The Simpsons Analysis

Moreover, some elements of the original show were omitted due to their cultural inappropriateness. In her doctoral dissertation The Adaptation of U.S. Television Programs in Foreign Markets: How Japan and France Put their Distinctive Spin on The Simpsons, Shari Ross Altarac points out that “numerous episodes dealing with taboo subjects such as homosexuality are censored from the Arab satellite network MBC.” (as cited in Rodríguez Martín ,2015).

The witty lines and the hilarious comments and acts of the characters are funny because of what they relate to, since they are connected to the deep roots of the original targeted society and its culture. Once one watches The Simpsons, and then watches Al Shamshoon, one would immediately sense the

The viewer can find many messages, direct and indirect. There is the idea of many Americans disapproving of war, and at the same time the contradiction in being against war and still boasting about American glories. It also triggers the thought of how popular the movie trilogy Star Wars is and the way many Americans are fond of it. There is a straightforward invitation encouraging library search and reading books to collect and learn facts. In addition, of course, "Peace" as the perfect end of the

There is no mention of war at all; war is translated as fights, i.e. street fights. Moreover, instead of translating Star Wars trilogy as it is mentioned in the original show, there is a weak trial in the Arabic version to relate to movies that are popular to Arabs. These movies are represented in James Bond, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Rambo movies; except that these movies are mentioned as the source of information about fights instead of the library in the original speech, the library that is the source of historical events in this context. The library in the Arabic version, though the whole scene is located in it, is not mentioned at all, not even hinted at, and neither reading nor books. Instead of the obvious message in the English speech, encouraging the audience to read books and check library sources, the Arabic message unfortunately implies that the sources are movies, action movies; old action movies. A possible reason of the choice of these specific movies is to relate to the same period of time when Star Wars was produced. However, Star Wars at the time of broadcasting "Bart the General" in 1990 was a relatively recent and a very popular movie sequel, while in 2005, the year when Al Shamshoon was released, Rambo, James Bond, and Jean Claude Van Damme movies seem like classic movies that many of the younger generations have never heard of or watched. The