Unit 1 Changes in the Way We Live
SupplementaryReading >> Culture Notes
I. A BriefIntroduction to The Simpsons
- Born: 1989
- Birthplace:Television
- Best Known As:Long-running yellow-skinned animated TV family
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom (情景喜剧)created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is asatirical parody (模仿的作品) of a working class American lifestyleepitomized (以…为缩影) by its eponymous (同名的)family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in thefictional city of Springfield, and satirizes American culture, society,television and many aspects of the human condition.
II. Origin
Groening conceived of the idea for The Simpsons in the lobby ofJames L. Brooks’s office. Brooks had asked Groening to pitch an idea for aseries of animated shorts, which Groening initially intended to present as his Lifein Hell series. However, when Groening realized that animating Life inHell would require the rescinding (废除) of publication rights for his life’s work, he chose another approachand formulated his version of a dysfunctional (功能不健全的) family. He named the characters after his ownfamily members, substituting “Bart” for his own name.
Influence onEnglish Language
A number of neologisms (新词) that originated in The Simpsons have entered popular vernacular(方言) andare listed in some famous dictionaries. The following are some expressions andtheir meanings.
(1)“D’oh”
It is an exclamation to express frustration oranger, especially at one’s own stupidity.
(2)“cheese-eating surrender monkeys”
It is a derogatory phrase referring to the Frenchpeople. It is notorious (臭名昭著的) in the United States, particularly in the run-up to the Iraq War.
(3)“cromulent”
It is an adjective, meaning “fine, acceptable ornormal; excellent, realistic, legitimate or authentic.”
(4)“I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.”
This sentence has become a template: “I, for one,welcome our new … overlords”. This template is commonly used on Internet forumswhen “a participant vastly overstates the degree of oppression or socialcontrol expected to arise from the topic in question”, or to express mocksubmission, usually for the purpose of humor.
(5)“Meh”
It is an interjection primarily used to imply adegree of indifference. Tone of voice and circumstance often imply a meaning.It can be used when you don’t want to answer an awkward or embarrassingquestion, or if you just plain have nothing else to say, and you want the otherperson to interpret the “meh” however he/she chooses.
