America’s and perhaps the world’s favorite prime time animated family is bidding us farewell after 32 seasons. Right now the show is in season 30. This show is woven into the American fabric of entertainment, pop culture, parody and satire. The latter is what the show is most noted for.
Since I was a child, I have looked forward to two things, actually three: Fridays with a book or playing with friends outside, Saturday mornings and cartoons and Sunday evenings with The Simpsons.
The show never disappointed when it came to humor, lessons embedded into the plot and subjects from politics, family/religion, education, entertainment /pop culture. At first glance, regular animated shows geared toward imaginative play and cognitive development have some of these topics, but to an extent and only concentrating on the developing mind/early development and metacognition for example, modeling appropriate behaviors to authorities and peers to sequences in math and phonetics. These shows responsibly highlight things we observe and experience every day. On PBS’ ‘Arthur’, s10 Ep.4 , Arthur’s best friend makes a bet that “her family can use less water than his family.” However, ‘ in spite of her effort’ , her family keeps using more water than intended. This is all due to the family cat’s tendency to sit on the toilet’s lever. (https://arthur.fandom.com/wiki/Feeling_Flush)
Keeping measure of water meter levels/water conservation is understood by those in early childhood as summing up. Likewise, The Simpsons has their own way of teaching, like all satires: literary, televised and performed; things that are important to us but done in broader terms to get us thinking.
Since the show, which was created by Matt Groening and voiced by actors such as: Hank Azaria, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Shearer, and Yeardley Smith to name a few has debuted in 1990; it has been full of jokes and satire.
Satire (n.) “an artistic work that attackshuman vice or foolishness, derision or wit.” (The American Heritage Desk Dictionary). This literary term has been demonstrated for centuries, mainly political satire in Greek works. For example “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes. The first joke that people have probably been overlooking according to former showrunner , writer and producer Mike Reiss
“When the Simpsons title card emerges from the clouds, you see the first half of the family’s name, “The Simps,… “Simps is short for simpletons-stupid people- like the ones you’re about to see in the show.” (Springfield Confidential Jokes, Secrets and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons p.1). That’s only the beginning. In my own rolodex of episodes, not to add to predictions and theories pertaining to business/politics, local government, global influence and lack of research and gullability that keep us from progressing; There is the monorail episode. Respectively titled ‘Marge vs. the Monorail’, Springfield gets wooed into advancing and being more industrialized like their neighbors by a smooth talking salesman. This idea is not welcomed by Marge Simpson who is known for being reasonable. Unfortunately the town winds up forking over a huge sum of money for this awful project. They get taken when the system malfunctions after Homer- the conductor- makes a mistake at the controls. That should have warned the residents that if an offer sounds convincing to soon, do your homework. Hold leaders accountable.
While the show has been popular for their political input, in the beginning it was not welcomed by families and/or the religious community. People expected the show to be wrapped in a fluffy plot like show designed for Disney or Hallmark. When it comes to religion/family the show stood out.
To illustrate, everyone knows of a person who is a little more in tune spiritually than us. In Springfield, that is Ned Flanders who is viewed positively for his religious strength. He does have relatable attributes in various episodes. Regarding this topic, there is an episode where Bart is defiant enough to announce that no one has a soul after he gets in trouble for pulling a prank during a church service. As a result his friend Milhouse buys his soul for $5. Bart’s sister Lisa takes advantage of his naivety realizing his odd behavior. He assumes that the human soul is tangible. Your soul is who you are at heart. When it comes to spiritual matters and children they need to be allowed to have and ask questions.
Likewise, when Lisa gives up meat in Season 7 Ep.5, we see that she has made this decision out of her own will and becomes more ‘educated’ about decision making as time goes on. She develops critical thinking.
To summarize, ‘The Simpsons’ and shows like it: Family Guy, American Dad, the short-lived The Cleveland Show, South Park, Big Mouth, Bob’s Burgers and The Boondocks are and were never necessarily intended to divide or hurt, but to offer a view of a ‘slice of life’ and introduce us to how we think and feel about things that are apart of way of life.
If you are longing for a show like ‘The Simpsons’, Matt Groening and Josh Weinstein have created Disenchantment now on Netflix.
