From: irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Brent Irvine)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,alt.tv.simpsons
Subject: Re: The Simpsons in U.S. culture?
Date: 16 Nov 92 18:46:03 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

In article <1992Nov14.180528.19002@nntp.hut.fi> jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala) writes:
>I like the TV series The Simpsons a lot.  I was wondering how people
>in USA perceive it - what audience is it watched by, do people like
>it, at what time and on what networks is shown, and so on?

I believe it is shown by FOX stations, but in an area without FOX, 
sometimes NBC, CBS or ABC affiliates buy and air the shows (I guess
under the impression that if FOX moves into the area, no more 
NBC, ABC, CBS airing)

>I remember George Bush said that a typical U.S. family is not like the
>Simpsons family - it seems it must be an important part of U.S.
>culture when the president of the country refers to it in speeches.  I
>don't think I've ever heard the Finnish president to refer to TV
>programs in his speeches.

I have nothing to compare it to really, but it seems that TV makes an
INCREDIBLE impact on American Culture (I think the 2 biggest shows that
impact at least youth are _Saturday Night Live_, and _Star Trek_).

Commercials do as well ("Ive fallen and i can't get up" "Where's the
Beef?" and so on).

>
>Here the series was recently moved to 5 pm on Saturday afternoon, just
>after Star Trek - a silly thing to do in my opinion.  The TV channel
>might have a strange concept of the target groups of both Star Trek
>and Simpsons, I dunno.

I dunno, college and high school age people i know seem to like them
both...  But it does seem a bit incongruous though...

>
>How about the newly elected president, does he have a different
>opinion of Simpsons?  Did this come up during the campaign?  Here they
>just aired the episode where Bart was chosen a career as a police
>officer (by the central computer) and encouraged by this he had a
>succesfull (though short) career as a school cop - got part of the
>loot and all that.  I heard that the new president strongly supports
>police forces.

Simpsons played no role in the elections, it is not really an issue.  
The only reason it might be brought up is to illustrate a point with
a reference most people are familiar with (after all with 250,000,000
people of different regional and ethnic cultures, TV may be one of
the few sources of common (vicareous) experience).

I think that _The Simpsons_ is an 'Anti-Utopian' family the same was
_The Cosby Show_ was utopian.  I think what i feel appealing is by
showing the worst in us (Homer being a selfish slob, his wife fairly
shallow, Lisa an intellectual stifled by her uninterested family, Bart
the hellion and troublemaker who dispite everything still looks up
to his rotton father, Maggie the barely taken care of baby, Withers
the uncaring Ogrish Boss, His sycophantic subordinate, Flanders that
'picture perfect' neighbor, and so on...) and cardboard archetypes of
what is in all of us, we can laugh.

Lately i think the series has bordered on the surreal, with the trait
exemplified by each character being thrown into sharp relief in fairly
ridiculous circumstances and slapstick, it hasn't lost what I watch it for.

I think i have babbled enough, anyone else have comment?


>
>//Jyrki


-- 
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Brent L. Irvine         |These opinions are the opinions of the majority of |
| irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu | space aliens currently in residence in the USA.   |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
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