The Simpsons first aired in 1980 as a hilarious, sarcastic, and exaggerated satire of everyday life. With depictions of politics and politicians, bad parenting, greedy industry owners, and the faults in everyday society. The show really brings to life the thoughts and sometimes unrealistic views we have of everyday people.
Homer is the star of the show, set out to be the typical father, husband, and a depiction of today’s “everyman” (Source 1). His character can be seen as a doubled sided coin where he can be the best father in the world and the next the worst parent in the world. We can see Homer as our own gluttony, since he hungers for all the things he can’t have which leads him to plot devious adventures and schemes to get what he wants
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but ultimately fails as many of us do. His love for alcohol also depicts a weakness that many Americans have as he blames all his problems on alcohol by conceding in its in toxicity. At the end of episode 1 where alcohol and liquor was outlawed in Springfield, Homer gives a speech, “To alcohol! The cause of life’s problems- and a solution to- all of life’s problems.” His speech is really ironic as he states that alcohol is both “the problem and the solution” setting a double standard that many people fit into (Source 1). Every time Homer gets in trouble with Marge he butters her up with his words of romance and gets off the hook. This depicts another aspect of everyday life, as many of us do try to do. I can say from personal experience that saying sweet words full of compliments can really change the emotion of someone that’s enraged with your actions but I don’t think they all had the same innocent and believing attitude Marge gives in response. Homer is the typical male model that anyone can relate to. Homer’s family is the perfect picture of your typical family.
Marge (Homer’s wife) being the stable parent who’s always looking out for the family with a kind and caring heart. Can be seen as the one parent that you can go to for advice for anything. Yet, she’s overlooked whenever she vouches her opinion like many housewives today. She’s a stay at home mom taking care of their youngest child Maggie. Bart (Homer’s son) is shown to be the stereotype other countries have about American child. Mischievous and up to no good, Bart Simpson brings to life the satire of an under educated brother that’s always getting into trouble. While on the other hand is younger sister Lisa is the satire of your average little girl. She’s environmentally concerned, cares and tries in school, solves her own problems, and loves to read. Bart and Lisa are competitors in almost everything they participate in. For instance, in one episode both Lisa and Bart are the stars of their little league soccer teams with Lisa being the star goalie and Bart the star player. Their rivalry is caused by Homer’s negligence, for his words he says affects the way both sibling’s emotions towards each other and the game, “Hey! [your coach] just called. This Friday Lisa’s team is playing Bart’s team. You’re in direct competition. And don’t go easy on each other just because your brother and sister. I want to see you both fighting you’re your parents’ love (Source 1)” The irony behind the statement is hilarious since most …show more content…
parents try so hard to instill the value of family and good sportsmanship. Mayor Diamond Joe Quimby may play little parts during the series but whenever he’s shown you can see this older gentleman in his later 60’s whom is presumed to be married and has a family is constantly seen in public with younger women.
This represents the mass majority of politicians with money and powers with ambitions that go against family morals and interests that many political leaders are supposed to uphold. While in turn they use this power to gain social kudos in pageant events pertaining to younger women. This supports the method that leads them to believe they can take control of any women just because they have the money for it. This sometimes may lead to more women to believe that these kinds of actions are acceptable in today’s society. They may believe that relying on a man’s money is the key goal to pursue in order to obtain a happy and comfortable life style. When in reality the one with the power is using the female individual for his own personal interests and agenda rather than focusing on his family. As a random politician in one of the episodes said, “You are an illiterate, tax-cheating, wife-swapping, pot-smoking, spend-o-crat.” (Source 2). This shows a level of corruption in all sights of politicians’ activities behind the scenes of their campaigning and public appearances. Mr. Bernes is another political type that’s corrupt in many ways. His hatred for others reflects the stereotype of individuals with multibillionaire companies. He mainly gets joy
from the pain of others and causing miser to those around him. With his assistant Mr. Smithers, Bernes is a true “stiff” as we can see in the beginning of each show we can see Smithers applying toothpaste to Bernes toothbrush and he ends up falling forward under the added weight. Through the family’s life we get a glimpse of our own. We’ve all had those moments of shopping in the grocery store and out of nowhere you’ll encounter a parent yelling at their child or you hear stories of how your parents would’ve gotten beaten if they said anything out of line. We can see this too in the Simpsons with Homer being at the root of it. We get instances of Homer choking Bart after he said or did something bad.
While the tone may range from playful to angry, satire generally criticizes in order to make a change. Exaggeration, parody, reversal, and incongruity are satirical devices. Author’s use satirical devices to strengthen their central idea.
Move over Jetson there is a new beloved animated family in town, the Simpsons. The Simpson’s originally aired on December 17th, 1989 and has yet to make us stop laughing. The Simpson’s follow a not so typical American family from the fictional town of Springfield. The episode follow the satirical lives of Homer (Dad), Marge (mom), Bart (brother), Lisa (sister), and Maggie (little sister). Though this is a satirical TV show many episodes provide excellent points and example of material covered in a sociology class. The episode “Marge not be Proud” gives multiple examples of deviant behavior and this essay will discuss two of them.
Father Knows Best In season six, episode one, Bud’s irritated family is always distracted by the commotion occurring above the family room. Relationship to Society Both shows have some sort of contribution to society such as: in Everybody Loves Raymond, they contribute to society by purchasing over $120 in Victoria Secret merchandise. His brother is also an officer for their local police department and they also eat pizza at their pizzeria about every other week. Finally, Raymond’s jealous brother finds a trophy for an article written about sports.
Seinfeld was a sitcom from NBC that was very popular during the ’90s, and is often referred as “a show about nothing.” It consisted of the life of a fictitious Jerry Seinfeld and his friends in New York City (IMDb). Seinfeld reached a Nielsen rating of 21.7 percent and number one in the United States ranking during its ninth and final season (“Appendix 3: Top-Rated Programs by Season”). It was unique in the way that it portrayed social life during the ‘90s, and this inspired shows such as Friends, Ellen, and Mad About You (Pierson 49). In Seinfeld episodes, the viewer can observe social customs, fads, social standards, and family portrayals of ‘90s semi-young adults.
From the beginning of the story, he was pretty much giving up on life, not even trying to gain hope for his father to come back.“'But now, no use, he's died a wretched death. No comfort's left for us... not even if someone, somewhere, say's he is coming home'” (Homer 83). He was in midst of identity crisis because through his whole life, he has never seen or communicated with his father. “'Mother has always told me I'm his son, it's true, but I am not so certain. Who, on his own, has ever really known who gave him life?'” (Homer 84). This uncertainty and emptiness pretty much messed with his self-esteem. For example, “But for himself he drew up a low reclining chair beside her, richly painted, clear of the press of suitors” (Homer 81). Sitting in that chair showed how much afraid he was to stand up to the suitors, which made the suitors take advantage of him even more.
In Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam Jr., a theme that often appears is family relationships. This relates to Homer as he and his family have a very conflicting relationship with one another. Homer has a different relationship with each member of his family; he has a loving and supportive mother, a bully of a brother, and a workaholic, unsupportive father that is embarrassed of his son.
At first, Homer's control over himself seems strong; he is only mildly aware of tempting situations. The reader begins to notice, however, that Homer's mind is still easily swayed by that most primitive of urges - sexual desire. The passage, "Homer looked up. Through the screen he watched Fred's sister Sandra as she came ambling down the path, stepping lightly between the stones in her bare feet," (293) is the first mild manifestation of Homer giving in to a loss of control to his sensual appetite.
Satire, one of writing's most incomprehensible genres. On the outside, Satire may seem to be just an overly dramatic story. However, on the inside, Satire is a profound form of social commentary that stresses societal issues through over exaggeration. One of the genre's most famous literary works is Candide by Voltaire. Many people may interpret the novel as a tale about the misadventures of a boy named Candide attempting to be with his true love, Madame Cunégonde. Yet, a closer analysis of the book indicates that the author attempts to convey his perspective on life through the novel. Since Voltaire lived at a time of religious turmoil and monarchs, such as the enlightenment and King Frederick the Great, it is
Steiner, George, and Fagles, Robert, eds. Homer: A Collection of Critical Essays. Twentieth Century Views, ed. Maynard Mack. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall, 1962.
First of all, in The Simpsons, the scene where we get into the actual plot of the story opens with Marge and Lisa walking into a department store that sells dolls. The gender stereotype that girls are only interested in playing with dolls is reinforced here as a huge selection of Malibu Stacy dolls is on display with a throng of screeching, bloodthirsty girls tearing the store apart. Lisa says, “I’m warning you mom, I might get a little crazy.” and immediately knocks down a girl and snatches another in a choke-hold to be the first in line for the new Malibu Stacy doll. In the very next scene we have the whole family in the car with Homer driving. He is baking a cupcake with an easy-bake-oven that he bought from the mall. Marge advises him that he should not be doing that. The stereotype here is that men are more impulsive as demonstrated by Homer and his baking while driving without any concern of his or his family’s safety; and that women like to play it safe and think before acting as demonstrated by Marge. Another noteworthy observation is the fact that Homer completes his gender stereotype as the bread-winner of the family. He works at the Nuclear power plant while Marge plays the role of the proud homemaker who is rarely seen outside the home and who has little friends. Homer on the other hand, is not confined to his domestic role and his frequently shown at Moe’s Tavern with his friends, at work, or doing something that is stupid and dangerous. This enforces the stereotype that women have few friends and stay close to domestic life whereas men have lots of friends, are more independent, and bring home the bacon. Moreover, Bart and Lisa are in accordance with their gender stereotypes as well. For instance, in the backseat, Ba...
In Candide, Voltaire explores the ideas of paternalistic optimism and uses satire as a method of social commentary. His story follows the misery of one man as he pursues his one and only love and the happiness that he eventually finds. By framing the novel around a biblical story and having Candide lose and regain paradise, Voltaire suggests that one must cultivate their own perfect world as opposed to optimistically enduring the present in the hopes of a better future.
Homer progressively subjects his characters to a choice between loved ones, and war quest with heroic personalities is invariably choosing the latter. The gravity of decisions made in the text emphasizes more on knowing about fate ahead of time. Characters prize ancient Greek martial values such as honor, nobility, bravery, and glory with the will to sacrifice chances of long life for the loved ones. In portraying an ideal epic world, the text recognizes about the creation of mortals and the glory of man that does not live in constructions.
Satire is commonly a form of comedy that is usually humorous, but sometimes it can be seen as not humorous because of the topic the person is satirizing. Satirists would bring out the flaws of commonly sensitive topics such as religion; though it is difficult identifying religious truth in a society because what is considered the truth is always debated by different groups. George Carlin was incredibly outspoken about his views on religion. He used his personal beliefs to create a comedic routine to share to and inform the world about the hidden imperfections of popular subjects. Because Carlin was known for outing this sensitive topic, it may not be seen as humorous to those who feel a connection to the subject, in this case religious people.
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.
After twenty five seasons, The Simpsons continues to be an influential show. With animation as a medium, the writers use satire to point out the stereotypes the media generates. In some instances, they take a stereotype and push it to the extreme, like Apu and his eight children, and other times they go against the social norms, like Lisa being a strong independent woman. Through this the viewers are reminded just how much say the media has in their perception of others and how they are constantly making judgments of any entire group of people based on the characteristics of some. I do not think that stereotypes will ever cease to exist, but I do believe that it is important we, at the very least, are aware of what they are.