The Simpsons

The Simpsons is a well-known television series that attracts viewers of all ages. It is about a neighborhood of yellow characters who do peculiar and unrealistic things at times, yet also act like regular human beings other times. I think one of the amazing things about this sitcom is that it is completely ridiculous, yet it has been so popular for about twenty years. I think, however, it is because of this that it has become, and still is, so popular. I think the fact that it attracts people of all different ages is another reason why The Simpsons is popular. This is because the animated sitcom includes violence, disgusting acts, sexual references, and just plain old comedy, that is able to attract a young kid, yet also able to attract an older man or woman. The people who watch The Simpsons are also attracted to it because they can sometimes relate to the people. A lot of sitcoms on television are about perfect parents with perfect children, who live in a perfectly clean home. Although these sitcoms are enjoyable, most people in America do not live in a house like that. However, the main family in The Simpsons is a lazy dad who argues with his wife all the time, a child who is a rebel and is always starting problems and another child who is a perfect student. Although this could be seen as an extreme example of families in America, it is more closely related then many other sitcoms. This draws viewers to this animated sitcom. I think another reason that The Simpsons has such a large audience is because it is animated. Although the young people who enjoy The Simpsons might not know very well what is going on, they still enjoy watching yellow characters run around the screen doing violent and vulgar things. I think that older people are also attracted to the animation aspect of the sitcom. This is because no matter how old you are, you always enjoy stupid animation comedy. So, rather than turning on Nickelodeon and watching cartoons, they are able to watch animation with something they can relate to.

In Jason Mittell's piece, "Cartoon Realism", he analyzes The Simpsons and tries to show why The Simpsons is controversial, yet still successful. He says he does this by looking into what the critics say about the sitcom. The genre of any work is defined by the critic. This is because the way a critic talks about any TV show, book, movie, etc. influences the way we think about that piece. This creates the genre for that piece. So, by Mittell analyzing the way critics think, it allows him to have a better understanding of The Simpsons. Critics say, according to Mittell, that The Simpsons is primarily a sitcom and it uses the animation to highlight certain things. I do not agree with this. I think the animation of The Simpsons is what makes the sitcom so entertaining. If it was not an animation, they couldn't do half the things the occurred on the show and therefore would not be where it is today. The animation does not just highlight certain aspects, it creates the whole TV series.

Texts Without Context

1. Digital and social media have had a great impact on our culture. One example that Michiko Kakutani, the author of the article, discusses is the impact of books entering the digital realm. He says how before digital books, book reading allowed the reader to enter a whole other world and escape reality. By books being read digitally, they become more like a magazine or newspaper; you read little parts of it whenever you get a chance. Another impact of social and digital media, according to Kakutani, is the more and more these media's become popular, the less attention span the public has. He says how people have become less interested in "an entire news article, watching an entire television show or listening to an entire speech." Instead people would rather just hear the conclusion or summary and get on with their day. People are no longer interested in the context of certain things that they were once interested in. In the article, Mr. Lanier says that internet has encouraged people to "...be a child forever, without the responsibilities of adulthood." This is because of the fact that internet has no qualities of a physical world, but instead has "playfulness and optimism."

2. According to Cass Sunstein, cyberbalkanization is personalizing your favorite websites, so that you only get the type of news that you are interested in. They do this so that they do not have to read things that do not interest them. It is said in the article that doing this grows consensus and common ground even smaller. I think that this is becoming a trend in our culture. In fact, I even do this myself. On my Google Mail home page, I have set it to have only information I am interested in. I think that people do this because everyone is having less and less patience for everything and come to want everything in a matter of seconds, because of the digital and social media.

3. I think that these trends are bad news for authors, composers, filmmakers and others who compose their own works. I agree with John Updike's idea in the article, when they point out that these trends would eventually lead to the "end of authorship." He also says that these writers and composers would not have the ability to earn a living from their works. Another major issue is that their own recognition from their own creations would be non-existant.

4. Appropriation art is defined in the article as the recycling or re-do's of older works. It also is the remaking of television shows into films, or video games into movies. The rise in appropriation art means a decrease in originality in media. Although I understand the point that the author has, I do not 100% think this is legitimate. This is because, if you know that an old television show or video game was successful and made a lot of money, then you would want to do something similar to that idea. I do not think it is done out of laziness, like they say in the article. I just think that it is done this way because people want to create things they know will succeed.

5. I do not agree with the idea that audience is archaic. I think that no matter what happens with media, it will always have an audience. I do not really understand how William Gibson could say that audience has become archaically passive.

Saw

Ever since I was younger, I have HATED horror films. Not only did they scare me, they also aggravated me; and they still do. I just don't understand how anyone could enjoy being scared out of your mind, seeing people die, or having to watch a movie with your eyes half shut. I mean, seriously, how do you enjoy the full effect of a movie when your sitting there scared of what is going to jump out next? I don't know about you, but I know I would rather watch a movie with my eyes open and a smile on my face. Even though I feel very strongly about horror films, as you can tell, there is a series of horror movies that I feel totally opposite about. A set of movies on my top 10 list of favorite movies is Saw. I know you are probably thinking I am crazy because Saw is an extremely gory and disturbing horror films. I don't know what it is specifically that draws me to these movies, but I absolutely love them. I will say though, I have to watch them more than once, because the first time my hands are covering my eyes pretty much the whole length of the movie. One of the reasons that I enjoy these movies is the puzzle behind it and the connection of the people in the film. It is definitely NOT the gore and torture that the people are put through. I enjoy figuring things out along with the people in the film.

I do not really agree with Parkers idea about the popularity of slasher films during certain periods of our history. I think that all types of slasher films could be popular no matter what is happening in the world. I don't think that a person would go see a movie like Saw, or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, just because we are at war. Slasher films have been and will always be popular because of their disturbing and disgusting nature. People are attracted to them because it is outside of the normal that they experience everyday.

While My Guitar Gently Beeps

I agree with Daniel Radosh, the author of "While My Guitar Gently Beeps", that the Beatles Rock Band game puts the Beatles back in the forefront of the evolution of music. I think this is because by creating a game with there music, they are opening up their fan base to a much younger generation. The kids that are playing the Beatles song's on Rock Band listen and like the Beatles songs they are playing. However, if they didn't play the game, they probably would not download or purchase any of the Beatles songs. When the kids play the Beatles song's on Rock Band, they learn the notes rather than just hearing the song. Because of this, these songs get stuck in their heads and they come to enjoy them.

I think by them having their own game, they are allowing for more success and opportunities. The Beatles Rock Band game also helps with the selling of their albums and songs. In the article, Radosh says that purchases of popular songs from Rock Band on iTunes tripled after they appeared on the game. The Beatles Rock Band game will create nothing but a positive future for the Beatles. I think it was a very good idea for them to join us in mainstream society, so that more people could enjoy their wonderful music.

Pandora Response

Pandora.com is becoming an extremely popular website for music lovers everywhere. Instead of just listing the new and popular songs, allowing you to just listen to thirty seconds of it, like iTunes does; Pandora searches for songs in the same category as the ones you choose in your own playlist. All you need to do is type in a song that you like and press create. In a matter of seconds you have choices of songs that the experts of Pandora categorized with the song you typed in. These music experts categorize songs by analyzing every detail of the song.

According to Rob Walker, the author of the article "The Song Decoders", Pandora "has attracted 35 million listeners and claims about 65,000 new sign-ups a day." The coolest thing about Pandora is that it "ignores the crowd." The goal of the website is not to advertise certain bands and songs, or make hit songs more popular, but instead to focus solely on your interests, the songs you like and want to listen to. I think that this is the reason Pandora is becoming so popular. For once your not listening to songs other people find good, like on the radio or television.

The only down side of Pandora is the fact that it only advertises to iPhone users. Because of this, not as many people know about the wonders of Pandora. If they were to advertise to all people interested in music, (which is pretty much everyone in the world) they would become extremely popular and would change music forever. Pandora could give artists that are not so popular a better chance to become successful. It also allows the listener to expand their music library.

Overall, I think that Pandora will eventually become one of the most popular ways to search for new music. I think that it is brilliant and different. I advise you to check it out now and take advantage of it while its free, because I am sure that will change in only a matter of time!