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8.30 p.m. in America. r /
Primetime.
Millions of Americans are watching TV, but not boring action films, some love story or unrealistic science-fiction thriller.
They are watching "The Simpsons", America's most successful comic strip. Started in December 1989, it was the first animated prime-time series since the 1960's and right from the beginning it was part of American culture. It was so successful because after similar comedy series like "Eine schrecklich nette Familie", "Alle unter einem Dach" or "Bill Cosby" the Simpsons presented a revolutionary new combination of humoristic comic strips and direct social criticism of American society. Another reason for its success is that the Simpsons represent normal and average American society, everything in the series is ordinary. The author, Matt Groening, intended to criticise society by showing it how average it really is. Nothing in the series is invented, everything and everybody does exist. "Springfield", for example, is the most used name for cities in America, it's the usual name for "Anytown" (Das Springfield, in dem die Simpsons wohnen, existiert natürlich nicht wirklich. Aber bei dem Namen hat sich Matt Groening dennoch etwas gedacht: (...) Springfield [ist] einer der am meisten vorkommenden Städtenamen in den USA.) . Homer and Marge are the names of Matt Groening's parents, the teachers in Springfield's Elementary School have the same names as Matt's former teachers, the coach driver and the neighbours are the same and so on. Everybody exists in reality, which does not mean that they have the same characters as in the series. Groening wanted to create a comic series which is as real as possible, and what is more realistic than reality itself?
The Simpsons family consists of five people.
The father is called Homer Simpson; he is characterized as the loveable, not terribly intelligent father who tries to please his family, his boss and his friends all the time, but with varying degrees of success. He works as a safety inspector in a nuclear power plant, a job which is meaningless for Homer. He does not really like it but accepts it, not least because of its security. The most important things for Homer are TV, Duff beer and doughnuts.
His wife and mother of three children is Marge Simpson, a patient and quite
intellectual housewife with tower-high blue hair. She embodies the stereotypical
American mother, serving as a model of morality and good behaviour. Marge's
moral qualms are a frequent theme of the episodes and developing the personalities of the family members and townspeople through moral issues is a common occurrence.
Bartholomew J. Simpson, called "Bart" (which is an anagram of "brat") is ten years old and the Simpson's eldest child. He is a cheeky young boy who only thinks of the next trick he can play on his parents, his sister, his teachers or Moe, the barkeeper. School is for Bart a necessary evil, his mind is only on skateboarding and his favourite comic, the "Radioactive Man". When the show began, Bart was unquestionably the favourite. However, today Homer is more or less the star, he is the most emphasized character in any episode. His favourite saying is "Eat my shorts, man!".
The brain of the family is definitely Lisa Simpson, particularly marked by her impressive intellect. She is the cultured person in the show with a deep respect for Jazz - she plays the saxophone passionately - and loves art. Lisa seems to be the perfect child, she is honest, kind, talented and smart. Together with her mom she is the other moral person in the show.
Last but not least there is Maggie Simpson, the youngest child, who is a baby. Since the show started Maggie has never spoken a word, she only sucks her pacifier all the time.
In the series Groening broaches many different themes and social problems like the power of the mass media, mostly criticised by the brutal comic strips of "Itchy & Scratchy" and the action films of "Rainier Wolfcastle", the personified action hero like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Silvester Stallone. The author also criticizes industry and its attitude towards the environment, mainly represented by C. Montgomery Burns, the owner of the Nuclear Power Station. Burns is not very interested in the environment, the safety of his station is very bad - not at least because Homer is the safety inspector - and he does not care about the disposal of nuclear waste. A result of this thinking is Blinky, the genetically-mutated fish with three eyes. Another critical point for Groening is the security system in the U.S.A., no wonder that Springfield's policemen are all corrupt and open to bribery. Similar to the police is the Mayor called Diamond Joe Quimby. He has always love affairs with his young secretaries - an allusion to the Clinton-Affair-, his holidays are always paid by the taxpayers and he is also open to bribery. These are only a few of the points of criticism Groening mentions in the series, others are, for example, illegal immigration, child-violence, the right to bear arms and many, many more. The variety of the people and of the topics makes "The Simpsons" worthwhile.
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