Homer Jay Simpson and his family! (Simpsons,The)

Member Name: ross1979

Product:	Simpsons,The
Date:	14/08/01 (637 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious, Subtle, Excellent characters

Disadvantages: Seen most of them

Woohoo, the Simpsons are on!! Thats usually the cry which can be heard in our household as soon as that familiar theme tune graces our ears. And did you know that Homers middle name is 'Jay', he found that out after an extensive search to work out what the letter J stood for.

The Simpsons may be a cartoon, but it's appeal is certainly not restricted to children. I have watched and enjoyed the Simpsons throughout my teenage years and still enjoy it every bit as much today (when I can find an episode that I have not seen before!)

I'm sure almost everyone who reads this will know about the general set up of the show - a dysfunctional american family with a lazy stupid dad, a mum with crazy blue hair, a naughty little boy called Bart and his two sisters; genius Lisa and dummy-sucking Maggie. There is no need for me to go into too much more detail about these characters.

But, strangely enough, its difficult to define why even supposedly mature adults find this cartoon so appealing. Why is Homer is seen as something of a hero in my generation? I mean, he is lazy, drinks lots of beer, he is extremely dim, he is horrible to his neighbours, he is selfish, he is greedy and I could go on for hours. The answer eludes me, but he certainly manages to make us laugh which is a good start. He is given a few blatantly obvious gags and many more subtle ones which are only funny because they are from Homer. I loved it last night when he says ' I'm not going to lie to you Marge' and then just while you were expecting him to tell the truth, he walks away whistling! He breaks the expectations we have of manners in society and we love him for it!

For me, it is mainly Homer which makes the Simpsons as funny as it is. There are only intermittent funny moments with the other characters. Even Bart does not do it for me, and he used to be the main focus of the show. It was a wise move to change this focus over to Hom
er and I am sure this is one of the reasons the programme has remained popular for so long.

There are other humorous characters ouside the Simpsons family home. Grandpa Simpson is a forgetful, short-sighted old man who shows that Homer's stupidity was hereditary. And there is Mo, the mean bar tender, who also comes out with some very funny comments in the show. One which springs to mind is when the pub is so full that he asks all the designated drivers to leave because ' there is no room for cheapskates!' Again, the complete opposite of our society's expectations of designated drivers to be encouraged.

Mr. Burns and his sidekick, the gay Mr. Smithers, also have their moments with their dodgy power plant. As does Principal Skinner and the other teachers at the school,. who are all hopeless and could not care less about the pupils. And of course, there is Homers unfortunate Neighbour, Ned Flanders who is a religious and kind man. No matter how rude Homer is to him, he will always remain polite and good-humoured. One moment between the two that typifies their relaitonship is where Homer cuts all of Neds prize flowes to put them on his float for a parade and Ned says' Did you have cut ALL my flowers Homer' , Homer replies 'Yup!' and then Ned picks up a handful of soil and says' But did you have to pour salt in the soil so nothing will ever grow again!'

But this is the sort of thing Homer does, he is evil. Yet we admire him for it because we know it is usually innocent and harmless. Besides, its just a cartoon and the elements we find funny there would not be funny in real life. Our lives are usually so strict with manners and regulations that it is very amusing to see someone breaking about every rule in the book for his own benefit, the complete opposite of what we normally expect.

I'll leave it a that, since if we delve too deep into why the Simpsons makes us laugh then we m
ay not find it funny anymore. But somehow, I dont think there is much chance of that happening for a LONG time!

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