Elements of Comedy in The Simpsons Essay -- TV Television

Elements of Comedy in The Simpsons The TV show, "The Simpsons" is considered by many to be one of the greatest animated shows ever made. Incredibly popular with people of all ages, creator Matt Groening combined numerous elements of humor to produce a truly original program. His goal is to never repeat the same joke twice. The year 2000 will mark the 10th anniversary of the show (which adds up to a lot of original jokes), and highlights its achievement as primetime TVÕs current longest running series. In addition, "The Simpsons" was selected to be the feature presentation at the Sixth Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. There, members of the cast will re-enact a previous episode in front of a live audience. "The Simpsons" is watched specifically for its humor. Never before has a TV show combined so many elements of humor together and still contained enough original ideas to run 10 seasons. Although some people do not care for "The Simpsons" humor, the show still has a significant following. One of the reasons "The Simpsons" is so popular is that the show addresses a wide variety of stereotypes through its characters. People can relate to the stereotypes. Many of the characters are recognizable by name from week to week, and those that arenÕt either take the form of a stereotyped profession, or the typical John Q. Public. The result is rather amusing as everyone from the nerdy scientist to the ambulance-chasing lawyer makes appearances. Another reason "The Simpsons" has lasted so long is that much of its comedy comes from takeoffs and parodies of other shows or movies. Most viewers are familiar with a substantial number of old shows or movies, s... ...jokes that never would have existed otherwise: exchanges between characters, comments on society, and various events in the show all take an ironically-humorous twist. This type of humor is a defining characteristic of the show. Combined with the other aspects, "The Simpsons" will truly go down as a classic series of all time. Works Cited Carlisle, Henry C., ed. American Satire in Prose and Verse. New York: Random House, 1962. Feinburg, Leonard. Introduction to Satire. Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press, 1967. Groening, Matt. The Simpsons A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family. Ed. Ray Richmond. New York: HarperPerrenial, 1997. Kim, James, and Cade Whitbourn. The Simpsons. "Matt Groening." 1998. School of Media and Communication. 23 Nov 2002. http://mdcm.artsunsw.edu.au/Students98/WhitbournC/innovate1/creator.html