BECA Senior Seminar

As usual, The Simpsons fails as a satire when it comes to criticizing ideologies of race by constantly undercutting itself. First of all, the beginning of the episode is irrelevant to the whole stated purpose (by the writers) of the episode which is to "fix" the problem with Apu's embodiment of a racial stereotype.

The most recent time I can remember when I felt like I had to set aside apart of myself is when I was watching Dave Chapelle's latest Netflix special. The whole special felt cringey, but there were specific bits that really rubbed me the wrong way as a woman. One bit he did was about Louis C.K and sexual harassment. I love Louis C.K's comedy and his actions break my heart because how can I support someone like that? Dave Chapelle started the bit with a joke about masturbation which was funny,  but then he used it to undercut the gravity of sexual harassment. He goes on to say "they ruined this [guy's] life, and now he's coming back playing comedy clubs and they actin' like if he's able to do that, that's gonna hurt women." While I can see that Dave Chapelle's argument is that Louis C.K has learned his lesson and isn't going to sexually harass anymore women, how can anyone say that this is true? And beyond that, Dave Chapelle misses the en...

The recent  South Park episode, "Band in China" effectively criticizes censorship in China while also making jabs at the hypocrisy of American companies and corporations that validate and perpetuate the censorship rules to profit from the large Chinese consumer population. The writers did not go after the American government in the same way they did the Chinese government, missing the opportunity to point out ways in which media gets censored in the good ol' U.S of A. I think the difference between criticizing government censorship and corporate censorship within the episode is the motivation behind the criticism. The project of the episode is to draw attention to the ways in which American companies are reacting to Chinese censorship rules rather than comparing the two governments.  I think the writers do this successfully throughout the episode with Randy's adventure to China, and Stan's attempt at fame.  The first example of this happens a minute and a half...

One of the things we decided to code about small businesses is the stereotypical “going out of business” signs. These signs usually point to big business as the evil entity that is taking away all of the small business’ customers. This episode of South Park plays up the going out of business signs by also illustrating an abandoned downtown area with shops having broken windows and doors that are boarded up with wood. It shows how powerless small business owners are over larger corporations. Throughout the episode, characters comment on how low the prices are and what great deals the new Wall-mart offers compared to the local small businesses. Even when the people of South Park decide that they are all going to make an effort to shop at their local stores, they each secretly shop at the big box store instead. While the writers mean to jab at viewers who practice the same habits, they fail to make genuine criticisms at companies like Walmart that take advantage of small towns that d...

I think that Jonathan Swift has the explanation to why shows like The Simpsons and South Park have been running for so long. Even though the shows are offensive, audiences fail to see that they are part of what is being criticized or poked at, so they don't take personal offense to the jokes. For example, the pilot episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" takes aim at top management, pointing at their greed when the workers at the nuclear power plant don't get their Christmas bonuses. The episode also takes a swing at the working man when Bart tells his dad, "you must really love us to sink so low," when it is revealed that Homer has been secretly working as a Santa at the mall to make up for the lack of a Christmas bonus. Bart's comment implies that there is something shameful in not having enough money. Because  The Simpsons has something to say about everyone, it's possible for viewers to filter out what they don't want to hear about them...