The Success Of The Simpsons Essays - The Simpsons, American Culture

The Success Of The Simpsons The Improbable Long-Term Success of The Simpsons When examining the history of modern prime-time television, there is a certain pattern that virtually every successful show inevitably falls into. After a period of initial success, perhaps lasting three or four years, the writing on the show becomes stale by using the same format and same jokes over and over. The viewing audience becomes bored, and eventually, the show fades into television oblivion. Or, as Jeff MacGregor states in The New York Times, Historically(successful shows) collapse under the weight of their own complacency, hanging on for a few lifeless seasons while the producers wait to cash out their millions and move to Maui. Based on this premise, it would seem that The Simpsons, an animated series that debuted in 1987 as thirty second segments on The Tracey Ullman Show, should have worn out its welcome long ago. However, The Simpsons is still going strong today. The secret to the shows success lies in its producers ability to understand the expectations of the television audience and the culture that surrounds them. This understanding, combined with wry sarcasm, topical themes, and superb scripting that puts most other comedies to shame, as well as some old-fashioned slapstick comedy, makes The Simpsons one of the most popular programs in television history. The show is often complex and highly intellectual, while remaining funny at the most basic levels. As Jim Gleeson states in The College Tribune, The show is rare in rewarding attention to detail, with especially obscure references that even if you had never heard ofyou would still laugh, giddy with the crafted sleight of it all. This fact that the show works on several levels at once draws a generationally diverse fan base. The adults are attracted by the surprisingly sophisticated dialogue, while the children enjoy the clumsy antics of Homer and the traditionally cartoonish aspects of the program. An example of a multidimensional scene occurs in the episode where Marge, the mother of the Simpson family, starts a crusade against campaign violence. Maggie, the baby, is mesmerized by an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon show in which the mouse pummels the cat over the head with a sledgehammer. Later in the episode, Maggie imitates the actions of the mouse by hitting her father, Homer, on the head with a sledgehammer, with the music from Psycho playing the background. For the younger audience, the sight of Homer getting hit on the head is funny, much in the same way that the Simpson children laugh as the mouse batters the cartoon cat. The older portion of the viewers takes additional pleasure in recognizing the allusi on to the famous horror film. Another simple example of multilevel humor features Homer sitting on the couch, while another Homer walks past the outside window. Although it takes place in a matter of seconds, this scene is one of countless silly but curiously sensational quirks that makes the show a masterpiece of tiny, throw-away details that accumulate into a worldview. Because the producers of The Simpsons understand the current industry guidelines for humor and political correctness, they are able to create humor by bluntly crossing these presumed socially acceptable boundaries, while still sending a positive message. One frequently addressed subject on the show is religion, which is a normally sensitive issue on television. The Simpsons, however tackles religious thought head-on. In one episode, Homer skips church on a particularly cold, snowy Sunday and has the best day of his life. After making his patented, space-age, out-of-this world Moon Waffles (melted caramel and waffle batter wrapped around a stick of butter), he watches football on T.V. and, upon finding a penny on the ground, asks aloud, Could this be the best day of my life? After visualizing, among other things, his wedding day, he proclaims, We have a winner! This sequence would seem to present the idea that going church is a bad thing, but by the end of the episode, the message is reversed. Homer falls asleep amid a pile of Playdudes with a lit cigar in his mouth, which falls onto the magazines and sets the house on fire. After a miraculous rescue, Marge asks Homer whether the catastrophe

Putting the New World onto Stage in Royal Tylers The Contra essays

Putting the New World onto Stage in Royal Tyler's The Contra essays World onto stage in Royall Tylers The Contrast The Contrast was written in 1787 when America had recently defeated the British in the Revolutionary war, short after the Declaration of Independence. The setting of the play is New York and its upper-class society. At this early state of Americas existence as an independent nation, Tyler wrote the first truly American play, putting an analysis of American behaviour on stage. Considering this context, I m going to examine how Postrevolutionary America, with its image of the New World, is presented in the play. The meaning of the characters has to be taken into account. The meaning of The Contrast could be interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, the play exposes the conflicts and dangers of America after the Revolution, on the other hand, it presents virtues considered to be typical American in contrast to the vices of the Old World. The possible interpretation of the play as negative picture of Postrevolutionary America is based on the implied conflicts between opposing attitudes and the danger of instability. Tyler conveys the opposing attitudes of patriotism and admiration of foreign sophistication. Colonel Manly and his servant Jonathan are proud to be American and love their country. Manly, who states I love my country (p. 79, l. 18), is proud to have served his country in the Revolutionary War and the putting down of Sheys Rebellion. He still wears his regimental coat in proud remembrance of the fighting for his country in the War of Revolution. Jonathan represents the American Yankee who is also proud of his origin and does not care about foreign sophistication. The sophisticated behaviour of Dimple, his servant Jessamy, Charlotte and Letitia stands in contrast to Manly and Jonathan. These characters obviously admire the traits of British upper-cla...

Business Plan for EuroFlorida Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business Plan for EuroFlorida - Case Study Example More and more frequently, the "grey gold" of north Europe (Scandinavia, Germany and the UK) are liquefying their assets and moving to south Europe. Their destinations are often Spain and south France. Indeed in Spain a large building industry has started up building "pensioner complexes" to cater for the market, similarly in south France, house prices are rising significantly. Smaller markets in the English-speaking Med (Gibraltar and Malta) have seen very dramatic rises in real estate value. However Apulia (the "heel" of Italy) is a relatively undiscovered region; prices are very reasonable and indeed, for a decade, Apulia was the poorest region of the (old) EU. The infrastructure, however, is excellent, with an airport at Bari, a motorway all the way to Vienna and the European net, excellent train connections within Italy and by ferry to Greece. Climatically Apulia is the second most "blessed" region of the EU, after Portugal's Algarve. Temperatures are, however, not extreme and th e landscape is lush, fertile and green. It is an area of small industry, as well as being extremely rich in culture & history. This plan sets out EuroFlorida objectives and targets for 2009 /10... The Mission and vision: EuroFlorida's contractual obligation is to be able to render Europe's finest service for promising the possession of property in addition to other assisting property business. EuroFlorida's revelation is carrying out property dealings which are unproblematic for all. In order to be able to accomplish this visualization, EuroFlorida will need to present an array of alternative selections to their clientele , this is the element that will make them capable enough to conduct a complete transaction in a way that would be most appropriate to their personal otherwise trade requirements, however be able to equalize this alongside the responsibility towards the government within the Apulia state as a major stakeholder to present a cost efficient resolution. The long term premeditated objectives: EuroFlorida's approach is looking forward towards developing as well as improving the already existing land and property. Together with initiating work over the new found property for providing services, and satisfying the needs of our clientele, along with the by and large desire of carrying out property dealings that would satisfy most of our customers. This matter to be precise will encompass carrying out sales and purchase deals, refurbishing deals, and other property deals that are included in our services. These services in total have been specified time and again within the coming pages of this paper. The management at EuroFlorida has been able to recognize the following major segments. At the same time as the customer dealing system is most likely going to be World Wide Web, the most important dare is within the supply chain.