The Simpsons Essays -- Cartoons Politics Argumentative America Essays

The Simpsons When the FOX network aired "The Simpsons" in 1989, the show brought the yellow-skinned and four-fingered cartoon characters named Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson into millions of American living rooms. This bent archetype of the American family, as well as the hundreds of zany characters that populate their all-American hometown of Springfield, fast became the targets of enormous criticism. Elementary schools banned T-shirts bearing the images of the Simpson family and their slogans. Former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett and even President George Bush berated the show as subversive and demeaning (McAllister 1494). However, a more careful investigation of the show reveals far more than nose-thumbing gutter humor--enveloped in sarcasm and comedy, "The Simpsons" offers a thought-provoking critique of American politics, faith, and the American family. "The Simpsons," taking prime-time television far beyond its normal scope, throws fierce political punches right and left. Caricatures of Presidents Bush and Clinton have shown up in Springfield during various episodes, Bush as a laughable political failure and Clinton as a sexual pervert. While Springfield's mayor is a corrupt, womanizing Kennedy parody, the local Republican Party plots evil schemes from a nearby cave (Cantor). Paul A. Cantor, an English professor at the University of Virginia and sometime analyst of "Simpsons" politics, argues that the universally critical political message of the series tends, like most Hollywood entertainment, to favor the left over the right. John O'Connor, a television critic for The New York Times, goes farther to say that "The Simpsons" is "the most radical show on prime time" (McAllister 1494). ... ... country is well worth laughing about. Works Cited Berman, Marshall. "Skepticism in Action: Simpsons Religion vs. Science Episode." Skeptical Inquirer March/April 1998: 19. Cantor, Paul A. "The Simpsons." Political Theory 27.6 (December 1999): 734. MasterFile FullText 1500. Palni SiteSearch. Goshen College Good Library. 19 March 2000. Doherty, Brian. "Matt Groening." Mother Jones March/April 1999: 34. Palni SiteSearch. Goshen College Good Library. 19 March 2000. McAllister, Matthew P. "The Simpsons." Encyclopedia of Television. Ed. Horace Newcomb. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. "Opening Notes." Ed. Barbara Wickens. Macleans's 29 April 1996: 14. Sillars, Les. "The Last Christian TV Family in America." Alberta Report/Newsmagazine 21 October 1996: 36. MasterFile FullText 1500. Palni SiteSearch. Goshen College Good Library. 19 March 2000. The Simpsons Essays -- Cartoons Politics Argumentative America Essays The Simpsons When the FOX network aired "The Simpsons" in 1989, the show brought the yellow-skinned and four-fingered cartoon characters named Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson into millions of American living rooms. This bent archetype of the American family, as well as the hundreds of zany characters that populate their all-American hometown of Springfield, fast became the targets of enormous criticism. Elementary schools banned T-shirts bearing the images of the Simpson family and their slogans. Former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett and even President George Bush berated the show as subversive and demeaning (McAllister 1494). However, a more careful investigation of the show reveals far more than nose-thumbing gutter humor--enveloped in sarcasm and comedy, "The Simpsons" offers a thought-provoking critique of American politics, faith, and the American family. "The Simpsons," taking prime-time television far beyond its normal scope, throws fierce political punches right and left. Caricatures of Presidents Bush and Clinton have shown up in Springfield during various episodes, Bush as a laughable political failure and Clinton as a sexual pervert. While Springfield's mayor is a corrupt, womanizing Kennedy parody, the local Republican Party plots evil schemes from a nearby cave (Cantor). Paul A. Cantor, an English professor at the University of Virginia and sometime analyst of "Simpsons" politics, argues that the universally critical political message of the series tends, like most Hollywood entertainment, to favor the left over the right. John O'Connor, a television critic for The New York Times, goes farther to say that "The Simpsons" is "the most radical show on prime time" (McAllister 1494). ... ... country is well worth laughing about. Works Cited Berman, Marshall. "Skepticism in Action: Simpsons Religion vs. Science Episode." Skeptical Inquirer March/April 1998: 19. Cantor, Paul A. "The Simpsons." Political Theory 27.6 (December 1999): 734. MasterFile FullText 1500. Palni SiteSearch. Goshen College Good Library. 19 March 2000. Doherty, Brian. "Matt Groening." Mother Jones March/April 1999: 34. Palni SiteSearch. Goshen College Good Library. 19 March 2000. McAllister, Matthew P. "The Simpsons." Encyclopedia of Television. Ed. Horace Newcomb. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. "Opening Notes." Ed. Barbara Wickens. Macleans's 29 April 1996: 14. Sillars, Les. "The Last Christian TV Family in America." Alberta Report/Newsmagazine 21 October 1996: 36. MasterFile FullText 1500. Palni SiteSearch. Goshen College Good Library. 19 March 2000.

Disposable Society: Capitalism and Consumerism Combined?

It was an interesting day of picking up otherwise â€Å"unimportant things,† noting my own urges to just dispose of varied materials, and observing my precious â€Å"living environment. † At the end of the day, it was time for sorting out other people’s â€Å"thrash† and noting my own habits plus reflecting on these various disposable items that I am supposed to learn from. These are what I have seen and what I have realized. Food items and their packaging materials come at the top of the list. Second in line, I found office and school materials – paper clips, ballpen caps, paper, etc.Then there were the miscellaneous home and personal items, various odds and ends including Styrofoam pieces from certain packaging materials, plastic containers bolts and nuts and various unidentified metal pieces, pieces of colored cloth, cigarette butts, an old plastic toy top, a CD, and a torn magazine. There are other small items not include in the list here but ba sically these are my categorizations of the disposable or â€Å"disposed† items collected in a day of walking and observing around.From one angle, it is a most convenient, socially constructed environment that we have—the so-called modern society with all its technology and other trappings. Part of the convenience lies in the disposability of many, if not all the items, that we see around us and which we utilize for meaningful survival on the planet. For example, how would we be able to store and therefore distribute food across great distances without the modern techniques of food packaging?The sanitary handling of food through these technologies however have an implication after the packaged food has been consumed: where goes the inedible packaging? There is a need for food manufacturers to factor in this question in their development of packing and packaging technology. Everyday, everyone eats, and the more we consume, the more we throw away. In 2004, a University o f Arizona study indicates that forty to fifty percent of all edible food never gets eaten. Every year $43 billion worth of edible food is estimated to be thrown away.(â€Å"US wastes half its food,† 2007) What can be done about this? To eat less? Joking aside, we have to be more responsible consumers. There’s a hungry world out there. Moreover, developing biodegradable packaging and eating utensils could be the simple long-term solution perhaps so that environmental pollution is lessened. Or how about edible utensils for a species that is constantly on the go? Perhaps someday. Ours is a society that does not sleep. 24-7 we say. Society moves every second, every day and the more we move, the more be create garbage, the more we develop disposables.Ours has become a disposable society. Even many relationships today seem disposable — fleeting and cold. In the coldness of many offices and supposed institutions of learning, many items are disposable. Containers, small items that make work less tedious like those yellow sticker-like notepads, pens, and computer printer ink cartridges, among others. In the relative warmth of some homes, still we see the signs of disposability: the Christmas tree, the decorations from the last party, the old TV guides.How would life be if we had disposable parents? Frightening thought? Indeed, but perhaps not for some who may have had the unfortunate experience of having dysfunctional parents or adults in their life. Work and family, 24-7, in modern societies, live off disposables. They make life easy and they spur more productivity and innovation. On the large downside, we are using off precious scarce resources, which can be depleted in the long run, and dirtying up the whole planet against the interest of future generations.At the heart of all this is a peculiar system that is consumerist in orientation. Consumerism is a lifestyle fanned by the current economic system, an orientation that appears negatively util itarian, unduly pleasure-oriented, and has no regard for long-term negative consequences of degrading the planet’s natural environment. As things are consumed and disposed, more production and profit is created to replace the old disposed material. What would the world be if things were not as disposable? Production could grind to a halt, as there could be less needs to fulfill.If cars, for instance, were not too disposable and new models are not made to be so appealing (as if they were needed and not simply desired), where would the car industry be now? We see this even in the use of computer technologies. As Smith (2008) notes: Creating products that aren't meant to last is a very viable business strategy as this means that consumers will need to buy replacement products†¦ In a more modern context, consider videogames. Old games, like Pong, could be played over and over again. Today's games, like the popular Grand Theft Auto series, have a beginning and an end.Once you â€Å"beat the game† you need to buy the next installment in the series. The same concept applies to computer software. If you call Microsoft and try to get support for Windows 98, a once expensive product that still works just fine on many computers, you'll be told that it is no longer supported. It's not that the product doesn't work, it's that the company wants you to buy the latest and greatest version of whatever they're selling. Is not consumerism and capitalism complementary with the reality of a disposable society? The profit seekers are only too glad we throw their products away—the sooner, the better. References http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/08/30/60minutes/rooney/main308969.shtml â€Å"US wastes half its food.† http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=56376-us-wastes-half. Retrieved on 2007-10-01. Smith, L. (2008). The Disposable Society: An Expensive Place To Live. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/07/disposablesociety.asp. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.

Evaluation of the Characters in Director John Ford’s...

John Ford’s dramatic film The Grapes of Wrath was released on March 15, 1940. This film was based on John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel. This film follows the Joad family on their long trip to California. It watches as they lose their home and are left with no choice but to pack their necessities and set off. Though they had no idea where they were going, they had no choice but to keep on, hoping that somewhere along the line someone would have mercy on them and they would find some form of work. Though the list of influential characters presented within the film is a rather short one, each character plays at least a small part in the eventual outcome of the text, so having to select just one as the most critical proves to be shockingly difficult. However, upon further scrutiny it begins to become clear that one character holds a steady level of importance throughout the duration of the text. Ma Joad is the only character presented with a large amount of impo rtance that remains consistent from the very beginning to the final moments of the film. Ma Joad emerges as the backbone of the film rather early on, paving the way for all of the significant events and decisions made within the text. Initially, there is a suggestion that Pa Joad was the leader and the provider of the family, and in the beginning, he was often looked toward as being the most significant member of the Joad family. In fact, Pa Joad was the one that plans the family’s trip to