'The Waltons' and 'The Simpsons'
             In this essay I will show a comparative study of the two views of American family life as shown in the two television series 'The Simpsons 'and 'The Waltons".
             The "Waltons" is an American television series narrated by one of it's characters John Boy. It began in 1972 and ran until 1982, the story is set in the period 1930-1940, it illustrates the lifestyle of an exemplary country American family that lived in that period.
             The Simpsons ran as a "bumper" during the Tracey Ulman show, this runs to the present day, it is written by Matt Groening. It is a comic television series illustrating the worst aspects of American modern life. One of the central themes of the Simpsons is television itself.
             The main difference between the Waltons and the Simpsons is the use of animation in the Simpsons and the use of a real cast in the Waltons. The cartoon media is versatile allowing almost anything to happen in the cartoon, the possibilities are endless. However if this is not the case in the Waltons as real people are used, the implications are obvious, for instance if John was to take Homers place he would have died long ago of alcohol poisoning. Using cartoon as a media, the makers are given a multitude of options as to how they wish to keep the viewers interested, the Simpsons is in cartoon form because you can have more special effects which make failures and accidents even funnier. As well as its versatility, the Simpsons also has another important quality, it's picture is far better than that of the Waltons. The Simpson appear colourful and vibrant while the Waltons appear dull, this reflects the programme content, the Simpsons being exciting and the Waltons less so. Initially the Waltons appears to be more realistic, this is probably because of the use of people instead of cartoon characters and less comic violence.
             But...