The Simpsons - Unit 7

C2 Proficiency · Gapped Text · Objective Proficiency 2nd Edition Workbook, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read an extract from an article about a popular TV cartoon series. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap (1–7). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

The Simpsons

Nick Griffiths meets the faces behind America's best-loved family of cartoon characters

Unwittingly, The Simpsons struck a chord, which endures today: however much they mess up and frustrate each other, they are a viable family unit. Yet the American networks misread this popularity as a public craving for more primetime animation. 'They rushed all these shows on air and the public rejected most of them,' Scully explains.

'At the core is a family, and everyone can identify with that,' he says. 'This is probably why it plays well overseas, too.' At the last count, the series has been shown in a staggering 94 countries worldwide.

In a small way, The Simpsons probably contributed to the demise of the administration. 'It didn't fly with a lot of Americans,' recalls Scully. 'People who enjoyed the show didn't want to be told that they were watching something bad or stupid, or something wrong for their kids.'

Serious issues crop up regularly on the show, cloaked in humour and vivid animation: corrupt media and politicians, ineffective policing, the environment. Groening again, 'In conceiving the show, I made sure Homer worked in a nuclear power plant, because then we can keep returning to that and making a point about the environment.'

So a mere animation series has quietly subverted the world's youth, helped to bring down a president, been stamped all over what we wear and changed the face of contemporary animation. Now academics are using it in universities: 'Having the donut and eating it: self-reflexivity in The Simpsons' is part of the Introduction to Cultural Studies module at Edinburgh's Napier University.

Groening is a chunky, bearded man with tiny specs, a floppy fringe, Simpsons baseball jacket and baggy jeans. Oregon-raised and LA-based since college, he initially conceived the Simpsons family as a brief animated segment within the new Fox TV network's Tracey Ullman Show.

And such was the case initially with The Simpsons. Homer was seen as a disgraceful role model; Bart's insolence to his elders would encourage the same. Bart Simpson t-shirts (notably 'Underachiever and proud of it') became so popular that some schools banned them for their subversive messages.

It doesn't matter that both episodes have been aired previously on television. In the second, Lisa falls in love with the school bully (Bart to Lisa: 'I'll probably never say this to you again, but you can do better'). Watching a short, smiling woman come up with his voice is surreal and deeply impressive.

The shorts ran from 1987 and were subsequently developed into a full series that made its début on American primetime two years later. From the off, the show was a huge hit, topping Fox's ratings. Although it is hard to figure out why it exploded so quickly, Scully has his own theory.

The Aspen venue for the Simpsons events is the Wheeler Opera House. The seven-strong cast take the stage, including Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson and others), Nancy Cartwright (Bart and others) and Yeardley Smith (Lisa).

Stripped of the visual distraction of animation, you also realise how relentlessly clever and funny the scripts are. After the show, Scully acknowledges, 'It's times like that when you realise just what an impact the show has had on people. The Simpsons were dysfunctional yet you could also see that they loved and stuck by each other. People have always liked that because they don't see enough of it in real life.'

Quite simply, The Simpsons redefined television animation, spawning shows that were extreme by comparison – which naturally helped its own acceptance into the mainstream. For every action, of course, there's an equal and opposite reaction. 'Every time there's a fad that kids really like, there's gonna be a grown-up going, "Something's wrong here"', says Groening. 'It happened with video games, heavy metal, rap, and Pokémon.'

Indeed, it was deemed so influential that even President George Bush Senior waded in, criticising its portrayal of the American family during his 1992 election campaign. His wife, Barbara, called the show the 'dumbest thing' she had ever seen.

Groening refers to his secret motto, 'To entertain and to subvert'. 'It's not so much trying to change the minds of people who are already set in their ways, it's to point out to children that a lot of the rules that they're told are by authorities who do not have their best interests at heart. That's a good lesson. Think for yourself.'

But perhaps what pleases Groening and Scully most is the well-known fact that families watch The Simpsons together. In an age of meals-on-the-move, three-television households, computer games and the Internet, it is an achievement of which they can be justifiably proud.

Mike Scully, writer/producer of The Simpsons, is in Aspen Colorado with the show's creator, Matt Groening, to attend the four-day US Comedy Arts Festival. Among the attractions is The Simpsons Live, a read-through of two separate episodes on-stage by members of the cast. ___ The shorts ran from 1987 and were subsequently developed into a full series that made its début on American primetime two years later. From the off, the show was a huge hit, topping Fox's ratings. Although it is hard to figure out why it exploded so quickly, Scully has his own theory. ___ The Aspen venue for the Simpsons events is the Wheeler Opera House. The seven-strong cast take the stage, including Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson and others), Nancy Cartwright (Bart and others) and Yeardley Smith (Lisa). ___ Stripped of the visual distraction of animation, you also realise how relentlessly clever and funny the scripts are. After the show, Scully acknowledges, 'It's times like that when you realise just what an impact the show has had on people. The Simpsons were dysfunctional yet you could also see that they loved and stuck by each other. People have always liked that because they don't see enough of it in real life.' ___ Quite simply, The Simpsons redefined television animation, spawning shows that were extreme by comparison – which naturally helped its own acceptance into the mainstream. For every action, of course, there's an equal and opposite reaction. 'Every time there's a fad that kids really like, there's gonna be a grown-up going, "Something's wrong here"', says Groening. 'It happened with video games, heavy metal, rap, and Pokémon.' ___ Indeed, it was deemed so influential that even President George Bush Senior waded in, criticising its portrayal of the American family during his 1992 election campaign. His wife, Barbara, called the show the 'dumbest thing' she had ever seen. ___ Groening refers to his secret motto, 'To entertain and to subvert'. 'It's not so much trying to change the minds of people who are already set in their ways, it's to point out to children that a lot of the rules that they're told are by authorities who do not have their best interests at heart. That's a good lesson. Think for yourself.' ___ But perhaps what pleases Groening and Scully most is the well-known fact that families watch The Simpsons together. In an age of meals-on-the-move, three-television households, computer games and the Internet, it is an achievement of which they can be justifiably proud.

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