This text is from season 19 episode 15 of the Simpson, aired on March 30, 2008, makes fun of the leniency with which we treat gun control. With recent events in Las Vegas and the growing need to address the issue of gun control, I thought the text was extremely relevant right now. It shows how access to things like cigarettes and lottery tickets is more of a concern than access to guns, as Homer has a total of 4 guns that we can see and obviously finds no problem with ease of access to the guns. I actually recently saw a new piece illustrating the same idea, as the network had a “13” year old boy go in and try to buy lottery tickets and cigarettes and get rejected, yet he went to a gun show, told the person his age and bought a shot gun and bullets within minutes, no problem.
     This text is typical of the genre of television sitcoms, as it makes fun of current political climates or situations going on in the world, as 6 mass shootings occurred between Jan 1st, 2007- the air date of this episode. It is not really atypical of its genre, but as a text conveying a message it could be considered atypical as it uses a humorous situation to illustrate the point rather thanking straight forward and serious, using facts and figures to make a point. The tone is satirical and the intended audience was viewers of the show, but its consequential audience ended up being users of Tumblr and a wider audience through the internet, which is where I originally came across this as a gif. The potential implications are that America doesn’t have straight priorities in these issues because of the politics behind the issues, and pitfalls of the genre is that people don’t take the messages seriously because they aren’t portrayed in a serious manner. I also think it is ironic that Fox airs the Simpsons, as they are a heavily republican station, and this message is making fun of Republicans stance on the issue of gun control.