Film Paper
There have been many shows throughout the years that have dealt with important issues concerning society during the time in which they ran. Sometimes the efforts to convey a message is masked within a show that one may not believe to be educational. "The Simpson's" is currently America's longest running sitcom (Fox News) that has been running as a feature series since January 1990 (Fox News). It is a cartoon format that when viewed for the first time can be confused as being just another cartoon for mindless entertainment. When each show is read into, one can see how the episodes deal with many issues that are actually happening in society at that time. With a stupid, fat, lazy father and the underachieving son, the show is known for being a parody of the stereotypical American family (Fox News). In portraying "The Simpson's" as the common American family, Matt Groening illustrates to his viewers many moral dilemmas affecting our society today. Cartoonist Matt Groening originally created "The Simpson's" for a reoccurring segment on the 1980's television show "The Tracy Ullman Show". Groening was known at the time for his work in L.A. Readers comic strip "Life in Hell". In 1990 the Fox network, just starting out, decide
The eldest daughter and middle child of the family is Lisa. Lisa is the brainchild. The exact opposite of Bart, Lisa is very environmentally conscious and a prodigy in school. She is always exceeding the expectations of the family at school, almost never getting into trouble, and also sticks with her morals no matter what. In this article Mark Pinsky, a former editor of the L.A. Times and now a writer on religion for the Orlando Sentinel, was faced with the problem of his children wanting to watch reruns of "The Simpson's". Knowing of the shows "reputation for negative and anti-authoritarian messages..."(Paakkinen, Brush) Pinsky was hesitant to allow them to watch. After allowing the children to watch the show Pinsky realized that the show "had many moral messages embedded in it" (Paakkinen, Brush). Pinsky also thought that some of the shows jokes that weren't appropriate for children seemed to slip past the children without them understanding. Pinsky also found to his delight what he felt to be a strong message of pro god, faith and spirituality (Paakkinen, Brush). Gleeson, Jim, Yellow fever-The Simpson's as cultural phenomenon. The College Tribune, University College in Dublin, Nov. 11, 1998.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2097
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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