In actuality, the Simpsons portrays an acurate reflection of American society. People are afraid of the mobs, and in turn believe that all Italians are afiliated with them. We do tend to kiss up to them, which in turn only gives them more power. Michael (Fat Tony's son) is nothing like his father in the fact that he wants to be a chef, but everyone is scared of him because they don't want to get "whacked."
Also, many people believe that only women should be found in the kitchen. When the enemies of Tony find out that Michael made the desserts, they mock and scorn at him and his father because of the stereotype of men only doing the manual labor, or in this case taking over his fathers business. It makes Tony appear soft and "whackable" to his enemies, who in turn try to kill him.

What I found interesting in the Simpsons episode was how the relationship between Fat Tony and his son reflects the relationships and values of families in American culture today. Not only does Fat Tony look down upon his son for wanting to become a chef but Fat Tony's mob rivals laugh at Michael as well. Fat Tony wants Michael to be more masculine and join the family business of "waste management" instead of becoming some sissy little chef. Many fathers in today's culture put pressure upon their sons to do things. Whether it is joining the football team, or going to a certain college, or in this case joining the family business, some fathers seek fulfillment of their own dreams through their sons. Everybody is different. Everybody should have the choice to be what they want to be. This is the country where dreams come true. This is just one theme I concentrated on in my paper.

Project Runway is just the latest in a long line of already established reality shows. Now in its third season, Project Runway gives the viewers a taste of the fashion industry by showcasing a group of 12 fashion designers facing fashion challenges each week and one by one a designer and one of the designer's models are sent home. Two key points as to why the genral viewing audience is so infatuated with reality TV shows is because of the excessive and unneccessary amount of drama and their ability to identify with at least one of the participants. With celebrities of today being put on such a high pedestal and deemed so untouchable to the everyday viewer, reality TV stars seem much more similar and compatible with the average person. This point is also recognized by the television industry and made apparent with their choice of casting to reach demographics of viewers of all age, race, and gender. In Project Runway, their ensemble of designers reach out to every demographic in some way of another. They have and African American male designer, Michael, a foreign designer from Germany, Uli, two middle aged married male and female designers, Laura and Vincent, a young woman with an outdoors, country background, Angela, a supposed gothic and sarcastic designer, Jeffery, a young, gay male Kayne, and a young, modern fashionista Allison. Those were just a few examples from this particular season, but they serve as a representation of the cultural composition of the shows key demographic categories.

Project Runway conveys two messages: one of perfection and one of servitude. The designers, the servants, are designing to the taste of their masters, the judges, and the masters are only tolerant of perfection. The judges are reputable designers displaying the hierarchy in the fashion world. This hierarchy takes years of designing to move to the top but until then this show displays ways in which designers try to move up. The designers base their lives on the approval of their superiors.

Initially, the Simpsons struck me as being a serial about an ordinary American family in an ordinary neighbourhood. As I watched on, I realised that this was actually a stereotype of an average American family, dealing with various issues on American Culture. The first thing I noticed was that the society seemed to be inharmonious and determined to have a “them and us” attitude on more than one occasion. Different people were branded with different names based on their looks and behaviour. This is definitely a parallel to the society today. Overall, I found the Simpsons to be an over exaggeration of society. Homer Simpson was depicted as thick, senseless, ill-mannered and incapable. As TV takes everything up a notch, the Simpsons may overstress all the current issues in the U.S., but nevertheless, they do point out some concerns in the society today.

One point that stands out in the story is that Lisa, who is from a middle class family, very firmly believes in following her dreams. She thinks that it is very important for a person to do something that makes them happy. Michael, on the other hand, is brought up in an environment that is completely different from Lisa’s. He is raised knowing that someday he would take over his fathers Mafia business. Although he has his own dreams and aspirations, he is forced to suppress them and do as duty calls. This is clearly a clash in ideas of two children from completely different backgrounds.
There are many instances during the show wherein the sitcom manages to capture the current society in a very effective manner. For example, the school bus driver, like many young men and women in America, is an avid rock music fan and carries around a music system with him all the time. Michael’s father is shown wearing a suit and a lot of jewels as one would expect the mafia leader would. The bartenders and businessmen rely on the mafia for their business showing that although the mafia is not something a person would see everyday, even the middle class, is indirectly affected by them.
The language in this sitcom is not very polite and is not generally used in day-to-day conversations. For instance, the rhymes that the simpson kids sing on the bus in the sitcom are not what someone would teach their children.

The model of society that is revealed in this episode is a typical American family who meets and becomes friends with a high-powered mob family in Springfield. This is sort of odd due to the fact that everyone else in the town is scared to death of the Mob. Though there is a presence of females, the main gender in the episode is males. All of the individuals that are in the mobs and doing all of the criminal activities are all male. This gives off the assumption that the males do all the dirty work while their wives and families stay home and safe out of trouble. The race card could also be easily distributed in these sorts of cartoons as well. Though there are different races in the cartoon, there isn’t enough of a distribution in the characters as there would be in yours or my normal life.

Sunday night’s episode, a knockoff of the famous movie “The Godfather”, was centered on Lisa’s new friend Michael and his mobster father “Fat Tony”. Fat Tony was pleased that his son had made a new friend and invited the Simpsons over to his home for dinner. However, Tony is shot when Michael tells his father that he would rather become a chef than the mob’s new kingpin. Ironically, Homer jumps at the opportunity to take over the mob and assures Michael he knows everything about mob life from watching the movie “Scarface”. This just goes to show how ridiculously media-obsessed Americans really are—“our” distinction between reality and television has become almost non-existent. When Michael is alarmed to see how corrupted Homer and Bart have become from the mob, he invites the rival family over and poisons their dinner. When Lisa asks if he killed them on purpose, he characteristically responds, “Don’t ever ask me about my family business”. This quote is actually a famous line from the Godfather. In order to even understand some television today, viewers are required to have prior knowledge of some other popular film—this highlights the current social significance of the T.V. and film industry.

One of the things this Simpsons episode did was refer to almost all the mob movies & shows out there (including having two Sopranos stars doing guest voices). How much of this do you need to be familiar with to "get it"? How many mob movies or shows are you familiar with, and did you recognize them here?

Instead of looking at the role of Homer within his family, I choose to look at the imagery used by the writers of the show to depict "mob" life. Yes, it was funny to see Homer, the idiotic father, as a mob boss who drove expensive cars and had lots of jewelry.

In the beginning of the episode, Bart steals the school bus while Otto is preoccupied talking to the band “Metallica”. The idea that a child care provider could be distracted to this point by celebrities is mocking our cultures general obsession with them. Once Otto has been made a fool of due to his misguided obsession, he catches up with Bart at school, and as you can imagine he is quite angry. Otto decides to punish Bart for his misdeeds and beings to spank him on the spot, Principle Skinner catches him in the act and freaks out, suspending him immediately. These actions convey many anxieties held towards and by public schools. This shows that it was not Otto’s place to spank Bart (nor the school’s), however drastic his misdeeds may have been. It also shows that the administration in public schools is often too concerned with what they can and can’t do in an ongoing effort to avoid lawsuits, that they sometimes lose sight of what is important: the children’s wellbeing, upbringing, and education.

In the latest episode, "The mook, the Chef, the Wife, and her Homer", Lisa befriends the son of Fat Tony (the local mob boss) who is aspiring to become a chef rather than succeed his father in the Mafia...Now, much like The Simpson's style, this very unlikely story is filled with many cues from modern society. This episode exploits the cliches and stereotypes about the Italian Mafia. Repeated use of the word "whack" and other synonyms instead of "kill", heavy Italian accents, and "exaggerated displays of affection" are all obvious stereotypes of Italians and the Mafia. The character "Fat Tony" is also a long running stereotype of a typical mob boss...It's probably safe to say that most people's interaction with mobsters is through watching them on television and in movies, meaning that viewers are left with only generalizations of the culture. With that said, this episode of The Simpsons, instead of just focusing on exaggerating existing stereotypes, actually ends up being a big joke about how today's society has formed these (mis)conceptions of Italian and Mafia culture. The Simpsons demonstrates that it can reflect upon stereotyping, an ongoing issue in today's society, in a comedic light.

It's entertaining to see these real people sweat it out to win their chance at fame. But are they not 'famous' for just being on the show?We come to know the personalities of the people on the show and some of them we hate, while there are othersthat we cheer for every time, mostly because they end up having some of the same personlity traits as we have. One of my favorite shows is Project Runway and every time it comes down to the judging, I'm just pleading with all my life that Michael isn't sent home.This show is a very good example of what people like, even if it is just another mind numbing television show that keeps us at home on the couch, rather than outside in the fresh air. People see themselves in these 'celebrities.' The person on the couch may not be exactly like the person on that 17" fla screen, but they still both have some of the same attributes. We all have hardship, but it's nice to know that even though we are't perfect, we could still be 'livin' large' one day. These pseudo celebrities are proof of that.

The trends of inevitability appear in the form of Michael wearing his father’s identity, in the unavoidable addiction to mob life that Homer and Bart form, and the trend in stereotypes that fill this episode to brimming. From ominous music foreshadowing a crime, the townspeople making special accommodations for Michael when they discover his connection to Fat Tony and the mob, the use of mob vocabulary such as “waste management,” deadly negotiations, and more demonstrate social responses to the mobster community. The show creators, however, handle references in a fashion that is outrageously obvious and comical, making it less likely to offend its audience.

Beginning with the overall purpose of this show, we can identify the cultural values that its contestants hold as important. The show is completely centered around the fashion industry, which implies a heavy emphasis on high class and high fashion sense. The individuals shown must design high-taste garments that appeal to the eyes of the judges and potentially to the fashion world. At the end of each “challenge”, these contestants must stand before judges and explain themselves and their ideas. This particular structure of “weeding” out designers reveals the highly judgmental fashion industry. Being told “you are out” or “you are in” reflects the common human tendency to declare some as winners, and those who aren’t “up to par” as failures.

The first time i came to the United States, i was curious abut this show called the Simpsons. It seemed like every time i left my house i would see some types of the Simpsons merchandise. I felt like i was the only one wo doesn't know about the show, even little kid knew about the Simpsons show. I found it funny how seriously Americans took a cartoon; on the other hand i was also ver curious as to why this is. After watching the show several times i realized why the Simpsons is a reflection of American cultural preoccupations, anxieties, and values.