The Roles of Parents in the Simpsons - Case Study Example

Number] The Simpsons The Simpsons is an American sitcom made by Matt Groening based on a middle-class American family. The Simpson family lives in Springfield which is a fictional town in America and it depicts some cultural and social stereotypes of the American society. The family is a nuclear family consisting of Homer; the father, Marge; the mother, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie; the children. The Simpsons first aired in 1989 and till 2013 with 25 seasons and more than 500 episodes, it has become America’s longest running animated program and sitcom (Wigney 1). It has won numerous awards and is widely considered to be the best television series ever. The Simpsons portray a stereotypical role of the parents and since 1989 they have continued to adopt these roles with minor changes; despite this the show is widely accepted culturally. Homer Simpson, the patriarch of the family, is similar to the many American stereotypes as he is bossy, rude, clumsy, ignorant, and lazy. Generally, he is a decent man who is devoted towards his family but his working class background and responsibilities make him incompetent and lousy. He gets frustrated and takes it out on his son, Bart. On the other hand, Marge Simpson embodies the character of a typical stressed mother who takes care of all the children, the house, and even her husband. She is a devoted, caring, and responsible mother who is often seen struggling with her children and the household chores. Homer’s personality is the comic touch in the series as his bouts of laziness and stupidity are creatively brilliant. He is overweight, lazy towards his work, and has a very low level of intelligence. He is dedicated towards his stomach and would probably do anything in exchange of a doughnut. Moreover, he has the tendency to engage in his hobbies immensely which include drinking, eating, and exploding in anger. He is often enraged by Bart and would strangle him often. But this is done in a cartoonish manner and he would never act as a sadist (Wigney 1). Apart from his general personality that affects his role as a father, he has a complex relationship with all his children. With Bart, Homer would be the typical father figure that can be strict, rude, and at the same time fun and adventurous. Both of them would love to go on adventures together and sometimes also form allies. In later seasons it has also been shown that they both have respect for each other strangely. With Lisa, Homer would be a father who would overlook her talents. The girl is like her mother and is more calm and patient than Homer and Bart. The different personalities of the father and daughter make Homer neglect her. However, when he is aware that Lisa feels neglected, he does out of the way and does everything he can to help her out. Thus, Homer has revealed himself as a caring and loving patriarch at many occasions. When Lisa wanted to enter the beauty pageant, he sold his ride to get her money and ensure that she felt good about herself. At other times, he gave up his opportunity at wealth so that Maggie could keep her favourite teddy bear, and he also surprised Marge with their second wedding as their first ceremony was unsatisfactory. Homer doesn’t have a good relationship with his father as he has sent him to a nursing home but from time to time we can see his love for his father (Wigney 1). As Brott depicts in his essay ‘Not All Men Are Sly Foxes’ that women are often portrayed as being more dedicated towards their children and provide better care to the family while fathers are often portrayed with negative stereotypes of being demanding, dominant, and careless (Brott 14). The essay talks about how the roles of mothers are depicted in the children’s books as being responsible and much more careful. They also show how trends are changing and women are also going out to work and earn along with taking care of the family and still taking out enough time while men stay out for work and come home to spend just a few minutes with the children (Brott 14). The Simpsons does not show this changing trend. The show portrays a nuclear family since 24 years without any cultural changes in their relations. The character of Homer is still lazy and ignorant while Marge is still the homemaker taking care of all her children alone. However, there are certain changes that can be seen in the roles of Homer and Marge. Marital problems have started to exist more in the recent seasons as Marge often loses control on Homer and gets furious at him. Homer is not a dominant husband as Marge had also sent him out of the house. Homer has started showing love and affection towards his family as he is seen taking his responsibilities. He gives away the job he loves and returns to his old job for the sake of Maggie when she is about to be born and the family suffers financially. The essay of Brott can be relevant here as The Simpsons does show that all men are not sly foxes. Homer is a tough character on the outside, but from the inside, he is a soft and emotional person who would do anything for his family. Marge, the stereotypical mother, is seen struggling with her children and husband. She is happy with her family and takes their antics in good humour but she was also seen having a mental breakdown in one of the episodes because of the restlessness and workload that she has. After this incident, her family promised to be with her always and help her with household chores as they couldn’t cope up in her absence. Marge also provides her opinion for her marriage being shaky. She puts up with Homer a lot and gives in all her honesty to their marriage. When she finds out that Homer is giving away their family secrets, she throws him out of the house until he begs her to take him back. This shows that Marge’s gender role is not weak or clumsy; in fact she is a strong woman. As a mother, she is nurturing and caring towards all her children specially Bart as she believes he is ‘a handful’. She understands him and knows he has a spark that can make him do bad things and is also embarrassed by him often. At one occasion, she caught him shoplifting and began to be distant from him as Bart protested on her being ‘over-motherly’ earlier. Eventually her distance disturbs Bart and he starts feeling guilty about it. Marge defended Bart at many occasions and depicts a typical mother who is over-protected and motherly towards her children. Marge has a friendly and caring relationship with Lisa and they both get along really well. Maggie is the youngest baby and thus she is over-mothered by Marge which makes Maggie too dependent on her. At one occasion, Marge gets Maggie to be more independent with the help of an expert and it successfully works. When Marge sees that Maggie rarely needs her, she starts missing her (Wigney 1). Brady’s essay ‘I Want a Wife’ clearly depicts and lists the many chores and responsibilities that a woman has being a wife. It shows how wives are stereotypes as doing all the work, taking care of the children, fulfilling the needs of husbands, cooking, cleaning, washing, giving satisfaction, earning, spending time, and a number of other activities (Brady 3). Brady has beautifully portrayed the role of a wife in a house and what the typical position of a wife is. She believes that everyone needs a wife who fulfils all the expectations of the family and still never complaints (Brady 3). The role that Brady has described is an extreme depiction of a wife in a family. These are the tasks that are expected from wives and when they don’t stand on all the expectations, they are mistreated and degraded. In the Simpsons’ family, Homer is rather an ignorant man who does not bother about the chores of Marge and neither does he interfere in her work. Marge, on the other hand, is similar to that perfect wife described by Brady who is responsible for all the chores. However, after the mental breakdown, this stereotype was broken and the Simpsons family had realised that Marge had overworked and thus promised to help her from then onwards. Conclusively, The Simpsons depicts the gender roles of Homer and Marge as loving parents who have their own personalities that somehow come in the way of their parenthood or in other occasions, it helps them to be good parents. The series portrays the roles of parents from the working class American stereotypes and has broken some of the stereotypes in these 24 years (Wigney 1). The gender roles are somewhat stereotypical but also portray the essences of the modern day American society. Work Cited Brady Judy. I Want a Wife. USA: Judy Syfers, 1972. Print. Brott Armin. Not All Men are Sly Foxes. Newsweek 1 June 1992: 14-15. InfoTrac: Expanded Academic Index/Asap. Willow Canyon H.S. Media Center, Surprise. 25 June 1999 http://www.searchbank.com/searchbank/wchs. Wigney James. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening marks 25 years with new book. Australia: News Limited. Print. Read More