Simpson's Critique

The Simpsons is a classic ironical cartoon that has been around since the late eighties. Each episode of The Simpsons involves hypocrisy within educational systems, religious beliefs, and the American political structures. This critique of The Simpsons explains how the show reaffirms middle class myths and lifestyles, by giving examples from many different episodes. One episode shows how family responsibilities may get in the way of what an individual truly wants to do. Another shows that conforming to peers and wanting to be considered "cool" by society, can lead to hurting oneself. One episode challenges and criticizes American politics by poking fun at the two-part system in the United States. 

Every character in The Simpsons has a unique role and personality. The Simpsons are a lower-middle class family, who live in the suburbs, own a dog, and have a family that often deviates from societal norms. Marge, the stay at home mom, is often not appreciated by her family. The disregard and dismissal of women in American society is shown through Marge. Bart, the young boy who is always getting into trouble, shows the failure of public schools. During the introduction of each episode, Bart is shown writing sarcastic lines on the chalkboard such as, " This punishment is not boring and pointless". Lisa is the voice of reason in the family. She has rationality and intelligence, and is out casted because of this. This shows that in American society intelligence and book-smarts are not always valued or respected. Mr. Burns is a character used to show American consumer lifestyles in many episodes. He owns a nuclear power plant, is the most powerful/rich person in town, and is disrespectful towards everyone. Mr. Burns embodies capitalism and shows it to be destructive and cruel. 

I was very interested in reading this critique of The Simpsons because I use to watch it all the time. When the text talked about the episode that showed how "familial responsibilities necessitate and justify unpleasant work", I thought about how unfair it is that people have to work at jobs they hate because they can't make enough money doing anything else. The essay also made me think about how people want to desperately to be accepted by society and their peers, that they may hurt themselves to be considered "cool". This was show in the episode that involved Homer joining the circus and having cannon balls shot at his stomach. He wanted Bart to think he was cool so bad, that he almost killed himself by trying to please him. 

The role of Marge as a middle class housewife relates to the reading we did by Simone de Beauvior on the second sex. The Introduction to the Second Sex discusses how women are seen are dismissive, weak, and submissive to men. Marge is not appreciated by Homer. He is often rude to her and takes all she does for granted. However, Marge stays loyal to Homer showing that even if he treats her badly, she will not leave him.