Daniel Taylor

 Thesis: Auteurs of animated sitcoms have more creative control of what material they put out than auteurs of live action sitcoms. As a result their work demonstrates clearer, more personal, and more sincere political and cultural ideology than the studio run output of their live action counterparts. Why is this?  Essentially, I’m attempting to argue that if authorship does exist in television it is most prevalent in animated television shows.  I will use live action shows as a contrast to animated sitcoms to help demonstrate this.

 Animated shows have a niche audience.  They are not attempting to reach the huge audience that other shows are.  As a result there is less bureaucratic red-tape as far as the creative process.  Fans are not only fans of the shows but of the animator himself.  Animation is also cheaper to produce.  As a result, production companies take more of a chance on independent animators like: Seth Green and Robot Chicken.

 The most successful animated shows are one-man-bands.  They do not have the community processed jokes of live-action sitcoms.  Animated sitcom creators usually write, direct, and voice the characters of each episode.  Often times they even compose the music for their theme and also musical numbers within the show.  Animated programs often ride on the talent of one or two hugely creative figures.  These shows are their authored work and they run the show absolutely.

 The very nature of animation, allows for creators to be more imaginative, have more scope, and use more fantasy or non- realistic elements to make statements, as opposed to the confines of live-action sitcoms and their studio shooting: bigger casts, with more specialized roles that can be representational.  The Simpsons: can poke fun at school, church, small town government, police officers, and work in several minutes.  The satire can be removed to other parts of the world fairly easily.  Celebrities and politicians can be caricatured just by being in the show.

FAMILY GUYAMERICAN DAD

 Creator Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show.  Writes, Directs, Voices, and Composes music.  Did original animations.  Shows are his creation.  Runs the shows absolutely.  Famous for cut away jokes that live sitcoms can’t attempt.

THE SIMPSONSFUTURAMA

 The Simpsons and Futurama.  The Simpsons is the most collaborative of the modern animated sitcoms.  But Groening designed the characters.  Named them after his family members.  Developed original character designs and personalities.

 South Park.  Distinct animation style using cutout pieces.  First contemplated small town life then jumped to larger more controversial issues.  Political and Cultural stances are obvious.  Pushed the envelope, as far as vulgarity and violence in television animation.

 “…the show very much reflects the sensibilities of its originator, Matt Groening.” (Neuhaus 763)  “From its first season in 1990, The Simpsons derided the idealized family sitcoms of the past: the bickering Simpson family seemed the very antithesis of the placid, well-ordered families in postwar family sitcoms.” (Neuhaus 76)  “Groening admits that some parts of The Simpsons were inspired by his own childhood in Portland, Oregon.” (Tom Sawyer and Bart Simpson 2)  “The Simpson family is free to roam around the fictional town of Springfield, allowing for a wider range of situations and larger number of characters than are available to any live-action situation comedy without a massive budget.” (Crawford 54)

 “Family Guy takes a more fractured approach, relaxing or completely deconstruct- ing the rules of narrative structure to allow for pop-culture references and non sequiturs.” (Crawford 58)  “This is attributable to the fact that creator Seth MacFarlane used to be a resident of the state.” (Crawford 60)  “Family Guy’s breaking of the “rules” of the animated sitcom narrative as dictated by The Simpsons is indicative of the versatility and evolution of the medium.” (Crawford 68)

 “Having been lumped into this second category, a show such as South Park, he argues, tends to be taken at face value, whereas a more respected text would be probed for subtle or symbolic meaning.” (Sienkiewicz and Marx 8)  “Parker, with nominal support from a writing staff, wrote every script, and he and Stone voiced nearly every character in the South Park universe.” (Sienkiewicz and Marx 10)  “Stone and Parker were in position to comment on contemporaneous issues. Stone joked, “We can ‘cast’ whomever we want, or fly to Mars or have four airplanes flying overhead at one time. We just need to cut up a few more pieces of construction paper.’” (Sienkiewicz and Marx 11)

 Neuhaus, Jessamyn. "Marge Simpson, Blue-Haired Housewife: Defining Domesticity on The Simpsons." Journal of Popular Culture 43.4 (2010): Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Nov  "BART SIMPSON & TOM SAWYER." Scholastic Scope 59.3 (2010): Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Nov  Crawford, Alison. "Oh Yeah!": Family Guy as Magical Realism?." Journal of Film & Video 61.2 (2009): Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 24 Nov  Winokur, Mark. "Costume Jewry: "South Park's" Holocaust of the Passion." English Language Notes 44.1 (2006): Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 24 Nov  Sienkiewicz, Matt, and Nick Marx. "Beyond a Cutout World: Ethnic Humor and Discursive Integration in South Park." University Film and Video Association, Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 24 Nov