
Advanced Composition, English F1103
Assignment #3 – Classification (Rewrite 1)
There are two primary categories of story-based television programs: the one-hour drama and the half-hour sitcom. Because dramas often feels to me like low-budget underdeveloped movies, I find the sitcom format more interesting. The half-hour sitcom is usually based around a large cast of characters who are forced to interact with each other in a confined environment, such as an apartment, a space ship, or a small provincial town. Because twenty episodes will be produced in a season, and the show will ideally continue for season after season, major changes cannot often take place in the structure of the cast or environment. For this reason, each episode must be a self-contained morality play that entertains and provides some insight into personal relationships. To accomplish this, almost all sitcoms are created in an assembly-line fashion according to a very strict formula. While I think this makes most television shows dull and predictable, I feel The Simpsons is an example of just how good formula writing can be.
The Simpsons is an animated sitcom about a semi-dysfunctional family and a zany community called Springfield somewhere in America’s heartland. There is a venerable tradition of sitcoms about humorous family drama that includes All In The Family, The Jeffersons, The Cosby Show, and many others. The Simpsons, however, pushes the genre to the extreme with its cartoon caricatures and extreme stereotypes. The protagonist of the show is Homer Simpson, an unintelligent, unambitious, power-plant worker with a wife and three children. His wife, Marge, plays the classic nagging-but-supportive housewife that was epitomized by Edith in the 1960’s program All In The Family. His children, like Archie Bunker’s, provide much of the show’s dynamic and humor because they are so polar and yet often must collaborate with each other. Bart is a mischievous and dim-witted underachiever while his sister Lisa is so studious and talented that she (and the audience) often conclude she must be adopted. Homer’s neighbor Ned is a sickeningly nice Born-Again-Christian, Homer’s boss Mr. Burns is a megalomaniac robber-baron, and Homer’s friends complacently work menial jobs at the factory and spend the rest of their time at the local bar. These characters and the thirty other supporting characters are so well-developed and flexible that more than 200 episodes have been made. There are several types of plots in any good sitcom, and here the best ones often involve one of the characters inadvertently wreaking havoc on Springfield. For example, in one of my favorite episodes, Homer gains seventy pounds so that he can be legally classified as obese and thus be entitled to disability privileges. While working at home, he nearly causes the nuclear power plant to melt down.
Although I watch very little television and have seen only a few dozen episodes, I think The Simpsons is the best television program on the air. Like All In The Family was in the 60’s, The Simpsons’ stereotypes are often blatantly politically incorrect and shocking. The Hindu convenience store manager speaks in a thick parody of an Indian accent and is frequently held-up at gun point. The Scottish janitor’s accent is equally as thick and his ever-present bottle of whisky and quick temper round out the caricature. Specific celebrities are often made fun as well: the town mayor is an impressive imitation of President Kennedy’s accent and mannerisms, and Springfield is sometimes visited by actual guest stars like Leonard Nimoy and Frank Sinatra. Perhaps because it is animated, The Simpsons transcends the traditional family sitcom and unflinchingly pokes fun at how all the diverse elements of a community relate to each other.