SMST21605B Television

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SMST216-05B Television

• Week 38 (September 19)
• The best of television The Simpsons

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Animation

• From the Latin verb animareto give life to.
  The working definitionis a film made by hand,
  frame-by-frame, providing an illusion of movement
  which has not been directly recorded in the
  conventional photographic senseincludes cel,
  hand-drawn and model animation ..also now CGI
  animation.
• P. Wells (1998), Understanding Animation

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Cartoon

• Often used as a synonym for animation but the
  origins of the cartoon lie in the animation of
  print comic strips. Cartoons, through much of the
  c20th, were largely tied to short formats and
  child audiences animation suggests a larger
  range of forms and artistic purposes (eg
  animation as art). Nevertheless, many cartoons
  are now regarded as art, or the work of auteurs
  eg Walt Disney (Fantasia) , Chuck Jones, Tex Avery

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Animation on television (1)

• Some background information
• television initially benefited from the 1948
  Paramount Decision, which meant that major film
  studios no longer had guaranteed outlets for
  their films and cartoons.
• Studios turned to television for a place to
  screen such material--a shift accelerated by the
  move to double features and the elimination of
  first-half (the shorts) before the main feature

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Animation on television (2)

• These shorts included newsreels, serials, movie
  trailers and--most importantly--animation
  (cartoons) from major studios such as Warner
  Brothers and Disney (eg The Bugs Bunny Show,
  Merry Melodies)
• These cartoons quickly migrated to television
  and were initially scattered across the schedule
  (occasionally appearing in primetime).

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Animation on television (3)

• By the early 1960s, animation was largely
  concentrated in Saturday morning slots (9-12.30)
  on ABC/NBC/CBS, with cartoons being made
  specifically for television (and child audiences)
• Cartoons were now culturally defined as a genre
  whose primary audience was children and not
  legitimate entertainment for adults as part of a
  mass audience.
• J. Mittell The Great Saturday Morning Exile in
  Stabile Harrison eds (2003), Prime Time
  Animation Television animation and American
  culture

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Animation on television (4)

• A critical moment, in the history of animation on
  television, was
• The Flintstones (1960-1966), on ABC
• This was the first animated series produced for
  primetime television. Developed by William Hanna
  and Joseph Barbera (Hanna-Barbera)--formerly
  employed by MGM--and distributed by Screen Gems.
  Attracted high ratings from its first episode

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Animation on television (5)

• Other networks followed suit, with primetime
  animation shows (eg The Alvin Show, CBS The
  Bullwinkle Show, NBC) but none achieved the
  success of The Flintstones. Other ABC shows (eg
  The Jetsons, Top Cat) also had little success in
  prime time, and were shifted to Saturday morning

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Animation on television (6)

• Once The Flintstones finished in 1966, there were
  no primetime animation shows on American
  television, until 1989, when
• The Simpsons
• premiered on the fledgling FOX network

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The Simpsons, 1989 -

• Developed out of a long history of film
  animation, and a shorter history of television
  animation--as well as drawing on other traditions
  of American humour
• Ancestors of The Simpsons (I II)
• From Chris Turner (2004) Planet Simpson

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(No Transcript)
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The Simpsons a pre-history (1)

• Began as short sequences (or bumpers) on the
  skit comedy show The Tracey Ullman Show (Fox,
  1987-89), drawn by Matt Groening (previously
  known for his comic strip/books Love is Hell and
  Life in Hell)
• Attracted a cult following (cf. BBC) Producer
  James L. Brooks (Cheers) and Groening turned
  these short sequences into a pilot half-hour
  sitcom. (Turner, pp 16-17)

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The Simpsons a pre-history (2)

• The third season of The Tracey Ullman Show (1989)
  featured longer Simpsons inserts, of equivalent
  length to the live-action skits.
• The first full episode of The Simpsons went to
  air on Fox on Sunday 17 December 1989 (a
  Christmas Special)

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The Simpsons, 1989 to ? (1)

• The Simpsons quickly became one of Foxs highest
  rating programmes, and was instrumental in the
  success of this new network
• One of the reasons The Simpsons got to air in the
  first place was that there were finally some
  executives at Fox who remembered watching The
  Flintstones and The Jetsons and Jonny Quest at
  night as children, so they could conceive of the
  idea of animation during prime time (Groening, in
  Solomon 1997)

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The Simpsons, 1989 to ? (2)

• The success of The Simpsons created a boom in
  primetime animation, with the longer-established
  networks (ABC,CBS,NBC) developing their own
  series
• Turner Descendants of The Simpsons
• Duckman (video)

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The Simpsons some opinions (1)

• ..because of its cartoon disguise, The Simpsons
  has been permitted a degree of freedom
  unparalleled in American? mainstream
  entertainment. The only real controversy it has
  raised centred on the idea that Bart was a bad
  role model for kids. The show has otherwise felt
  free to comment, as sharply and derisively as it
  likes, on every controversial issue of its time,
  from religion to sexual orientation to drug use,
  from political hypocrisy to corporate crime.
  Turner, Planet Simpson, 9

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The Simpsons some opinions (2)

• The dumbest thing I have ever seen
• Barbara Bush (the mother of George Bush!)
• This nation needs to be closer to the Waltons
  than the Simpsons
• George Bush (senior)
• and Hey, were just like the Waltons! Were both
  praying for the end of the Depression
• Bart Simpson
• The Simpsons are one of the most subtle pieces of
  propoganda around in the cause of sense, humility
  and virtue
• Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Wales

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The Simpsons a set of contradictions?

• The Simpsons frequently parodies the Fox Network,
  Fox News and Rupert Murdoch (the owner of Fox).
  Indeed, it is often suggested that the venial
  Montgomery Burns is modelled on RM cf. National
  billboards in the 2005 NZ Election.
• The Simpsons is also a Fox-owned property, and
  enormously profitable around the globe

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Murdoch and The Simpsons

• even Rupert Murdoch isnt crazy enough to sue
  himself.
• Ben Woodhams, (2004), Yellow Peril, Cult Times
  33

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An animated sitcom

• In genre terms, The Simpsons is most clearly a
  sitcom, displaying the following characteristics
• regular episodes, featuring a core of unchanging
  characters peripheral characters
• domestically/family-based setting and
  situations
• archetypal sitcom characters eg the incompetent
  father long-suffering and loving mother
• storylines generated by humour-based situations
  or misunderstandings, resolved within an episode
• characters suffer from collective amnesia

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• I think we can get away with a little more on The
  Simpsons because the setup is so traditional. The
  Simpsons are an intact family unit Homer works
  nine-to-five and Marge stays at home
• George Meyer, executive producer (in Lealand
  Martin, 63)

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• We have a huge advantage that the characters
  never age. My goal at the end of each year is to
  return to square one, to have the status quo
  prevail, so that an episode that is good from
  season 15 isnt much different from one from
  season three.
• Executive producer Al Jean (from season 13-)
  In Idato , Americas first family, Sunday
  Star Times, Oct 10 2004

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The Simpsons the production process

• The Simpsons was one of the last animated series
  to use ink and paint. It made the transition to
  computer-based animation in season 15 (2003)
• It is written by a US-based team of writers and
  the characters are voiced in the US.
• One episode takes about nine months to produce,
  from script to screen.
• Script audio recording is sent to Film Roman
  (LA), who draw rough storyboards
• The resulting sketches are animated in South
  Korea
• The animation process uses a limited palette of
  200 colours

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• An estimated sixty million people in 60 countries
  regularly watch The Simpsons
• In 2005, it was voted historys greatest cartoon
  by Channel 4 (UK)
• Bart, Homer, Marge and Lisa are now as
  recognisable as Mickey Mouse
• Emmerson cartoon, New Zealand Herald 2004

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The wisdom of Homer

• Bart, I want to share something with you - the
  three little sentences that will get you through
  life. Number One, Cover for me. Number Two, Oh
  Good idea boss. Number Three, It was like that
  when I got here
• We live in a society of laws. Why do you think I
  took you to all those Police Academy Movies?
  For fun?
• The answers to lifes problems arent at the
  bottom of a bottle theyre on TV!

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Questions

• Does this information fully explain the appeal of
  The Simpsons?
• Some critics describe The Simpsons as a
  double-coded television text. What is meant by
  this?
• What might be the reasons why people dislike The
  Simpsons?
• Video excerpts

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broTown

• .inspired by Bart?