Jonathan Swift for our times (Simpsons,The)

Member Name: moronboy

Product:	Simpsons,The
Date:	16/09/00 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, and very sharp

Disadvantages: None

The really weird thing about The Simpsons is that it works on two such different levels. I read other (very good) reviews which go on about how they see so much of their own families in the Simpsons (I am probably equal parts of Bart and Homer), and yet when I watch it, I'm taken by the satire on American institutions.

It's like taking an average American sitcom, and introducing all kinds of unwelcome elements - greed, con-artists, nuclear power, disfunctional families, stupidity. And yet, as the affection for the characters on display in so many doousers' reviews shows, it's savage without being cruel or condescending. The one where the huckster comes in from out of town to sell a monorail (I'm sure it was a monorail, correct me if I'm wrong) was one of the best satires on greed I've ever seen come out of America - and this on a cartoon.

Summary: