Nancy Radecker Eng161 DL Summer II Essay #3 July 31, 2012
“I
Don’t Like You, Brain.”
I will define The
Simpsons philosophy or worldview and how it reinforces cultural myths in
American society and its philosophical value on American society. Using my own
analysis and interpretation based on the readings of The Doh! Of Homer, the episodes of The Simpsons I viewed, as well as other readings and movies.
The Simpsons are
the middle class American family next door; they live down the street and live
in your city. “The Simpsons shape the
way Americans think, particularly the younger generation.” (Cantor 160) Americans put themselves into their family;
they see themselves in their roles.
Beer, the most important part of being in the ballpark, as Homer tells
Lisa in the episode “Dancin’ Homer”, it is true but no one talks about it, but
the thought comes out in the episode and you as the viewer sit and shake your
head in agreement with his comment.
Homer Simpson, the guy, who just speaks his mind and gets away with it,
we American’s love it. “The
Simpsons is the longest-running American
sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as
the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series.” (Wikipedia) American’s
embrace them and accept them into their lives, together we all take on the
issues of the day, stories of the week, books and movies we have read and
watched. If it becomes newsworthy in
this country, chances are it will be parodied in an episode if it is socially
appropriate, because certain topics and areas of gray are not used in the show
and are off limits. Because it is
entertainment we as American’s would never expect to see the tragic events of
9-11 or the shootings at Columbine, and the writers I feel would never do
that. The writers choose those topics
where Americans can take a step back and laugh at themselves or view perhaps in
a slightly different way than we did before.
For example, in the episode entitled “Lisa’s Pony”, any of us that have
children could easily put ourselves in Homer’s shoes, maybe to some
extent. When he makes a foolish error
and stops for a quick beer before picking up a new reed for Lisa’s saxophone
for her school performance, only to find that the store ends up closing before
he gets there. Yes, I have disappointed
my children, I have not been proud of it, but you could understand why Homer
wishes to give Lisa the one thing she has always wanted, a pony. Yes, again you
could say but seriously a pony, it is impractical and I would never do that,
but I know I have bought my children a little something extra when I have made
a mistake before. The writers bring the issue up and of course to the extreme
but how else we will we be able to relate to it and see it how it feels then to
use some humor to cover up the uncomfortable part of it. Perhaps to other cultures they would look at
this type of behavior and not agree with giving in to your children, but
Americans tend to use material items in order to show appreciation or as an
apology or even to show how much we love someone, so Homer giving Lisa the pony
was a way to show her he made a mistake and that he was sorry.
Americans love their heroes, but never the less the writers
of The Simpsons persuade the audience
to who we believe American’s thinks are our heroes. American’s tend to believe
very strongly that our forefather’s are true heroes and are just so honest and
trustworthy, because they paved the way for what we have now. In the episode “Lisa the Ironclast” however,
Lisa discovers the real truth about the town of Springfield’s founding father
and the truth is not so pretty and on top of it the local historian tries to
cover the truth. Lisa realizes however
that if the townspeople would find out the truth, their spirits would be broken
and it could upset the harmonic balance of the town and among its people. Lisa
decides not to tell them and also not to expose the historian’s lie, thus Lisa
becomes the unknown hero of Springfield.
For the sake of the many Lisa decides to keep the legend of Jebediah, as
the legend they have all come to know and love for generations, is was a
wonderful example of how heroes don’t have to make a big statement or save a
life, but just think of others before yourself. American’s tend to be this way,
oh yes, there are so many news stories of big heroes and some heroes that
perhaps even do it to become rich and famous, but America has always been a
nation that helps others. The writers of The
Simpsons and by highlighting our American story of a little hero, reminds
us all but at the same time shows different cultures around the world, that we
are the top super power of the world but we got that way by small acts of
heroism.
America and its love for the Mafia gangsters is what drives
countless numbers of authors to write stories and create reality shows and
movies about their lives, so it goes without saying that The Simpson family would have to have been impacted by their
stories as well. If you are honest with
yourself, who can say they haven’t thought about how cool it would be to just
walk around and be a gangster, the temptation is there but the realization that
we probably will get caught as well as just knowing it really is wrong is what
keeps the number of real gangsters down in America. Comparing the gangster
behavior to the behavior of Robin Hood, American’s ask the question what really
is so terrible about what they are doing. It becomes sort of justified in a
way. Gangsters tend to steal from those who can best take the loss, the big
companies, and banks and then distribute it to their own people and in turn it
trickles down to the neighborhood around them.
If a gangster kills someone, it tends to be someone on the inside who
probably deserved it anyway; they just don’t go out shooting people at random,
so again it is somehow justified. The
writers use The Simpson family to
give the audience a sense of what we are all thinking, can the average “Joe”
become a gangster? Using humor to cover
up the ideas we don’t find attractive gives us the closest look at the
possibilities’. For example you see Bart in the episode entitled “Bart the
Murderer” drinking milk out of a shot glass.
American’s would not truly want to see children drinking alcohol but
knowing if Bart were to truly get involved with the Mafia, this would be a
strong possibility, so instead the writers use milk to create a humorous moment
to highlight this. Marge gets nervous
about Bart’s involvement with the gangsters and sends Homer over to see what is
really going on, in the movie Goodfellas,
the mother is also equally nervous when Henry comes home wearing the new suit
and she tells him that he looks like a gangster, but never really does anything
about it. When I saw the movie I thought, I would totally freak out and go over
to them and tell them to leave my kid alone, so the writers of the Simpsons
realize that many of the viewers probably wanted to do that and wrote that into
the story but of course she sends Homer over to speak with them.
In closing, The
Simpsons is a show that let’s American’s see what it would be like if we
could truly say what lived in our minds without actually having to say it. It shows the world some insight into American’s
faults and failings, ideas and philosophy behind the world’s super power but in
a humorous funny way. It creates a
buffer that allows us to show some tough ideas and get points across without
insulting anyone and if we do, oh well American’s aren’t really saying it, The Simpsons are saying it and they can
get away with it. The value comes from
the lessons learned by the American’s who view it and those from other
countries who want to see what makes American’s tick. Laughing at our faults and ideas releases the
temptation to actually try those ideas that may not be so acceptable to
society, we see what happens to The
Simpsons and we think to ourselves, well that may not work out after all,
so I better not do it. The Simpsons can continue to live on
because everyday American’s are faced with more and more problems and
situations that call for The Simpsons to figure out, and parody so we can laugh
at ourselves.
Works Cited
Cantor, Paul. "The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics
and the Nuclear Family." The Doh! of Homer. Chicago and La Salle:
Open Court, 2001. 303.
Wikipedia. Wikipedia
The Simpsons. 31 July 2012. 31 July 2012
.
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