The Simpsons Satire Essay

The Satirical, Comedic, American Simpsons

The Simpsons is a cartoon made for simple and complex minds alike. The show unleashes a variety of material for the purposes of comedy, satire, and American culture. Due to its cartoonish appearance, the show is deemed comical and appeals to only young viewers. Aside from the cartoon comedy with Homer’s shenanigans, there are also implicit connections to the real world. Bart is an example of the reckless, anti-hero rebel, whereas, Lisa is the moral child with integrity in her life decisions. These character aspects relate to how each character is an individual and can mirror American life. The show appeals to simple-minded children, but leaves room for abstract thought in adults. For a successful

series going on towards the end of its 27th season, it continues its revelations of American society through laugh-out-loud antics for viewers of all ages to enjoy. The show is not just some cartoon for fun, but a palette that portrays the American consciousness and it seems to capture the attention of many. The Simpsons, with its satirical wittiness, seems to replicate American values, and bases all of its characters in real life situations ultimately mimicking American life through all cultural stratums.
The show's satirical portrayal of modern American culture displayed in the episode "Smoke on the Daughter" reveals aspects of American society through peer pressure, gun laws, and cigarette consumerism. In the episode, Bart and Homer pair up to hunt down a family of raccoons, while Marge and Lisa attempt to realize Marge's old dream of becoming a ballerina. The episode leads Lisa to becoming a smoker and Homer to purchase guns in order to hunt down a family of raccoons. There is an ironic moment where Homer catches Lisa in the process of smoking a cigarette then grabs the cigarette from her, stomps on it, and pulls out a gun to shoot at it (“Smoke on the Daughter”). The writers then throw some jabs at gun rights supporters by having Homer then shout in disbelief of how easy it is in the U.S. to buy cigarettes. This short scene reveals the most controversial cultural myth in America: citizens owning guns. During Lisa and Marge’s take on ballerina dancing, there is a striking social norm upon Lisa. Lisa takes the place of her mother in the ballerina class and in there she meets many underage girls who smoke regularly. The episode also demonstrates the peer pressure that kids get when confronted with wanting to fit into a crowd. Lisa distances herself at first, only breathing in the smoke, but finally falls into the habit. There is another scene in the episode in where the bumper of Marge's car has a couple of stickers that display Marge's lost opportunity at realizing her dreams and instead instilling them onto her daughter. Other television shows from modern America such as Toddlers & Tiaras contain this mother and daughter relationship there their daughters compete in beauty pageants to seek “American” fulfillment. This reveals the social norm among American parents where they place their children in competitions and ties in as an American culture. It is American consumerism where they spend extravagant time and money in order to satisfy their social needs.
The show also weighs in the American consciousness and reflects on contradictions found within society. The episode “Much Apu About Nothing” targets illegal immigration and the common problems that illegal immigrants face. It mirrors the social impacts of modern American society having to “deal” with immigration and contradicts American values where it is “the land of opportunity” acting as a melting pot for all ethnicities. There are the descendants of immigrants who contradict themselves by believing they are true Americans. The episode revolves around Apu as he cannot afford returning to his birthplace since he made a promise to make his parents proud. There is a segment where the people of Springfield support the idea of a bear patrol to keep bears away from Springfield (“Much Apu About Nothing”). This parallels the concept of illegal immigration where Americans are sensitive to the idea of “invaders” entering the country. Apu’s story reflects the consciousness of nearly every immigrant that travels to the United States for living a better life and of finding better opportunities. Here is where The Simpsons holds a true connection to the real world. It conveys humor in a simple cartoon, but uses real American social aspects to play its satire role. Another contradiction of American social strata is Homer being the slack off he is. The aspect that immigrants like Apu are more hardworking than “true Americans” such as Homer holds true today and contradict the idea of immigrants “stealing jobs”. For a cartoonish medium, the show produces well thought-out scenarios of real America where its characters embody real Americans.
The Simpsons acts as a medium for its viewers depicting American life with comical satire where each episode places its audience under ironic situations. Each character on the show embodies some form of American characteristics. ‘“. . . I like The Simpsons because they do not look like anyone, but they are all like us’ . . . . It is clear to all viewers what their characteristics are, what their roles are in the family, what goes on in their home, in school and work, but they do not have the color, shape or appearance of real people” ( Kohn 105). Homer, the father figure, is a prime example of the American decision maker, although he is not the most intelligent character on the show; his stupid nature is what runs the show as he attracts his avid viewers with comical misfit. A racial tone depicted is the majority of the characters being colored yellow, whereas the minority is actually brown colors. This signifies the racial implications of ethnicity and characterization through stereotypes, which is used in the show to provide some sort of message for American Families through the Apu character in order to laugh or to learn a lesson.
The Simpsons is an animated, family-friendly comedy show created by Matt Groening in 1989 that has ever since become America's favorite cartoon due to its ensemble of many colorful characters varying in race, class, and mental problems.

It is a true parody of American family values and American culture where the characters are in scenarios relative to real life situations and are given the challenge of solving the challenges based on their character build-up. The show tackles more issues including serious issues such as death or other more ridiculous invention by the show’s writers. The majority of The Simpsons’ episodes of what makes them so good to watch are their often-touching episodes such as when Lisa befriends Bleeding Gum Murphy, a famous jazz player in The Simpsons world, who passes on a passion for Jazz towards Lisa. Matheson states, "Also, in addition to being a self-consciously hip show, it is also a show that must live within the constraints of prime-time American network television. One could argue that these constraints would force The Simpsons towards a commitment of some sort of palatable moral stance.” (Matheson 315). The show acts as a medium conveying morality towards its viewers. Considering its popularity and prime-time broadcasting, it affects American society just by reaching out to many viewers The show tries to tap into the consciousness of its audience by weighing in possible real-life scenarios. Characters such as Sideshow Bob who obtains a tendency of murdering Bart, happens to have a family of his own and realizes the horrific idea of wanting to kill a young boy, then returns to his thoughts on killing Bart. The show provides ironic comedy and moral insight to people who live in a “gun nation”. The show also requires a certain degree of intelligence in order for any viewer to fully interpret the true colors being portrayed in each episode. Matheson goes on that if the viewer is not experienced, whether too old or too out of touch,

they will not view the show for its cultural references, but for its simple family comedy. He says, “From these propositions they will probably derive the theorem that the show is neither substantial nor funny, and also the lemma that the people who like the show are deficient in taste, intelligence or standards of personal mental hygiene” (Matheson 308). These people lack the common sense that every form of art has a deeper meaning, which requires a simple thought process or independent thinking to understand that the show encourages some change to the way of life some have become accustomed.
Matt Groening has done an excellent job at emulating some of the real world problems people face in the American way of life. The show is not just for entertainment, but acts as some sort of learning outlet for the troubled or inexperienced mind. The Simpsons will be entertaining overall, but deep in the comedic lines that their characters speak, there is a mockery of the United States' political and cultural ideologies by using irony to point out the contradictions in the law system. It uses this irony to give its audience the ability to look outside the box of what they have learned and to question the social norm that is the American way of life.