According to Jason Mittell, television shows such as The Simpsons are popular embodiments of postmodernism. Clearly, genre impacts The Simpsons regarding issues such as assumptions about target audiences, genre parody, and codes of realism. This show specifically makes use of and manipulates the conventions of traditional genres to draw a larger audience.
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom featuring and telling the man endeavors of working-class family. It is a satire and also a parody, and is set in a town called Springfield. The Simpsons are meant to serve as cartoon representations of a typical American family, but as can be seen from viewing a single episode, they’re a little different. The family’s structure is that of a normal household: there is a father and mother, an adolescent boy and girl, and a baby. The show is also set in what could be a normal suburb anywhere in the United States. Many critics, however, have given the program mixed reviews. Some say it represents the dark side of other family shows such as the Brady Bunch, while others still say The Simpsons are a more realistic representation of an average family. They deal with ‘outlandish dilemmas’ every week. One critic even mentioned that the “slightly skewed perspective of The Simpsons makes them a far more human and believable family” than other overly responsible and perfect television families such as the Huxtables. It is this believable and more realistic interpretation of a typical family is what has drawn and kept large audiences watching The Simpsons. Things go wrong in the show and every week the family is solving a different problem. Many episodes show and examine the relationships and bonds existing within the family, also relating to a typical familial unit. Another reason The Simpsons draws and keeps such a large viewing audience is due to the fact that it is categorized as both a cartoon and a sitcom. It appeals to more people because both older and younger individuals can relate to it and understand it. Appealing to twice the audience size than that of most either cartoons or sitcoms, The Simpsons has been airing since 1989 and has done extremely well. Another reason it has prospered is due to the fact that the show relates to popular and modern culture. Often, the show will mention current events and politics, meanwhile poking fun at them. Significant figures from the entertainment industry, various political figures, and even religious references have all had their time on the program. This also helps the show appeal to a larger audience.
Although The Simpsons does not feature a straight-laced, perfect family, it differs from other cartoons in many ways. The clip of Donald Duck that was viewed in class, for example, has numerous visible differences. The Donald Duck cartoon featured extremely exaggerated and impossible situations for the characters to deal with. In this particular episode, Donald and his nephews engage in a snowball warfare. Exaggerated actions and ideas could be spotted throughout the cartoon. Donald built an ice battleship in minutes and proceeded to fire flaming arrows at his three adolescent nephews. This would never ever happen in real life and this type of inflated scenario limits, to an extent, the type and size of audience viewing the show. In comparison to The Simpsons, the Donald Duck cartoon is too much and includes too many instances where the audience could say “that would never happen in real life.” The Simpsons, however, while remaining amusing and at times slightly embellished with the events taking place, feature more realistic scenarios. This variation in how the shows have been presented makes a difference when it comes to appealing to larger amounts of viewers.
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