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The Simpsons as a Sitcom Essay

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The Simpsons as a Sitcom

"The Simpsons" is an example of an American sitcom. A sitcom is situation comedy, which is when the same setting and same characters appear in every episode. Examples of sitcoms are programs such as "The Crosby Show" and more recent sitcoms such as "Friends". Sitcoms surfaced in the 1950's in America showing the "ideal" family. Slowly sitcoms started to show the reality of life and dealt with social issues such as divorce and unemployment. Sitcoms have become very popular because people could relate to the program and sitcoms show problems, which happen in every day life in a light-hearted way. These are some of the reasons why "The Simpsons" is very successful and …show more content…

Maggie is shown as an ordinary baby who sucks on a dummy. She fits the stereotypical role of a baby. In the opening credits authority figures such as the police are made fun out and are shown as lazy and bad at their jobs this creates humour in the programme.

Narrative structure is used very often in "The Simpsons." Narrative structure is the way in which a story is organised. Narrative usually consists of five stages. These are orientation, complication, resolution, evaluation and re-orientation. This system is used in "The Simpsons" to create humour and also let the audience know what to expect. A good example of this structure is shown in one Simpson's episode called "Roasting on an open fire." It starts of or orientates when the family are at a school production for Christmas setting the scene and letting the audience know that it has something to do with Christmas. Then comes the complication when Bart gets a tattoo and they have to use all their Christmas money to get it removed. Also Homer doesn't get his Christmas bonus. To resolve this Homer gets another job as father Christmas but doesn't get enough money. He bets it on a dog and loses everything. Bart and homer find the dog that they betted on being kicked out. The evaluation of this episode

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