CJ Fairman

  Throughout its 31 season run, The Simpsons (20th Century Fox Television; 1989-present) has evolved and changed from a subversive satire of the American sitcom to an institutional classic of animated television. During this run, the characters have changed as well, for example Homer Simpson, the patriarch of the titular family, shifted from a bumbling and sincere Average Joe who is very concerned about how his family is perceived by society, to an increasingly temperamental and impulsive exaggeration of a human being, having been described as “…a boorish, self-aggrandising oaf…” (Bonné, 2000). Two of the other characters that have also changed in significant, but not necessarily immediately obvious, ways in a feminist viewpoint; the characters of Marge and Lisa Simpson, who have both held feminist stances throughout the series, though the prominence of this viewpoint has varied from episode to episode, season to season. Marjorie Jacqueline “Marge” Simpson (née Bouvier) is the stay...

  ‘In the beginning the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very   angry and has widely been considered as a bad move.’ (Adams, 1985: 90) In the decades preceding the initial recording and broadcast of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on BBC Radio 4 in 1977, the franchise has come in many varied and contradicting forms; from the book series, to the 1981 television series; and the 2005 film, which will be the subject of this review. Produced by Touchstone Pictures and co-scripted by Karey Kirkpatrick and Douglas Adams prior to his death in 2001, the film is a loose adaptation of the first four episodes (or ‘Fits’ as they are referred to) of the radio show, with some film exclusive materials and elements. While it was received favourably upon its release, the film has been criticised by fans of the original radio, book, and/or television series for the new additions and the ‘Hollywood-isation’ or ‘Americanisation’ of the very British text...