Sociology of the Simpsons
The definition of what consitutes a “family“ has definatly changed over time. Usually, what constitutes making up a family is relative to a specific culture, but as always, there are exceptions to the rule. Ever since the golden age of television had sprung upon American culture, it has tried to mimic the "ideal" American family through it's programming. Even as early as the 1950's, television producers made
programming that would represent what exactly the ideal American family was.
Take for example the show "Leave It to Beaver". There was a father figure, his job, or
responsibility rather, was to financially support the family, while being an exemplary father to his children. The mother on the other hand, was solely responsible for being a typical housewife, while not neglecting the rearing of her children. The children did not have any real responsibility, but they respected their parents and attempted to stay out of trouble. Television shows for the most part in this early era of programming followed among these guidelines.
However, it is not in a drama that American family life is best represented
in the 1990's. Instead, it is in the animated series, "The Simpsons".
"The Simpsons" follows suit with the other dramas that reflected the decade
in which they aired. According to the U.S. consensus for March 1998, the
majority of households in America are married couples (U.S. Consensus pp. 1,
3,4,6). The Simpson's meet this. Also according to the consensus, the
average married couple has approximately 2.6 children per household (U.S.
Consensus, Household Characteristics p.1). Since there cannot be six-tenths
of a child, I will round up to three children, in which the Simpson family
has: Bart, Lisa and Maggie. Also, the average American is a blue-collar
worker. The father figure, Homer, meets this factor with his job at the
nuclear power plant within his hometown of Springfield. So according to the
statistics, the Simpson family could be considered an average American family. Homer Simpson is the father figure of the household, whose responsibilities include financially supporting the household, since he is the household's primary source of income. He has his flaws like any person would, but somehow he and his family tend to work it out. Some of his mishaps are very similar to those that most of us have had to face.
Americans love their television, and television loves the American family. Since the 1970’s, the depiction of the American family on television has gone through many changes. In the 70s, the Brady Bunch showed an all-white nuclear family. Today, Modern Family, shows a family of blended races, ages, and sexualities. For thirty years, the sitcom family has reflected the changing society of its time and there is no exception of this for the families in The Brady Bunch and Modern Family. The lifestyle, social aspects, and economics situations of the Bradys and the Pritchett-Dunphys are similar in their attempts to portray the lives of families of their time, but differ drastically in the types of families they represent. The characters in Modern
As gender roles were enhanced, the nuclear family was birthed. This ideal family, mainly portrayed in popular culture, had a working father, homemaking mother, and children. Television shows depicting this type of household, Leave it to Beaver, and I Love Lucy, were not representative of the reality of America. Not all of Americans were white, and not all women were happy living as housewives (Boyer 101). Although most did not fit the mold
Family Guy, an animated sitcom about a New England family and their everyday dilemmas, is a way for viewers to see the comedic side of a dysfunctional family. The Griffins consist of Peter and Lois, the patriarch and matriarch, and Meg, Chris, and Stewie are the children(Family Guy). Every character is different from the next character. They are also weird in their own way. The television show itself displays feminism, structuralism, and gay and lesbian criticism. Each character in the show also displays those criticisms in a certain fashion. Family Guy can be offensive to viewers with its satire, and the way the show delivers its message can make the family and the other characters in the show seem dysfunctional.
..., the idea of the American family is much more realistic than that of those shows from the 1950s. The family’s obnoxious mother is the most dynamic member of the family. Married with Children was an overly exaggerated example of a problematic family. While it was a far cry from reality, the show expressed the society’s opinion of its own culture in a satirical fashion.
Over the years, the family structure as changed, but some aspects have held on. All the shows I analyzed had a few things in common with their family structure. All the families that had men, were “lead” by the men, but in every family, the mother took care of the children and home, regardless if they worked or not. Men were always painted as incapable of taking care of the children by themselves, not a good look for either gender. What I did find surprising about this assignment was how far back the pattern of “supermom” goes. It seems that the expectations of the mother have grown, but the father role has changed significantly less. The content of sitcoms changes quite profoundly from one decade to the next, especially comparing the 1950s to now. There has been a lot of evolution of the family structure on the silver screen over the years.
I performed mainly behind the scenes tasks such as making boxes and packing food. While I did not deal with feeding the hungry directly, I still learned and observed many lessons that were reflected in class. One thing I observed that we discussed in Reconciling All Things is people ignoring and crossing divides to help those in need. The people at the food bank did not care what the person’s socioeconomic status was, they still served and helped them. A lesson that became more solidified through this project was the fact that everyone’s job at the food bank, no matter how big or small, is important to getting to overall mission completed. Whether it was someone like me making boxes or someone serving food in the kitchen, we all played a role to end hunger. Another thing that I noticed through this project was that some problems are easier, maybe not by much but still nonetheless, to solve than we make them out to be. Hunger is probably the easiest social problem that can be solved in America due to the excessive amount of food wasted every year. I thoroughly enjoyed this project and watched things that were discussed in class come to
The teaching project was to developed to educated adolescence about the rising obesity rates and the health issues that can arise. I needed to gather material about the subject matter that I knew they needed to be aware of. The information had to be formatted so that the teaching was understood to ensure that effective teaching took place. Then, I incorporated some learning interactive activities so that the information was retained and so that it kept their interest. One of the interactive activities was the most effective intervention that empowered the group to change their behavior. The activity involved guessing which foods belonged to the different food groups and guessing the calories they thought it contained in them. All the participants were very eager to answer the questions and when some of the questions they answered were wrong, they were interested in understanding why. I felt that effective learning was taking place.
The Pre-K and Kindergarten class studied habitats of various animals and insects. They were given examples and tough how the animals made their homes. The students built a bird house as their project and as something to take home to remind them of what they learned. Finally they went on a field trip to Legoland where they explored and built “habitats” for their families and the Lego people. The first and second grade class learned about marine life and the ocean. They built shoe box dioramas of coral reefs and created art projects depicting sea life as well as learning new facts about the ocean. The students got to go to the Aquarium for their field trip. Finally the third and fourth graders studied the rain forests and their ecosystems. The students built rainforest models and terrariums along with small group discussions on different ideas human intervention and conservation. They finished their week at the zoo where they studied different rainforest inhabitants in
Television families nowadays are usually portrayed as happy, open-minded and the typical family. They attempt to represent the lifestyle and situations that real-life families go through; however, their depictions are not always accurate. An example would be the Duncan family and the Lee family. The Duncan family plays on the children’s television show, “Good Luck Charlie”, in which it focuses on their life as they adjust to the births of their fourth and fifth children. The Duncan family consists of seven household members including the mother and father. On the other side, the Lee family is a real-life family that has an average income and consists of four household members. The Lee family can be considered a typical nuclear family. The similarities and differences of these two families can be distinguished under family roles, social interaction, and behavior.
This change in family structure and definition has become a very public issue in recent years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau a family is defined as “two or more persons, including the householder, who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption, and who live together as one household” (www.census.gov). This legal...
Just by taking a glance at the show you see that it portrays the typical image of the “traditional American family” of the last decade: mom stays home to cook, clean and take care of the kids, while the husband provides for the family. The little boy is very violent doing a lot of “cool” things, and of course never studies, while the little girl is very quiet and smart.
The evolution of extended families has progressed far from the early black and white episodes of The Addams Family, to the country life of The Waltons, and to the crazy lives of the family in Full House. It is clear that the changes in the portrayals of families provide audience members with a picture of families being more complex if nothing else (Bryant, 2001). Therefore, it is certain that each decade has surpassed the other in its growth and development of extended families.
In The Simpsons, the son of the protagonist, Homer Simpson, is a ten year old boy named Bart. He is the type of male that works hard to try to make women like Bordo spill coffee all over a table and go “weak in the knees” at first sight (191). Like a model in a Calvin Klein poster, Bart is constantly offering himself up to the gaze of those around him. Instead of monitoring hi...
Modern Family is easy to relate to because the three families in the show are all “modern” families in today’s culture. The different themes shown throughout the show all contribute to the show being so influential. Each episode is very positive and has an underlying message in the end and shows that there is always a different purpose to each episode which is what makes the show so influential. The family has conflicts but is always functioning which is what makes the show special and relatable.
Homer Jay Simpson, the patriarch of the Simpson household on the Fox series “The Simpsons” is a childish, lazy man, whose hobbies include eating donuts, drinking Duff Beer, watching television, and sleeping. A victim of the “Simpsons gene” which allows for only Simpson women to possess the trait of intelligence, Homer is unfortunately as “dumb as a chimp” according to his father, Abe Simpson. However, it is mainly through the analysis of his simplistic thoughts and nature, that one can gain a real perspective on Homer’s complex personality.