Author: Chris Turner
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 030736609X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 578
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Book Description
A smart, accessible and funny cultural analysis of The Simpsons, its inside stories and the world it reflects. From Bart Simpson to Monty Burns, the Internet boom to the slow drowning of Tuvalu, Planet Simpson explores how one of the most popular shows in television history has changed the way we look at our bewildering times. Award-winning journalist Chris Turner delves into the most esoteric of Simpsons fansites and on-line subcultures, the show’s inside jokes, its sharpest parodies and its ongoing love-hate relationship with celebrity to reveal a rarity of literary accomplishment and pop-cultural import — something never before achieved by a cartoon. Complementing its satirical brilliance, The Simpsons boasts a beloved cast of characters, examined here in playful and scrupulous detail: Homer, selfish, tyrannical and not too bright, but always contentedly beholden to his family; Bart, pre-teen nihilist and punk icon; Lisa, junior feminist crusader; and Marge, archetypical middle-American mother, perpetually dragging her family kicking and screaming to higher moral ground. And while the voice actors behind the regular cast have eschewed celebrity, Turner considers why a stunning host of guests — Hollywood icons and has-beens, politicians, professional athletes, poets and pop stars — have submitted themselves to the parodic whims of the Simpsons’ writers. Intelligent and rambunctious, absorbing and comic, Planet Simpson mines this modern cultural institution for its imaginative, hilarious, but always dead-on, reflections on our world. Excerpt from Planet Simpson Three Fun Facts About “D’ oh!” 1. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “d’oh” as “Expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish.” 2. The origins of “D’oh!” A Tracey Ullman– era Simpsons script called for Homer to respond to an unfortunate turn of events thus: “[annoyed grunt].” Dan Castellaneta, the voice-actor who plays Homer, improvised the exclamation, “D’oh!” It stuck. 3. The godfather of “D’oh!” Dan Castellaneta freely admits that he lifted Homer’s famous yelp from James Finlayson, a Scottish actor who played a bald, cross-eyed villain in a number of Laurel & Hardy films in the 1930s. Finlayson’s annoyed grunt was a more drawn-out groan — Doooohhh! Castellaneta sped it up to create Homer’s trademark.
Author:
Publisher: PediaPress
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 115
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Book Description
Author: John Ortved
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780865479395
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 356
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Book Description
A behind-the-scenes history of the popular animated series traces its rise from an animated short on "The Tracy Ullman Show" to a mainstream institution, while exposing alleged clashes between its studio executives and creative producers.
Author:
Publisher: PediaPress
ISBN:
Category : Computer games
Languages : en
Pages : 161
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Book Description
Author: Matt Groening
Publisher: Harper Design
ISBN: 9780060721787
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 120
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Book Description
Bart Simpson is back with another big book dedicated exclusively to that rabble–rousing, misbehaving menace – Springfield's favourite son, Homer's only son, and TV's favourite son – Bart Simpson! Following the great success of Big Book of Bart Simpson, Big Bratty Book of Bart Simpson – the third comic book compilation in a series dedicated exclusively to Bart Simpson. Join Bart Simpson and the Springfield kids in the newest collection of comics and stories filled with mistaken identities, alien abduction recipes, cereal package prizes, unrequited love, lima beans, facial hair, karaoke, cafeteria shenanigans, talk shows, mail–order brides, sidekicks gone mad, hideous monsters, balloon animals, girl scout cookies, circus popcorn, martial arts, and history gone very, very wrong. It's all here in one ࡲatty' book – all the chaos, commotion, and confusion that can only be caused by one uncontrollable force: Bart Simpson.
Author: M. Henry
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137027797
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 588
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Book Description
How is The Simpsons a satirical artwork engaged with important social, political, and cultural issues? In time for the twenty-fifth anniversary, Henry offers the first comprehensive understanding of the show as a satire and explores the ways in which The Simpsons participates in the so-called "culture war" debates taking place in American society.
Author: Karma Waltonen
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786456922
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 341
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Book Description
The object of much debate, attention, and scholarship since it first aired more than 20 years ago, The Simpsons provides excellent, if unexpected, fodder for high school and college lesson plans. After all, laughing students are hardly sleeping students! But The Simpsons also provides a familiar student knowledge base which instructors can use as a jumping-off point to introduce concepts in literature, composition, linguistics, cultural studies, gender studies, and media appreciation. The authors, both of whom have been teaching The Simpsons for more than a decade, share exercises, prompts, and even syllabi that have proven successful in their own courses. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Author: Karma Waltonen
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476636125
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 281
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Book Description
First aired in 1989, The Simpsons has become America's most beloved animated show. It changed the world of television, bringing to the screen a cartoon for adults, a sitcom without a laugh track, an imperfect lower class family, a mixture of high and low comedy and satire for the masses. This collection of new essays explores the many ways in which The Simpsons reflects everyday life through its exploration of gender roles, music, death, food politics, science and religion, anxiety, friendship and more.
Author: Moritz Fink
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538116170
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
From its crudely drawn vignettes on The Tracey Ullman Show to its nearly 700 episodes, The Simpsons has evolved from an alternative programming experiment to a worldwide cultural phenomenon. At 30 seasons and counting, The Simpsons boasts the distinction as the longest-running fictional primetime series in the history of American television. Broadcast around the globe, the show’s viewers relate to a plethora of iconic characters—from Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie, and Bart to Kwik-E-Mart proprietor Apu, bar owner Moe, school principal Seymour Skinner, and conniving businessman Montgomery Burns, among many others. In The Simpsons: A Cultural History, Moritz Fink explores the show’s roots, profiles its most popular characters, and examines the impact the series has had—not only its shaping of American culture but its pivotal role in the renaissance of television animation. Fink traces the show’s comic forerunners—dating back to early twentieth century comic strips as well as subversive publications like Mad magazine—and examines how the show, in turn, generated a new wave of animation that changed the television landscape. Drawing on memorable scenes and providing useful background details, this book combines cultural analysis with intriguing trivia. In addition to an appreciation of the show’s landmark episodes, The Simpsons: A Cultural History offers an entertaining discussion of the series that will appeal to both casual fans and devoted aficionados of this groundbreaking program.
Author: Jonathan Gray
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134233205
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 218
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Book Description
Using our favourite Springfield family as a case study, Watching with The Simpsons examines the textual and social role of parody in offering critical commentary on other television programs and genres. Jonathan Gray brings together textual theory, discussions of television and the public sphere, and ideas of parody and comedy. Including primary audience research, it focuses on how The Simpsons has been able to talk back to three of television’s key genres - the sitcom, adverts and the news - and on how it holds the potential to short-circuit these genre’s meanings, power, and effects by provoking reinterpretations and offering more media literate recontextualizations. Examining television and media studies theory, the text of The Simpsons, and the show’s audience, Gray attempts to fully situate the show’s parody and humour within the lived realities of its audiences. In doing so, he further explores the possibilities for popular entertainment television to discuss issues of political and social importance. A must read for any student of media studies.
