Most of the public would have most probably watched The Simpsons.
Have you guys thought about the voice -overs for the characters? I have, on numerous occasions, given much thought to who could be the voice- overs for the unique personalities of the unique characters.
Firstly, I thought Bart Simpson (son of Homer Simpson) would be voiced over by a young male. Furthermore, I thought each character would have one voice over each. Therefore, it came as a very big shock to me when I discovered that Bart Simpson was voiced over by a female!!!!! Furthermore, almost each voice over took the parts of at least 10 characters on the average. Can you guys believe it? Maybe you all knew about this earlier, but since technology and I have been out of touch for very long, I just skimmed through you-tube videos and came across this astonishing news today.
Although, this may take a while to load please take your time to watch it. It is worth every single minute of your time.
I believe that verbal communication plays a very important role in this multi-award winning series. This video is actually the last of a five-part interview in ”In the Actors Studio”. It provided me with useful insight into the usage of verbal communication.
Firstly, language is often a powerful relational tool. Therefore, when Homer Simpson says really mushy stuff to his wife when he is drunk (which is like always !), one cannot help but also feel some form of affection towards him. The words that he uses are not at all understandable, however he has formed his own “language” with the words that he uses and hence we tend to feel affection towards him.
It is to be noted that just like what I stated above, the words that each of the individual characters used in The Simpsons in turn relate to their character. Through their verbl communication with each other and the manner they interact with other family members, we get an idea of what their character is and we in turn develop our own views about them. Therefore, it is obvious that verbal communication helps to decide how a person views another person as well. For instance, Lisa (Homer Simpson’s daughter) is always the ” good” girl who always cares about others and ever-ready to lend a helping hand. You might ask how I know this? (well, I have asked myself many times this!) The truth is, I do not know. I do not Lisa personally and yet I have managed to form an impression of her in my mind just by looking at the way she speaks. Lisa never uses any vulgarities and there is a stark contrast between Bart and Lisa in the manner that they speak. In my opinion, I feel that this is generally a good tactic used by the director (who is the voice over for Homer Simpson and 10 other roles) to convey the different personalities that are portrayed in the family.
Towards the end, one of the first-year students asked about whether their roles as actors affected their outlook on life.
It seems that there is a cult in England that idolises Ned Flanders! The power of the language and the way he has related to people of similar characteristics can be evidently shown here. For those who never have watched The Simpsons before, Ned Flanders is a very pious person who always follows in the way of Christianity. There are certain jargons that he uses that are associated with Christanity and this in turn has attracted millions of fans just because of the fact that they are just as pious as he is. For example, any incident that happens or any action that anyone uses, Ned Flanders always associates it with Jesus Christ. Instead of seeing whether he is religiously correct, it can be noted that the ability of Ned to influence others through his words s indeed extremely large. It seems that the cult only watches The Simpsons when the episodes that are being screened include Ned Flanders. All the other times, they watch reruns of the same episode repeatedly. Moreoever, instead of visiting churches, it seems that this particular cult listens to a particular sermon given by Ned Flanders on one of the episode. You can see the power of verbal communication very well in this instance.
However, it is obvious that there are downsides to the show as well. Like what is mentioned in the video above, it was criticised as it allowed Bart to use words like “Kiss my ass” and a few others. On top of that, it uses slang that tend to exclude other minority groups and “encourages” racism. For example Papu, an Indian who owes the local grocery store, is voiced over with a strong Indian accent after living in the same neighbourhood as The Simpsons for 20 years. Therefore in a way, I feel that they should try to minimise the usage of slangs and jargon and maximise the usage of more appropriate words. Culture is the main element that is being affected here. What is the show trying to encourage? It is very difficult to answer that question. Although through Lisa they might try to instill some good values among the kids, in some shows even good-two-shoes Lisa was depicted as being a bad girl. When the director does it, it throws the younger generation into confusion over what to believe.
Personally, I feel that it was alright as the show was targeted at a much older generation. Of course, it is definitely not suited for kids because of the ambiguous language used and bypassing may occur. Kids may be subjected to various intepretations and this of course will pose a problem for their parents. Therefore, the bottomline is that this is just not the programme for the younger generatio as they lack the thinking to critically analyse what the show is actually trying to tell and may end up having the wrong idea.
Simpson fanatics have actually written a Simpson’s dictionary. This is unbelievable right? Although the show has been running successfully for 13 years, I feel that more improvements could be made for the programme. For example, maybe the use of jargons could be terminated and more grammatically correct english could be used. This is case will in turn will make the show lose its “unique” factor which makes it so appealing. Therefore, there must be some kind of balance where the slangs and jargons are equal to grammatically correct english. Maybe, the director can work towards achieving this purpose.
However all in all, I still love The Simpsons!!
Like Homer J Simpson would say “D’OH!!!!” (in the Simpson’s script, this is referred to as an “annoyed grunt” 
P.S. Those who want to catch it, they air it on star world everyday at 6 pm and sundays on channel 5 at 7.
P.S.S Those who want to watch the full interview, just go to you tube and type “The Simpsons-Inside the Actor’s Studio”
I just love The Simpson’s, I’ve been fans of it for as long as i can remember.Yea i agree that the language they is sometimes a bit harsh for the younger generation, the itchy and scratchy show on The Simpson’s also show some violent stuff where itchy(mouse) and scratchy(cat) tries to kill each other.Its something like tom and jerry but a bit more violent.
For me Simpson’s is classic))) I always woke up early, in order not to miss the show. Even though I watch it in russian I could understand that the language used is not very appropriate for children. But the show is funny)