The Simpsons is known for being the longest running show on TV, which may baffle many of its viewers (myself included.) But once you approach the simple cartoon after reading Mittell's assessment, it becomes apparent why it has managed to survive so long. The Simpsons is more than just a cartoon. Unlike its predecessors The Simpsons manages to combine two genres in one- the family-style sitcom and the very pliable cartoon. Before this, cartoons such as the Donald Duck video we watched in class used the cartoon style to create episodes about violence and physical humor that would otherwise be unable to be depicted without the characters facing serious injuries. Changes to set, and appearance of characters are relatively easy to do in a cartoon as opposed to a sitcom with real, human actors and sets that had to be manually adapted. In this aspect, The Simpsons has a lot of freedom in regards to the way they could design the lifestyle of their characters.
The Simpsons also reflected many of the sitcoms that were on TV at the time of its origin. The Simpsons portrays an animated family of Marge, Homer, Bart, and Maggie, who face typical family issues (bad grades, making money, marriage) except in the exaggerated animated fashion. The siblings dont get along, the father is the typical "dumb dad" that was a common stereotype of family sitcom shows of the time. There always seems to be some kind of moral lesson learned during the episode that emphasizes the importance of family.
The reason they have stuck around so long is because of their ability to adapt to today's media. Every episode it seems that there is a reference to today's pop-culture.

I have never been big on horror films. As a child I felt I was too afraid of them and as I have gotten older I feel as though I can't really get as absorbed in them as most people seem to. I do not see the appeal to these slasher films and if I do happen to watch one, as soon as the film starts to get scary I think about how everyone is just acting and everything is fake. I'm not the kind of person that has nightmares after seeing a horror film either, my experience is just purely in the moment, unlike my sisters who were always left with bad dreams for weeks after the latest horror film. One movie that has always gotten to me though is Willow. I saw it as a child and many times since, but still retain that completely-scared-to-the-point-where-i-have-to-cover-my-eyes-and-hum feeling. Who knows if maybe the midgets creep me out to no end or if its just the freaky monsters and wolf-dogs, and goblin/monkey things. Even now as I search Google for "Willow monster trolls" and i come across other images from the movie a shiver runs down my spine. As a child, for some reason I would have horrible nightmares about wolves. When I saw this movie the one scene that sticks out to me the most is basically the opening scene when a bunch of black, vicious wolves attack the little peoples' village and one little girl is standing there separated from her mother and father, screaming crying. I was most afraid of this part because I felt that I could relate to it. Probably one of my worst fears is getting separated from my loved ones in a time of crisis so that's why that hit me so hard as a child and still remains with me to this day. I think that movie writers do try to make their films more and more shocking by appealing to what they understand to be the current trend of fear. As we face the war in Project Desert Storm, movies have involved more "Middle-East" looking characters as villains and more soldiers as protagonists. I'm pretty foggy on the trend fear during the 80's when Willow came out, but there was most likely a pattern of mythical creatures and gory (but simple by today's standards) CGI. Although I think that there will always be a rush for teenagers, mostly boys, to see the latest gruesome slasher murder movie; to find out the newest torture method or see every detail on those dismembered bodies. Movies are more and more graphic and to me, that's way more than I'd like to see.

The Beatles & Rockband

I would have to agree with Daniel Radosh about Rockband putting The Beatles to the forefront of the evolution of the music industry. As if these music video games aren't popular enough, add The Beatles to the mix and it becomes almost revolutionary. The Beatles themselves broke many records in the music industry because of their unprecedented popularity. Rockband has also broken records for the video game industry by beating out sports games for being the second most popular video game genre after the action genre. Once you add the world's most popular band you have a recipe for success. Not only does the interactive game appeal to younger people, but the epic popularity of The Beatles reaches out to an entirely new category of people who have never bought video games before but who are intrigued by the popularity and decide to make the purchase because of their history with, and affection for, The Beatles' music.
In the article they also mention the large amount of revenue received from users who decide to purchase music played in the game, through the Rockband music store. Here, Rockband charges $2 per song (twice as much as iTunes) and users can purchase new songs to add to their libraries and learn to "play" on their "instruments." Sales from these songs have been shown to reawaken an artist's popularity and jolt their sales as younger generations are exposed to older music. In this way, The Beatles; surviving members and widowers or those deceased will undoubtedly earn continuous royalties from this kind of airplay. It's a win-win situation for both parties (Rockband and The Beatles) because both have such a large fanbase, though in different age groups, that they help each other by bringing in more users while the other brings in more royalties.
While I do agree that this puts The Beatles at the forefront, I do think that it's Rockband making the evolution of music by creating different ways for users to reach their product.