Instructor: Karma Waltonen, University Writing Program, College of Letters and Science
Description: This course will investigate the longest running sitcom in America—The Simpsons. As Duane Dudek of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel maintains, “If television stirs primal memories of ancient communal campfires, then "The Simpsons" are the cave paintings for our times.” We will be social anthropologists, exploring the cave paintings to understand what they reveal about our culture. We will pay special attention to how the show functions as a satire—how it serves as corrective comedy to issues such as consumerism, inequality, and political dysfunction. We will also discuss the show as an example of postmodern literature. Students will collaborate to produce a “mini script” of The Simpsons to demonstrate a mastery of the subject and to discover the intricacies of humor composition.
Format: The seminar will meet for two hours each week for ten weeks. The time will be divided between informal lecture presentations, Simpsons viewing, discussion, and student presentations. Short readings will be assigned from a course reader each week. Grading: The majority of the grade will be determined by a small group projects. Members of the group will collaborate to produce an original “mini script” of The Simpsons (50%). The remainder of the course grade will be based on an informal reading journal (25%) and the frequency and quality of their participation in class (25%).
About the Instructor: Karma Waltonen is a lecturer in the University Writing Program. She is a self-certified Simpsonologist; she previously taught a course at Florida State University entitled “Writing About The Simpsons: Satire and Postmodernism” and has published an article about the show. She was recently quoted in a newspaper article about the new movie, but maintains that she could never live in Springfield because “the bright colors may give me a headache.”