Watching an episode of The Simpsons relates back to the humor used in Rabelais. Gragantua and the character Bart share somewhat the same similarities when it comes to humor they are brave, entertaining, curious and humorous characters. Both authors bring a sense to of humor to their audience by including degradation, exaggeration and a sense of humor. This contemporary cultural of The Simpsons is more upto date and humorous due to the generation we live in and a lot of the humor brought within the show is based off of degradation from other entertainment such as movies, TV shows, books and celebrities, whereas Rabelais is based off more modern day humor and degradation that when readers read the story of “How Gargantua’s wonderful understanding …show more content…
What people who would consider Rabelais a humorous story during those types, would not really consider The Simpsons humorous and vice versa. An example used in the The Simpsons is when the only thing they are good for is telling women what to do with their bodies "The Bart of War". The Simpsons humor elicits laughter because it taps in to an underlying truth the audience recognize. Watching Simpsons or any type of cartoon involves interpreting it through already established bodies of cultural knowledge. The humor in the past era was more simple though out and there jokes refer to the difficulties of life and what they went through day to day. Their humor consist more of drunks, violence and making fun of the poor. In comparison to the Simpsons humor seems much more content and does not past the boundaries of when projecting age, sex, race, religion, and gender. It seems almost repetitive because in this time period only certain events in life will trigger the minds of the audience who understand the humor of the actual show \scene to understand
Groening, Matt, Ray Richmond, and Antonia Coffman. 1997. The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. 1st ed. London: HarperCollins.
Carlisle, Henry C., ed. American Satire in Prose and Verse. New York: Random House, 1962.
Groening took responsible risks to make these shows into popular TV shows. Groening made the first popular animated adult comedy (The Simpsons). He said “ The history of TV has traditionally been not to do anything that would scandalize Grandma or upset Junior. Our solution on The Simpsons is to do jokes that people who have an education, or some frame of reference, can get. And for the ones who don't, it doesn't matter, because we have Homer banging his head and saying, 'D'oh!'.” This became the concept around the Simpsons and Futurama. He also based the Simpsons on his real family (he didn’t in Futurama). His dad was named Homer, mom’s was Margaret (most called her Marge), and his little sisters were named Lisa and Maggie. He also had two
Legendary author and humorist Mark Twain once wrote, “Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.” This quote encapsulates the importance of using comedy as a tool to reflect society. Comedy is much more than creating laughter, for it is a way to strip serious issues of their pretense and unabashedly remark upon the problems that face America. Authors Mary M. Dalton and Laura R. Linder, impart this notion in their book, The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed, as they explore important subjects including gender and sexual orientation in television comedy. Furthermore, these topics frequently play a large role in the American sitcom, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This show, also referred to as Always Sunny, revolves around five main characters known as “the gang”, who run a bar together. The creators of the show, who also play three of the main characters, have referred to Always Sunny as a darker version of Seinfeld, in the sense that the protagonists are written as
For example, the viewer can sympathise and empathise with Homer when he discovers his brutal treatment of Marge or relate to Blanch when she lost her husband at a young age. It can also convey important situations and issues in society including depression, loss of spouse and domestic abuse through a not so serious manner. It can also attract a wider audience especially since The Simpsons, are mostly viewed by a younger audience since it is a comedy/cartoon. It can also appeal to an older audience who have knowledge of the original texts as they grew up watching them. However, this can also be a limitation of intertextuality as some viewers, specifically younger ones will not be able to make the connections between the texts for example the scenes from A Streetcar Named Desire as it was released in 1951 therefore losing significant meaning and understanding of the show. Another weakness is that the referencing of the text may be done poorly, hence it can be seen as mocking or insulting the original writer and his
Much of today’s humor stems from making fun of others or the problems of first world people. Back in the 19th century, however, humor came from different sources. For instance, Mark Twain wrote many stories that were outlandish and implausible. One of his tall tales is “The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County.” In it readers can see that Twain follows a pattern to create humor. A specific passage in the story represents the very key to what makes Twain’s stories so funny. Twain’s implausibility shows that he doesn’t take life too seriously.
At a time when it seems that society is being destroyed by its own designs, it is good to be able to hold up a mirror that shows us the extent of our problems. Neither escapist nor preachy, The Simpsons provides such a satiric mirror, a metaphoric reflection of our dissolving social foundation. More than that, The Simpsons is therapeutic: to be able to laugh in the face of such problems is the ultimate catharsis.
One notable feature of The Simpsons is its self-referential nature. In its lifetime, the programme has repeatedly referred to the gaps and inconsistencies in its own narrative, as well as to the conditions of its production. For instance, “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show” episode from 1997 was a direct response to the suggestion from Fox network executives that a new character be added to The Simpsons. In response, the writers created the instantly-hated Poochie as an addition to Itchy and Scratchy, and as a further joke added a random character called Roy to the Simpson household, with the implication that Roy had been living with the family for some time. By adding a new character, Poochie was a satirical response to the suggestion that
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries comedy has evolved from what it use to be. Especially now in the 21st century where we live in a modern society. We want everything in our lives to be modern, from our homes to our entertainment. Where comedy comes in. People love it because it takes something that is serious and bends it a joke. It makes fun of the ills in life, and distracts people from the sorrow and dangers of this world. It’s an escape than has the ability to reach us on a personal level, in our homes, whether it’s on the television or computer screen.
While they don’t always do the right thing they learn from their mistakes and improve on them. The writers of the television program use comedy as the vehicle for their message on the American society and culture. They also often use references from famous literature and media in American culture to help convey their point. The writers use parodies and references so the audience can relate with the story and truly understand the message behind the episodes. The television show conveys strong messages on the society that surrounds the writers. The episode while designed to make people laugh are also based on truths in the American society. Through episodes of The Simpsons and the book The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D 'oh! of Homer byAeon J. Skoble, Mark T. Conard, and William Irwin it can be seen that there is truth in the myths about the community in American society, the American dream, and American family values as portrayed in The Simpsons. Americans are goodhearted people with good intentions and The Simpsons show
This show is not harming the American public it is only bringing humor about reality and the situations people face every day and the show Simpsons brings that kind of humor and laughter to America. The show has made itself more apparent over the last few years by its own success from the show and views it has been getting over the years. The show only wants to bring humor to America by showing viewers the funny way to make it to the American
to do a short part. And he didn’t seem to mind that Homer called him
There are some reasons that people had enjoyed a sense of humor in this world. What does enjoyment cause the effect on people to have a sense of humor? The cause of enjoyment can bring out a good sense of humor to others by bringing the laughter into their voice and showing the happier side to many people who faced some difficult obstacles. From my experience in humor, I see and hear some jokes, facial expressions, and fondness with other family and friends. My experience in-jokes can entertain me in some certain ways in my life when I was feeling in depressed. The enjoyment can bring something relevant to people to form the better relations with a lot of people in this world. From my experience, there are some different ideas from a sense
Watching a hilarious cartoon on television may seem like the most relaxed thing in the world. However, ¡§The Simpsons¡¨ is not only a stupid funny cartoon to keep us laughing for joy but also a clever TV program mixed up with irreverence and slightly twisted morality. I¡¦m not saying that how much influence this show can bring to our reality. But I think it¡¥s very well written. Also it constantly reflects and spoofs our society.
The term ‘comedy of menace’ is applied to a group of plays in which comedy is intertwined with elements of tragedy. The term was first used by David Campton as a subtitle of one of his plays, The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace. Though both comedy and tragedy are based on incongruities and contradictions, the driving force in comedy is humour and the driving force in tragedy is horror and menace. In comedy the humour is generated through dramatic techniques such as divergences, repetitiveness, surprise, illogical events and statements that often lead to outcomes which are quite contrary to what the audience expect and thereby cause laughter and amusement. In comedy of menace, two contradictory and