Dec 30, 2024  
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2018-19 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

US 292 Sociology of the Simpsons

Using The Simpsons television show as a road map, this course will explore several social themes across American culture as they are portrayed in broadcast media, emphasizing and improving students’ own sociological imagination.  The Simpsons is America’s longest running sitcom, and has provided countless hours of entertainment while making community issues relevant and relatable.  In this course we will examine many different social themes through the eyes and lives of the main characters and the universe that they occupy.  Our emphasis will be on how wide the spectrum of social issues The Simpsons encroaches upon, as well as how broadcast media uses vehicles like The Simpsons to discuss social issues and concerns affecting American society.  Through assignments and readings, students will gain a deeper understanding and hopefully a new outlook on how social issues can be discussed openly and through the media.  Students will employ their sociological imagination when they create a script for an episode of The Simpsons that involves a social concern, as well as an opportunity to explore a social topic and its impact in broadcast media in more depth through several research assignments.