A film blog for students of my classes at Santa Clara University. Use this blog to discuss the films we are studying, classic films, current releases or production issues you encounter while making your own films.
Monday, February 15, 2016
The Cosby Show vs. The Simpsons - for Comm 138
Which
show represents the United States better? Which is a more realistic portrayal
of American life?
The answers to these questions depend on how we want to define "realistic" and how we view the United States, especially since it is difficult to successfully represent every single aspect of society that the country encompasses in a single show’s premise. The Cosby Show sought to better represent the African American culture and community that had largely been underrepresented and misrepresented by the television industry. But as a whole, the show appealed to the same WASP and middle-class working values that had long been broadcast through other normal "white family" sitcoms and programming. The show offers a greater and more realistic representation of the U.S.'s diverse population as well as themes that speak to the black culture and issues faced by the black community in America, many of which (or all of which) had never been voiced before.
On the other hand, The Simpsons demonstrates more of a parody about the U.S.'s reality, but it is often done in such an exaggerated manner that it's hard to call it "realistic." At the same time, just looking at the character design makes an interesting point. The ability to project any race or cultural/ethnic identity onto the Simpsons and the other characters in their show (for their racially ambiguous skin color and body shapes) offers a way for audiences to identify with the characters and what they (albeit comedically) experience in the series. If the programming created through The Simpsons is produced on a more "relatable" audience, it is possible to say that this show is more "realistic," if aspects of reality can be applied to their situations.
I would say that The Simpsons represents the United States better, while The Cosby Show provides a more realistic portrayal of American life. The Cosby Show is rooted in reality and portrays the average, everyday life of an American family. However, television at this time believed the average American family was middle-class and had traditional gender roles, so The Cosby Show is providing the most realistic portrayal of a traditional, middle-class American family according to the media. It seems that The Cosby Show really focused on family dynamics and the issues that can come up between family members as well as generational differences. Their family had to deal with things that seemed mundane, but were things that come up with four children. Since characters on The Cosby Show actually grew up and grew as individuals, the show could realistically portray the topics and obstacles that appear as individuals advance through their childhoods and how their parents react to those changes. The Simpsons were more focused on utilizing the platform of their show to make commentary on American society and were more willing to push the boundary and openly criticize individuals, groups or culture as a whole. Due to this boldness, I would say that the Simpsons represents the U.S. better because they are willing to include opinions or obstacles that occupy every aspect of society. By watching The Simpsons, audiences can understand issues that plague the U.S., such as the flaws in our education system, intense and conflicting political ideologies, inequalities in wealth and any and all -isms. The Simpsons represents our country as a whole, but The Cosby Show does a better job at representing the families in this country.
Since the Simpsons has been on for 27 seasons, it could be seen as a satirical analysis of the American life. But because it has been such a long-running show, I think it depicts the United States overall better than The Cosby Show did. The Simpsons allows viewers to relate to the cast since they are vague in their identities; being that they are yellow and strangely shaped and don't directly identify with a specific race/ethnicity any American or even international viewer can relate to one or more of the characters. Different societal, political and cultural issues are brought up throughout the show in a comedic manner, but they still shed light on serious topics which allow viewers to relate to the characters. They've been able to shed light on political subjects like gay marriage, immigration, environmental problems and more. By depicting political issues of the times, viewers can go back to older seasons and see what was relevant in politics and pop culture and gain a better historical understanding.
On the other hand, The Cosby Show could be described as depicting the American life of the times well, since it shows an upper middle class family with their familial issues and the children's growing pains. They are a realistic portrayal of an upper middle class American family of that time period (late 80s/early 90s) but it didn't represent the aspects of African American family life that should have been portrayed, so it only really represents the generic WASP American life through its program. Since it puts societal issues of poverty and racism sort of in the past, it seems to only focus on a micro-perspective of an American family situation. Overall, The Cosby Show depicts one example of American life whereas The Simpsons sheds light on many issues within the United States.
I feel as though the Simpsons is a more accurate portrayal of the United States based simply on how long it has aired on U.S. television networks. Although it mocks many aspects of the American dream and family life in general, its satirical nature is what brings a lot of truth to how the United States actually functions. It brings up important societal and cultural issues that many people are afraid to talk about, and it does it in a comedic fashion which is generally how much of the U.S. population likes to look at things. As for The Cosby Show, I think this is a much better representation of American life. Its depiction of upper-middle class family life is much how it has been portrayed throughout the history of television. By using an African American family, it appealed more to a specific demographic, however the ideals of the family within also matched up with the white upper-middle class. It was a show for most everyone in terms of relatability and that is why it is a much better representation of American life than The Simpsons is.
To answer the first question, I think The Simpsons is a more accurate representation of the United States. Its much more topical and shifts to cover a variety of relevant topics to American pop culture. The Simpsons covers social shifts in American society and satires the political climate but on top of that they also reference other iconic American television shows which really helps to give a wide overview of the United States as a whole. The fact that it has run for as long as it has is testament to how easy it is to relate to. But because the Simpsons is an animated show and as such is much more exaggerated in its satirical look at the American life, it doesn't paint as realistic a picture of American life as the Cosby Show did. The Cosby Show was a little more intimate in its portrayal of American life as it focused a bit more on the family dynamic during the time and showcased a lot of the tensions, albeit with a comedic spin put on it, of growing up during the 80s and the differences in generation when it came to parents and children. It as a more in depth look at living in America during that time compared to a social commentary which is kind of what The Simpsons did.
I think that The Simpsons represents both the US and American life better than The Cosby Show, just because the Simpsons covers so much more material. Instead of just covering what it is like to live in a traditional household dealing with basic kids/parenting topics that only happen inside the house, the Simpsons talks about larger issues and is extremely socially relevant and up to date. The Cosby Show is obviously more realistic because it is not an animated show, however the fact that The Cosby Show ignores and doesn’t address issues of race/politics/other current events is unrealistic. The Cosby Show does show traditional American family values but I think its content is very limited.
On the surface, of course The Cosby Show is more realistic. The show deals with real-life, day-to-day issues that affect American families across the country. However, I think that while the Cosby Show might be more relatable to viewers on a more personal level, The Simpsons is a better reflection of American society as a whole. The Simpsons aims to parody American society and culture, and in doing so, does not shy away from difficult topics or ideas. Because the characters are less realistic, the writers are able to put them in more uncomfortable situations and plotlines than they could get away with for characters that people personally relate to. The Simpsons family is meant to be seen as merely representative of the stereotypical American family, while the Cosby family is meant to be seen as a real family. I think audiences would react more negatively to Cosby characters put in taboo situations than the Simpsons because the characters remind viewers of themselves and their loved ones, so they are more sympathetic towards these characters. I believe that this limits the amount of social issues the show can address, and instead leads to content that is "safer". American society as a whole cannot be portrayed entirely through "safe" material; there are uncomfortable issues that need to be addressed regardless.
I think that the Cosby show represents an "idealized American life" whereas the Simpsons represents a more realistic portrayal through unrealistic characters and plot lines. Both shows are vastly different from each other; one is a cartoon and the other is a real life sitcom. The Cosby Show is more relatable towards audiences because not only is is real life but the issues and situations that the family is presented with resonate with audiences. The Simpsons, being a cartoon,is different in that the situations the family is presented with are more extreme and outrageous than the Cosby Show. I think the reason for these differing shows is that the Cosby Show is meant to revolutionize the portrayal of African Americans on television while the Simpsons is meant to address relevant social, political or cultural issues occurring at the time. As offensive as the Simpsons can be at times, they can get away with such offensive content because it is a cartoon and not real life. The Simpsons represents a more realistic portrayal of American life in that it makes fun of social issues that are representative of American life while at the same time demonstrating family values through the characters.
From first glance, it would seem that the Cosby show is realistic. The show does incorporate this day-to-day structure and everyday struggles and situations that people may find themselves in. However, many of the issues that are dealt with are very surface level compared to The Simpsons. Watching the show, and its animated, colorful, bizarre style, viewers can sense this portrayal of American life. The show really digs deeps in the issues is takes on. I believe they could do this because of the parade and cartoon style they had established. A lot of the issues that are presented are uncomfortable issues or to some even slightly offensive but because of this style that is was done in, it made for discussion rather than backlash. Other shows, like The Cosby Show may have had a difficult time in handling more difficult issues because the show did seem more "real" in a way by having actual characters. I think that The Cosby show does a good job at handling family issues and presenting them, but The Simpsons have a much deeper discussion and analysis at a wider range of problems in America.
Although both shows are comedies about the typical American life, The Cosby Show is a more realistic portrayal when compared to the Simpsons. Aside from criticisms about The Cosby Show's inaccurate representation of most black lives in America, the show is still a more realistic portrayal in this case. Because the Simpsons is satirical and fantastic in nature, it allows the audience to laugh at and make fun of the hysterics of our culture. The Cosby Show, on the other hand, does make its audience laugh, but in more of a "laughing with us, not at us" type of way.
Clearly a successful show, the Simpsons is hitting the mark. But in terms of a realistic portrayal of American life, The Cosby Show is more accurate. When watching an episode of the Simpsons, I've never thought to myself, "I remember when I had a similar life event happen to me."
I agree with many of the comments above, especially with regard to The Cosby Show being a more realistic portrayal of American life than The Simpsons. Beyond the fact that The Simpsons have remained the same age for the entire duration of the show, many of the satirical elements of the show make it a less realistic portrayal. I think this becomes clear when you look at the motives behind the creation of each show. BIll Cosby created The Cosby Show with the intention of creating a space for African American stories on television, and African American storytellers behind the camera. While The Cosby Show may have been criticized for not realistically representing African American lives, it did represent American lives. In order to make a space for African Americans on television, Bill Cosby first had to get audiences used to seeing African Americans on screen. In doing that, he put them in roles that the vast majority of television viewers would relate to. This is why I believe The Cosby Show is amore realistic portrayal of American life than The Simpsons. The Simpsons was created to make a commentary on American life. And often times I find this commentary and satirical nature makes the show less realistic. I find that many realistic elements of American life are pushed to unrealistic extremes on The Simpsons in order to make a point.
The Simpsons represents the United States more accurately. When I think of The Simpsons, I immediately think of comedy, but I also think about the social commentary that they make in each episode tackling current events in a very tongue in cheek way. It’s a satire basically. The Cosby Show on the other hand focuses on one specific family, but that is it. It doesn’t go much further than the daily happenings of that family. For the time, it did tackle family values and issues, but that in itself is limiting if you are not able to leave the household. In terms of me feeling able to relate more to one show than the other, I would say The Cosby Show because I can see myself as one of the family members, whereas for The Simpsons, everything is too outlandish to relate to my everyday life.
I believe The Cosby Show is a better representation of American families. The Simpsons is more for entertainment, to make people laugh by over exaggerating certain events. Bill Cosby had the intention for his show to represent African American lives more but really just started to represent all families. The Simpsons do cover social issues in the show but make light of them by making it a comedic act. That is one thing The Cosby Show lacked was not staying current with social issues. However, The Cosby Show covered more family oriented problems. Financial problems, children problems like first boyfriend/girlfriend, and so on. As well covered what the typical family does, eating together, watching tv, having personal conversations and many more. The Cosby Show is more relatable to an typical American because they match family lifestyle.
Which show represents the United States better? Which is a more realistic portrayal of American life?
The show that represents the United States better is The Simpsons. In their show they bring up social issues that are happening in America and make them into jokes. Even though they use a comedic approach, their shows bring up topics happening in our country and get some people to think about them. They difference in the two of the shows is The Simpsons take place all over the town of Springfield and like I said, covering issues in the United States. Why The Cosby Show portrays the American life more realistically is because the show and Bill Cosby wanted to tackle family issues that every family goes through. It was also a comedy, but the comedy was not to hide the serious topics, when something serious would happen the jokes would be made before or after the point. It was said the original purpose of the show was to bring African American issues to the public, but instead it covered issues that everyone faces in America.
While the Cosby Show does represent American life well, I think The Simpsons is more realistic. I feel that The Cosby Show is more of a representation of home/family life in United States. In their episodes they cover many situations involving home issues and dealing kids and parenting. The Cosby Show isn't necessarily a representation of Black American life and that's why it's appeal was more generalized. The Simpsons have a lot more range in terms of topics they can cover. One of the advantages of being an animated show is that the story world isn't confined by one home and a finite set of characters like the Cosby Show. The Simpsons has that family dynamic that The Cosby Show covers, but the Simpsons goes beyond that and comments on things from sports to politics to pollution. The Simpsons have a wide range of topics and situations to work with and it usually involves self-criticism of American life by showing it's faults and ignorance through it's gullible/moronic characters like Homer and Bart.
I see the family in The Simpsons as an outlet for exploring all aspects of America and American Life. The show is not quite as relationship driven as it is plot-driven. Even as a young kid, I noticed that the first 5 minutes of the episode greatly differ in content from the last five minutes, and the motive or goal of each episode isn't realized until about five minutes in. While the relationships within the family and amongst their acquaintances are strongly outlined, they are the catalyst for discussion of outside episodes. For example, in the episode titled "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" (a favorite childhood episode of mine), Homer challenges a local man to a duel, but is too scared to go through with it. The family then runs off to Homer's childhood farm, where Homer tries to become a farmer by planting various seeds and fertilizing the land with nuclear waste. This creates the highly addictive tomato-tobacco hybrid referred to as "tomacco." Eventually, tobacco companies want to steal the product from the family, and the family returns home once more. Now, the plot is not central to the struggles of a family, as many of the experiences Homer and the Simpson family faces in the episode are not realistic. Instead, the episode is a larger statement on the monopoly of the tobacco industry, parodying the different ways tobacco companies have tried to sneakily market tobacco.
The Cosby Show is centered much more around family dynamics in middle class America. The conflicts of each episode tend to be character-driven and relationship-driven, like the episode we watched in class. Sure, the son in the episode got an earring, but the conflict rose from his fear of what his father might say, which is arguably more relationship based. The show was also revolutionary, in that it focused on a middle class African American family. The Cosby Show also ran for fewer than 10 years, and I haven't seen every episode, so perhaps the show does tackle bigger, less family-specific issues in other episodes. But, it appears that the conflicts are based in the family dynamics and each episode focuses on one specific conflict, unlike The Simpsons where the plot develops quickly and the central conflict of each episode isn't always relationship-driven.
I think this question will differ from person to person. Both of these shows present world problems and real life issues, however I think a lot of people might view the Simpson's way of showing it as too unrealistic, simply because they are cartoons. Personally, I think the Cosby show is a better representation of the United States. I think the Cosby Show uses real world issues and shows how different people react to it, based on race, gender, age, etc. I think Bill Cosby plays many roles as portraying American Life, being able to adapt to different situations, and he is also the one shown to solve/talk about many of the problems that are presented throughout the show.
On the other hand, I think the Simpsons is a good representations of the United States, but it is a little unrealistic in how they handle the situations in which they present. The most important aspects of the portrayal of American life is to present a problem, a reasonable way in which people act about it, and a reasonable solution. I think the Simpsons show the problem, however the way people react to them are usually done in a way in which will get the most laughs for the audience, and many times not how most people would react or have the same solution.
Both of these shows attempt to make statements about American life. The Cosby show attempts to show a side of American life that is rarely portrayed and often forgotten; This being the lives of more successful black Americans. The point of the Cosby show is to remind viewers that black people in America are not defined by one thing or one demographic, but can still be successful. This isn't to say that they don't experience racism and other conflict, just that they do live upper middle class lives. Of course this is a true aspect of American life, so it is difficult to say that it does not represent American life, but the show does underplay certain aspects of it. The Simpsons attempts to cover all aspects of American life through absurd situations and characters. Although this show and the Cosby Show are both comedies, they are polar opposites in their approach. The Simpsons are a universal family that have the ability to experience all things so that the show can cover more ground. I believe that the Simpsons is a better representation of American life because of the ground that it covers. However, the Cosby Show is not necessarily a worse representation, but simply a show that aims to represent specific people that are often forgotten.
I believe that The Simpsons represents the United States as a whole better than The Cosby Show. Both shows do a great job in bringing in relevant issues from the time period in which they aired, but The Cosby Show is much more contained to middle class family life. The father is a doctor and the mother is a lawyer, and both have ample time to spend at home with their kids. The show was criticized for not accurately portraying African American life, but it did portray a real, true American family, and followed the trials and tribulations that middle class families across the U.S. went and still go through. I say that The Simpsons represents the U.S. better than The Cosby Show because The Simpsons isn't confined to that middle class lifestyle. Largely due to their respective genres, The Simpsons uses its characters and humor to tackle big issues, such as climate change, same-sex marriage, fracking, etc. The Simpsons focuses on one family in particular, but also expands beyond them to other town characters that better showcase a particular issue that the show is trying to poke fun at, while also bringing it to the conversation. However, when it comes to a realistic portrayal of American life, I think that The Cosby Show takes the cake. The Simpsons isn't realistic in many of the scenarios it presents, and has gags such as the couch gag in the show opening that obviously can't happen in real life. The Cosby Show is set in reality, not a cartoon universe, and thus is much more true to real life in America.
The Simpsons definitely represents the United States more holistically. I don't necessarily want to say it portrays it "better", but due to its flexibility as a cartoon and the wide range of satirical social commentaries it makes, it covered a lot more ground than the Cosby show can. Also, because of the show's longevity, it has been able to take more risks and remain socially relevant throughout the years, tackling difficult issues such as homophobia and immigration control through a humorous lens. Even looking at how the couch gag is redesigned from episode to episode depending on current cultural hot topics, it's easy to see how the show has had lasting appeal. The world of Springfield can be easily molded each episode to present a new issue and resolve it from start to finish, and we as audiences can buy into that lack of stability because it's a cartoon that suspends our disbelief.
Meanwhile the Cosby show was specifically aimed at introducing a different African American perspective to the world of television, in an era that posited the ideal middle class family as white. The focus of the show is much narrower. There are no huge, sweeping changes in the family dynamic and setting from episode to episode. Instead, it helped to reshape how we view African Americans, both on screen and in society. Rather than the usual villain or criminal, Cosby's character was a doctor, an occupation that was often reserved for white actors with an air of class and education in their appearance. But it was little details like this that made the Cosby show so influential--it made subtle opinion shifts on the existence and cultural endorsement of middle-class African American families, and how they fit into the greater American society. In that sense, it is a much more realistic portrayal of American life, not just because it isn't a cartoon like the Simpsons.
I think that though both shows are similar in the fact that they both portray life of an American family, they are also very different in the sense that they are doing it in ways that are like comparing apples and oranges. The Cosby Show portrayed the lives of a middle class African American family and demonstrates the "normality" of their day to day life. However, it does demonstrate more WASP-y ideals and not a real representation of what many African Americans were living like during that time, though they do bring up conflicts that needed to be addressed. It portrayed a stereotypical american family and problems the middle class experienced. On the other hand, the Simpsons have kept it ambiguous about their race and named the town with the name of a town that is most common in America. The Simpsons wanted to be more relatable to the masses because they were an animated series, FOX did not know what to expect of it and a show like this was largely unprecedented. Therefore, the Simpsons were able to tackle more important issues in American Society through the medium of humor and satire. Personally, both shows represent American family life in different way but if I had to choose which portrayed it better, I would have to say the Simpsons.
I think the Simpson's is a more forward approach to American culture. Being an animated show on fox, the Simpson's are allowed to make fun of and point out flaws in the american landscape. The Cosby Show couldn't get away with the things that the Simpson's get away with. The Cosby Show shows the life of an african american family but it skips over a lot of the struggles. The Simpson's digs down to root of it all. The Cosby's are an african american family that for the most part ignore their roots and their differences. The Simpsons acknowledge everything. They use humor to uncover truths and struggles of different cultures in the US. I think a yellow family allows for that sort of thing. We can distance ourselves and relate at the same time. There is no limit to what the Simpsons can address while the Cosby's seem to walk on eggshells around big issues. I think if you were to look at Blackish today, it does a lot better job of addressing the big stuff. While it has a different approach then the animated series, it's less timid in it's approach.
As we discussed in class, because the Simpsons is animated and the characters (the yellow skin and hairstyles) don’t come close to depicting what the average American looks like (Caucasian and normal hair), the show can get away with some more extreme (and sometimes offensive) content. As a result of this, the Simpsons is actually able to portray the United States better in terms of social issues and aspects of the American lifestyle. The Cosby Show, on the other hand, shows the ideal American lifestyle. The Cosby Show is a “white show” with black characters. It’s not accurate to say that all Americans lived a life in the 80s like the middle class Cosby family. The mom was a lawyer and the dad was a doctor - the whole family was pretty well off and they rarely talked about racism and spoke like white people. But because the conflicts and issues they dealt with were all similar in nature to what regular middle-class families dealt with at the time, it’s more relatable and therefore might seem more accurate. The idea of an affluent black family taking the place of a white family in a family sitcom definitely paved the way for current shows like Fresh off the Boat and Blackish on ABC. These shows both deal with societal issues by placing an average middle-class family on TV but with a different skin color than what we would normally expect.
Haha, pretty funny choices considering both of these shows aired at 8pm on Thursdays, kind of a perfect faceoff, The idealist Huxtables vs. The realist Simpsons. To be honest, the realist in me wants to hand this one to the Simpsons. Though the Cosby show sort of reflects what we want our families to look like in the US, its just not realistic. Like there was an episode that kind of surrounded the family getting into Hip Hop music as if it were some big controversial thing, and that's obviously not realistic for a lot of families, not to say that it couldn't apply to some. I think it would be nice if families were as idealist as the Huxtables, but its just not the way it is in my world. Now Homer skipping his Bart's parent-teacher conference to get some donuts, that's something I can see happening in today's America, sad but true. I mean, just looking at it plainly, the Huxtables are a stuffy white collar family (though not to say that they aren't relatable), while the Simpson's blue collar lifestyle is a little bit more recognizable and relatable. It almost has a sort of All In the Family type feel to it, Marge and Homer are certainly a lot like Archie Bunker and his wife when you look at it. Though its certainly hyperbolic and satirical, the show demonstrates present realities in the United States, tragic though they may be. While its a hard reality to face, whether its done with comedy or not, the Simpsons present a more realistic view of America and American culture that does The Cosby Show, which often presented life as a basket of daisies with a few small thorns in between.
24 comments:
The answers to these questions depend on how we want to define "realistic" and how we view the United States, especially since it is difficult to successfully represent every single aspect of society that the country encompasses in a single show’s premise. The Cosby Show sought to better represent the African American culture and community that had largely been underrepresented and misrepresented by the television industry. But as a whole, the show appealed to the same WASP and middle-class working values that had long been broadcast through other normal "white family" sitcoms and programming. The show offers a greater and more realistic representation of the U.S.'s diverse population as well as themes that speak to the black culture and issues faced by the black community in America, many of which (or all of which) had never been voiced before.
On the other hand, The Simpsons demonstrates more of a parody about the U.S.'s reality, but it is often done in such an exaggerated manner that it's hard to call it "realistic." At the same time, just looking at the character design makes an interesting point. The ability to project any race or cultural/ethnic identity onto the Simpsons and the other characters in their show (for their racially ambiguous skin color and body shapes) offers a way for audiences to identify with the characters and what they (albeit comedically) experience in the series. If the programming created through The Simpsons is produced on a more "relatable" audience, it is possible to say that this show is more "realistic," if aspects of reality can be applied to their situations.
I would say that The Simpsons represents the United States better, while The Cosby Show provides a more realistic portrayal of American life. The Cosby Show is rooted in reality and portrays the average, everyday life of an American family. However, television at this time believed the average American family was middle-class and had traditional gender roles, so The Cosby Show is providing the most realistic portrayal of a traditional, middle-class American family according to the media. It seems that The Cosby Show really focused on family dynamics and the issues that can come up between family members as well as generational differences. Their family had to deal with things that seemed mundane, but were things that come up with four children. Since characters on The Cosby Show actually grew up and grew as individuals, the show could realistically portray the topics and obstacles that appear as individuals advance through their childhoods and how their parents react to those changes. The Simpsons were more focused on utilizing the platform of their show to make commentary on American society and were more willing to push the boundary and openly criticize individuals, groups or culture as a whole. Due to this boldness, I would say that the Simpsons represents the U.S. better because they are willing to include opinions or obstacles that occupy every aspect of society. By watching The Simpsons, audiences can understand issues that plague the U.S., such as the flaws in our education system, intense and conflicting political ideologies, inequalities in wealth and any and all -isms. The Simpsons represents our country as a whole, but The Cosby Show does a better job at representing the families in this country.
Since the Simpsons has been on for 27 seasons, it could be seen as a satirical analysis of the American life. But because it has been such a long-running show, I think it depicts the United States overall better than The Cosby Show did. The Simpsons allows viewers to relate to the cast since they are vague in their identities; being that they are yellow and strangely shaped and don't directly identify with a specific race/ethnicity any American or even international viewer can relate to one or more of the characters. Different societal, political and cultural issues are brought up throughout the show in a comedic manner, but they still shed light on serious topics which allow viewers to relate to the characters. They've been able to shed light on political subjects like gay marriage, immigration, environmental problems and more. By depicting political issues of the times, viewers can go back to older seasons and see what was relevant in politics and pop culture and gain a better historical understanding.
On the other hand, The Cosby Show could be described as depicting the American life of the times well, since it shows an upper middle class family with their familial issues and the children's growing pains. They are a realistic portrayal of an upper middle class American family of that time period (late 80s/early 90s) but it didn't represent the aspects of African American family life that should have been portrayed, so it only really represents the generic WASP American life through its program. Since it puts societal issues of poverty and racism sort of in the past, it seems to only focus on a micro-perspective of an American family situation. Overall, The Cosby Show depicts one example of American life whereas The Simpsons sheds light on many issues within the United States.
I feel as though the Simpsons is a more accurate portrayal of the United States based simply on how long it has aired on U.S. television networks. Although it mocks many aspects of the American dream and family life in general, its satirical nature is what brings a lot of truth to how the United States actually functions. It brings up important societal and cultural issues that many people are afraid to talk about, and it does it in a comedic fashion which is generally how much of the U.S. population likes to look at things.
As for The Cosby Show, I think this is a much better representation of American life. Its depiction of upper-middle class family life is much how it has been portrayed throughout the history of television. By using an African American family, it appealed more to a specific demographic, however the ideals of the family within also matched up with the white upper-middle class. It was a show for most everyone in terms of relatability and that is why it is a much better representation of American life than The Simpsons is.
To answer the first question, I think The Simpsons is a more accurate representation of the United States. Its much more topical and shifts to cover a variety of relevant topics to American pop culture. The Simpsons covers social shifts in American society and satires the political climate but on top of that they also reference other iconic American television shows which really helps to give a wide overview of the United States as a whole. The fact that it has run for as long as it has is testament to how easy it is to relate to. But because the Simpsons is an animated show and as such is much more exaggerated in its satirical look at the American life, it doesn't paint as realistic a picture of American life as the Cosby Show did. The Cosby Show was a little more intimate in its portrayal of American life as it focused a bit more on the family dynamic during the time and showcased a lot of the tensions, albeit with a comedic spin put on it, of growing up during the 80s and the differences in generation when it came to parents and children. It as a more in depth look at living in America during that time compared to a social commentary which is kind of what The Simpsons did.
I think that The Simpsons represents both the US and American life better than The Cosby Show, just because the Simpsons covers so much more material. Instead of just covering what it is like to live in a traditional household dealing with basic kids/parenting topics that only happen inside the house, the Simpsons talks about larger issues and is extremely socially relevant and up to date. The Cosby Show is obviously more realistic because it is not an animated show, however the fact that The Cosby Show ignores and doesn’t address issues of race/politics/other current events is unrealistic. The Cosby Show does show traditional American family values but I think its content is very limited.
On the surface, of course The Cosby Show is more realistic. The show deals with real-life, day-to-day issues that affect American families across the country. However, I think that while the Cosby Show might be more relatable to viewers on a more personal level, The Simpsons is a better reflection of American society as a whole. The Simpsons aims to parody American society and culture, and in doing so, does not shy away from difficult topics or ideas. Because the characters are less realistic, the writers are able to put them in more uncomfortable situations and plotlines than they could get away with for characters that people personally relate to. The Simpsons family is meant to be seen as merely representative of the stereotypical American family, while the Cosby family is meant to be seen as a real family. I think audiences would react more negatively to Cosby characters put in taboo situations than the Simpsons because the characters remind viewers of themselves and their loved ones, so they are more sympathetic towards these characters. I believe that this limits the amount of social issues the show can address, and instead leads to content that is "safer". American society as a whole cannot be portrayed entirely through "safe" material; there are uncomfortable issues that need to be addressed regardless.
I think that the Cosby show represents an "idealized American life" whereas the Simpsons represents a more realistic portrayal through unrealistic characters and plot lines. Both shows are vastly different from each other; one is a cartoon and the other is a real life sitcom. The Cosby Show is more relatable towards audiences because not only is is real life but the issues and situations that the family is presented with resonate with audiences. The Simpsons, being a cartoon,is different in that the situations the family is presented with are more extreme and outrageous than the Cosby Show. I think the reason for these differing shows is that the Cosby Show is meant to revolutionize the portrayal of African Americans on television while the Simpsons is meant to address relevant social, political or cultural issues occurring at the time. As offensive as the Simpsons can be at times, they can get away with such offensive content because it is a cartoon and not real life. The Simpsons represents a more realistic portrayal of American life in that it makes fun of social issues that are representative of American life while at the same time demonstrating family values through the characters.
From first glance, it would seem that the Cosby show is realistic. The show does incorporate this day-to-day structure and everyday struggles and situations that people may find themselves in. However, many of the issues that are dealt with are very surface level compared to The Simpsons. Watching the show, and its animated, colorful, bizarre style, viewers can sense this portrayal of American life. The show really digs deeps in the issues is takes on. I believe they could do this because of the parade and cartoon style they had established. A lot of the issues that are presented are uncomfortable issues or to some even slightly offensive but because of this style that is was done in, it made for discussion rather than backlash.
Other shows, like The Cosby Show may have had a difficult time in handling more difficult issues because the show did seem more "real" in a way by having actual characters. I think that The Cosby show does a good job at handling family issues and presenting them, but The Simpsons have a much deeper discussion and analysis at a wider range of problems in America.
Although both shows are comedies about the typical American life, The Cosby Show is a more realistic portrayal when compared to the Simpsons. Aside from criticisms about The Cosby Show's inaccurate representation of most black lives in America, the show is still a more realistic portrayal in this case. Because the Simpsons is satirical and fantastic in nature, it allows the audience to laugh at and make fun of the hysterics of our culture. The Cosby Show, on the other hand, does make its audience laugh, but in more of a "laughing with us, not at us" type of way.
Clearly a successful show, the Simpsons is hitting the mark. But in terms of a realistic portrayal of American life, The Cosby Show is more accurate. When watching an episode of the Simpsons, I've never thought to myself, "I remember when I had a similar life event happen to me."
I agree with many of the comments above, especially with regard to The Cosby Show being a more realistic portrayal of American life than The Simpsons. Beyond the fact that The Simpsons have remained the same age for the entire duration of the show, many of the satirical elements of the show make it a less realistic portrayal. I think this becomes clear when you look at the motives behind the creation of each show. BIll Cosby created The Cosby Show with the intention of creating a space for African American stories on television, and African American storytellers behind the camera. While The Cosby Show may have been criticized for not realistically representing African American lives, it did represent American lives. In order to make a space for African Americans on television, Bill Cosby first had to get audiences used to seeing African Americans on screen. In doing that, he put them in roles that the vast majority of television viewers would relate to. This is why I believe The Cosby Show is amore realistic portrayal of American life than The Simpsons. The Simpsons was created to make a commentary on American life. And often times I find this commentary and satirical nature makes the show less realistic. I find that many realistic elements of American life are pushed to unrealistic extremes on The Simpsons in order to make a point.
The Simpsons represents the United States more accurately. When I think of The Simpsons, I immediately think of comedy, but I also think about the social commentary that they make in each episode tackling current events in a very tongue in cheek way. It’s a satire basically. The Cosby Show on the other hand focuses on one specific family, but that is it. It doesn’t go much further than the daily happenings of that family. For the time, it did tackle family values and issues, but that in itself is limiting if you are not able to leave the household. In terms of me feeling able to relate more to one show than the other, I would say The Cosby Show because I can see myself as one of the family members, whereas for The Simpsons, everything is too outlandish to relate to my everyday life.
I believe The Cosby Show is a better representation of American families. The Simpsons is more for entertainment, to make people laugh by over exaggerating certain events. Bill Cosby had the intention for his show to represent African American lives more but really just started to represent all families. The Simpsons do cover social issues in the show but make light of them by making it a comedic act. That is one thing The Cosby Show lacked was not staying current with social issues. However, The Cosby Show covered more family oriented problems. Financial problems, children problems like first boyfriend/girlfriend, and so on. As well covered what the typical family does, eating together, watching tv, having personal conversations and many more. The Cosby Show is more relatable to an typical American because they match family lifestyle.
Which show represents the United States better? Which is a more realistic portrayal of American life?
The show that represents the United States better is The Simpsons. In their show they bring up social issues that are happening in America and make them into jokes. Even though they use a comedic approach, their shows bring up topics happening in our country and get some people to think about them. They difference in the two of the shows is The Simpsons take place all over the town of Springfield and like I said, covering issues in the United States. Why The Cosby Show portrays the American life more realistically is because the show and Bill Cosby wanted to tackle family issues that every family goes through. It was also a comedy, but the comedy was not to hide the serious topics, when something serious would happen the jokes would be made before or after the point. It was said the original purpose of the show was to bring African American issues to the public, but instead it covered issues that everyone faces in America.
While the Cosby Show does represent American life well, I think The Simpsons is more realistic. I feel that The Cosby Show is more of a representation of home/family life in United States. In their episodes they cover many situations involving home issues and dealing kids and parenting. The Cosby Show isn't necessarily a representation of Black American life and that's why it's appeal was more generalized. The Simpsons have a lot more range in terms of topics they can cover. One of the advantages of being an animated show is that the story world isn't confined by one home and a finite set of characters like the Cosby Show. The Simpsons has that family dynamic that The Cosby Show covers, but the Simpsons goes beyond that and comments on things from sports to politics to pollution. The Simpsons have a wide range of topics and situations to work with and it usually involves self-criticism of American life by showing it's faults and ignorance through it's gullible/moronic characters like Homer and Bart.
I see the family in The Simpsons as an outlet for exploring all aspects of America and American Life. The show is not quite as relationship driven as it is plot-driven. Even as a young kid, I noticed that the first 5 minutes of the episode greatly differ in content from the last five minutes, and the motive or goal of each episode isn't realized until about five minutes in. While the relationships within the family and amongst their acquaintances are strongly outlined, they are the catalyst for discussion of outside episodes. For example, in the episode titled "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" (a favorite childhood episode of mine), Homer challenges a local man to a duel, but is too scared to go through with it. The family then runs off to Homer's childhood farm, where Homer tries to become a farmer by planting various seeds and fertilizing the land with nuclear waste. This creates the highly addictive tomato-tobacco hybrid referred to as "tomacco." Eventually, tobacco companies want to steal the product from the family, and the family returns home once more. Now, the plot is not central to the struggles of a family, as many of the experiences Homer and the Simpson family faces in the episode are not realistic. Instead, the episode is a larger statement on the monopoly of the tobacco industry, parodying the different ways tobacco companies have tried to sneakily market tobacco.
The Cosby Show is centered much more around family dynamics in middle class America. The conflicts of each episode tend to be character-driven and relationship-driven, like the episode we watched in class. Sure, the son in the episode got an earring, but the conflict rose from his fear of what his father might say, which is arguably more relationship based. The show was also revolutionary, in that it focused on a middle class African American family. The Cosby Show also ran for fewer than 10 years, and I haven't seen every episode, so perhaps the show does tackle bigger, less family-specific issues in other episodes. But, it appears that the conflicts are based in the family dynamics and each episode focuses on one specific conflict, unlike The Simpsons where the plot develops quickly and the central conflict of each episode isn't always relationship-driven.
I think this question will differ from person to person. Both of these shows present world problems and real life issues, however I think a lot of people might view the Simpson's way of showing it as too unrealistic, simply because they are cartoons. Personally, I think the Cosby show is a better representation of the United States. I think the Cosby Show uses real world issues and shows how different people react to it, based on race, gender, age, etc. I think Bill Cosby plays many roles as portraying American Life, being able to adapt to different situations, and he is also the one shown to solve/talk about many of the problems that are presented throughout the show.
On the other hand, I think the Simpsons is a good representations of the United States, but it is a little unrealistic in how they handle the situations in which they present. The most important aspects of the portrayal of American life is to present a problem, a reasonable way in which people act about it, and a reasonable solution. I think the Simpsons show the problem, however the way people react to them are usually done in a way in which will get the most laughs for the audience, and many times not how most people would react or have the same solution.
Both of these shows attempt to make statements about American life. The Cosby show attempts to show a side of American life that is rarely portrayed and often forgotten; This being the lives of more successful black Americans. The point of the Cosby show is to remind viewers that black people in America are not defined by one thing or one demographic, but can still be successful. This isn't to say that they don't experience racism and other conflict, just that they do live upper middle class lives. Of course this is a true aspect of American life, so it is difficult to say that it does not represent American life, but the show does underplay certain aspects of it.
The Simpsons attempts to cover all aspects of American life through absurd situations and characters. Although this show and the Cosby Show are both comedies, they are polar opposites in their approach. The Simpsons are a universal family that have the ability to experience all things so that the show can cover more ground. I believe that the Simpsons is a better representation of American life because of the ground that it covers. However, the Cosby Show is not necessarily a worse representation, but simply a show that aims to represent specific people that are often forgotten.
I believe that The Simpsons represents the United States as a whole better than The Cosby Show. Both shows do a great job in bringing in relevant issues from the time period in which they aired, but The Cosby Show is much more contained to middle class family life. The father is a doctor and the mother is a lawyer, and both have ample time to spend at home with their kids. The show was criticized for not accurately portraying African American life, but it did portray a real, true American family, and followed the trials and tribulations that middle class families across the U.S. went and still go through. I say that The Simpsons represents the U.S. better than The Cosby Show because The Simpsons isn't confined to that middle class lifestyle. Largely due to their respective genres, The Simpsons uses its characters and humor to tackle big issues, such as climate change, same-sex marriage, fracking, etc. The Simpsons focuses on one family in particular, but also expands beyond them to other town characters that better showcase a particular issue that the show is trying to poke fun at, while also bringing it to the conversation. However, when it comes to a realistic portrayal of American life, I think that The Cosby Show takes the cake. The Simpsons isn't realistic in many of the scenarios it presents, and has gags such as the couch gag in the show opening that obviously can't happen in real life. The Cosby Show is set in reality, not a cartoon universe, and thus is much more true to real life in America.
The Simpsons definitely represents the United States more holistically. I don't necessarily want to say it portrays it "better", but due to its flexibility as a cartoon and the wide range of satirical social commentaries it makes, it covered a lot more ground than the Cosby show can. Also, because of the show's longevity, it has been able to take more risks and remain socially relevant throughout the years, tackling difficult issues such as homophobia and immigration control through a humorous lens. Even looking at how the couch gag is redesigned from episode to episode depending on current cultural hot topics, it's easy to see how the show has had lasting appeal. The world of Springfield can be easily molded each episode to present a new issue and resolve it from start to finish, and we as audiences can buy into that lack of stability because it's a cartoon that suspends our disbelief.
Meanwhile the Cosby show was specifically aimed at introducing a different African American perspective to the world of television, in an era that posited the ideal middle class family as white. The focus of the show is much narrower. There are no huge, sweeping changes in the family dynamic and setting from episode to episode. Instead, it helped to reshape how we view African Americans, both on screen and in society. Rather than the usual villain or criminal, Cosby's character was a doctor, an occupation that was often reserved for white actors with an air of class and education in their appearance. But it was little details like this that made the Cosby show so influential--it made subtle opinion shifts on the existence and cultural endorsement of middle-class African American families, and how they fit into the greater American society. In that sense, it is a much more realistic portrayal of American life, not just because it isn't a cartoon like the Simpsons.
I think that though both shows are similar in the fact that they both portray life of an American family, they are also very different in the sense that they are doing it in ways that are like comparing apples and oranges. The Cosby Show portrayed the lives of a middle class African American family and demonstrates the "normality" of their day to day life. However, it does demonstrate more WASP-y ideals and not a real representation of what many African Americans were living like during that time, though they do bring up conflicts that needed to be addressed. It portrayed a stereotypical american family and problems the middle class experienced. On the other hand, the Simpsons have kept it ambiguous about their race and named the town with the name of a town that is most common in America. The Simpsons wanted to be more relatable to the masses because they were an animated series, FOX did not know what to expect of it and a show like this was largely unprecedented. Therefore, the Simpsons were able to tackle more important issues in American Society through the medium of humor and satire. Personally, both shows represent American family life in different way but if I had to choose which portrayed it better, I would have to say the Simpsons.
I think the Simpson's is a more forward approach to American culture. Being an animated show on fox, the Simpson's are allowed to make fun of and point out flaws in the american landscape. The Cosby Show couldn't get away with the things that the Simpson's get away with. The Cosby Show shows the life of an african american family but it skips over a lot of the struggles. The Simpson's digs down to root of it all. The Cosby's are an african american family that for the most part ignore their roots and their differences. The Simpsons acknowledge everything. They use humor to uncover truths and struggles of different cultures in the US. I think a yellow family allows for that sort of thing. We can distance ourselves and relate at the same time. There is no limit to what the Simpsons can address while the Cosby's seem to walk on eggshells around big issues. I think if you were to look at Blackish today, it does a lot better job of addressing the big stuff. While it has a different approach then the animated series, it's less timid in it's approach.
As we discussed in class, because the Simpsons is animated and the characters (the yellow skin and hairstyles) don’t come close to depicting what the average American looks like (Caucasian and normal hair), the show can get away with some more extreme (and sometimes offensive) content. As a result of this, the Simpsons is actually able to portray the United States better in terms of social issues and aspects of the American lifestyle. The Cosby Show, on the other hand, shows the ideal American lifestyle. The Cosby Show is a “white show” with black characters. It’s not accurate to say that all Americans lived a life in the 80s like the middle class Cosby family. The mom was a lawyer and the dad was a doctor - the whole family was pretty well off and they rarely talked about racism and spoke like white people. But because the conflicts and issues they dealt with were all similar in nature to what regular middle-class families dealt with at the time, it’s more relatable and therefore might seem more accurate. The idea of an affluent black family taking the place of a white family in a family sitcom definitely paved the way for current shows like Fresh off the Boat and Blackish on ABC. These shows both deal with societal issues by placing an average middle-class family on TV but with a different skin color than what we would normally expect.
Haha, pretty funny choices considering both of these shows aired at 8pm on Thursdays, kind of a perfect faceoff, The idealist Huxtables vs. The realist Simpsons. To be honest, the realist in me wants to hand this one to the Simpsons. Though the Cosby show sort of reflects what we want our families to look like in the US, its just not realistic. Like there was an episode that kind of surrounded the family getting into Hip Hop music as if it were some big controversial thing, and that's obviously not realistic for a lot of families, not to say that it couldn't apply to some. I think it would be nice if families were as idealist as the Huxtables, but its just not the way it is in my world. Now Homer skipping his Bart's parent-teacher conference to get some donuts, that's something I can see happening in today's America, sad but true. I mean, just looking at it plainly, the Huxtables are a stuffy white collar family (though not to say that they aren't relatable), while the Simpson's blue collar lifestyle is a little bit more recognizable and relatable. It almost has a sort of All In the Family type feel to it, Marge and Homer are certainly a lot like Archie Bunker and his wife when you look at it. Though its certainly hyperbolic and satirical, the show demonstrates present realities in the United States, tragic though they may be. While its a hard reality to face, whether its done with comedy or not, the Simpsons present a more realistic view of America and American culture that does The Cosby Show, which often presented life as a basket of daisies with a few small thorns in between.
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