The Impact of The Simpsons on American Children

The Impact of The Simpsons on American Children

The Simpsons is one of Americas most popular television shows for viewers under

eighteen years of age. However, the ideals that The Simpsons conveys are not

always wholesome, sometimes not even in good taste. It is inevitable that The

Simpsons is affecting children.

Matt Groening took up drawing to escape from his troubles in 1977. At the

time, Groening was working for the L.A. Reader, a free weekly newspaper. He began

working on Life in Hell, a humorous comic strip consisting of people with rabbit ears.

The L.A. Reader picked up a copy of his comic strip and liked what they saw. Life in

Hell gradually became a common comic strip in many free weeklies and college

newspapers across the country. It even developed a cult status. (Varhola, 1)

Life in Hell drew the attention of James L. Brooks, producer of works such as

Taxi, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Terms of Endearment. Brooks originally

wanted Groening to make an animated pilot of Life in Hell. Groening chose not to do

so in fear of loosing royalties from papers that printed the strip. Groening presented

Brooks with an overweight, balding father, a mother with a blue beehive hairdo, and

three obnoxious spiky haired children. Groening intended for them to represent the

typical American family "who love each other and drive each other crazy". Groening

named the characters after his own family. His parents were named Homer and

Margaret and he had two younger sisters named Lisa and Maggie. Bart was an anagram

for "brat". Groening chose the last name "Simpson" to sound like the typical American

family name. (Varhola, 2)

Brooks decided to put the 30 or 60 second animations on between skits on The

Tracy Ullman Show on the unsuccessful Fox network. Cast members Dan Castellaneta

and Julie Kavner did the voices of Homer and Marge. Yeardley Smith (later to star in

Herman's Head) did the voice of Lisa. Nancy Cartwright did the voice of Bart.

Cartwright previously supplied the voices for many cartoons, including Galaxy High,

Fantastic Max, Richie Rich, Snorks, Pound Puppies, My Little Pony, and Glo-Friends.

Tracy Ullman later added Cartwright to her cast. (Dale and Trich, 11)

Brooks, Groening, and Sam Simon, Tracy Ullman's producer, wanted to turn the

Simpson family into their own show. The Fox network was looking for material to

appeal to younger viewers.