I DIDN'T DO ITHow The Simpsons Affects Kids The Simpsons is
one of Americas most popular television shows. It ranks as thenumber
one television program for viewers under eighteen years of age.
However, theideals that The Simpsons conveys are not always
wholesome, sometimes not even ingood taste. It is inevitable that The
Simpsons is affecting children. Matt Groening took up drawing to
escape from his troubles in 1977. At thetime, Groening was working for
the L.A. Reader, a free weekly newspaper. He beganworking 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 inHell gradually became a common comic strip in many free weeklies
and collegenewspapers 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 asTaxi, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and
Terms of Endearment. Brooks originallywanted Groening to make an
animated pilot of Life in Hell. Groening chose not to doso in fear of
loosing royalties from papers that printed the strip. Groening
presentedBrooks with an overweight, balding father, a mother with a blue
beehive hairdo, andthree obnoxious spiky haired children. Groening
intended for them to represent thetypical American family "who love each
other and drive each other crazy". Groeningnamed the characters after
his own family. His parents were named Homer andMargaret and he had
two younger sisters named Lisa and Maggie. Bart was an anagramfor
"brat". Groening chose the last name "Simpson" to sound like the typical
Americanfamily name. (Varhola, 2) Brooks decided to put the 30 or
60 second animations on between skits on TheTracy Ullman Show on the
unsuccessful Fox network. Cast members Dan Castellanetaand Julie
Kavner did the voices of Homer and Marge. Yeardley Smith (later to star
inHerman'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 theSimpson family
into their own show. The Fox network was looking for material toappeal
to younger viewers. The only show they had that drew a young audience
wasMarried With Children. To Fox's pleasure, The Simpsons saved the
network from nearfailure. (Varhola, 3) On December 17, 1989, The
Simpsons got their break. The Christmas special,"Simpsons Roasting on
an Open Fire" aired. (Dale and Trich, 19) In the episode, Bart got a
tattoo, much to Marge's dislike. She quickly spent allof the family's
Christmas money to remove Bart's tattoo with a laser. At the same
time,Homer, still on his morning coffee break at 4:00 in the afternoon,
learns that he will notreceive a Christmas bonus. When he learns that
Marge is relying on the money forChristmas, he decides that he will do
the Christmas shopping for the year. He quicklybuys Marge panty hose,
Bart paper, Lisa crayons, and Maggie a dog toy. When herealizes that
he is not doing very well, he gets a second job as a mall Santa for the
extramoney. On the way home from work, he steals a Christmas tree.
The next day at themall, Bart sits on his Dad's lap and pulls down his
beard. Homer responds by chokingBart and making him help make
Christmas better. On Christmas Eve, Homer receiveshis check, $13.70
for over 40 hours work. Homer takes Bart to the dog track as a
finalchance for Christmas money. They discovered a gem in the third
race, Santa's LittleHelper. How could this dog loose on Christmas Eve?
The odds were 99 to 1, they weregoing to be rich. Homer put all of his
money on Santa's Little Helper, and to his horror,he never even finished.
As Homer and Bart were scouring the parking lot for winningtickets into
the night, they saw the track manager throw out a dog. It was not just
anydog, it was Santa's Little Helper. When Bart and Homer came home
to their worriedfamily, they had a good Christmas after all. Now they had
a dog. (Pond) "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was not the
typical Christmas story. Itdealt with body art, sleeping in the work place,
sibling rivalry, stealing a Christmas tree,a misbehaved son, and gambling.
Although it was unorthodox, it was very successful. The Fox network
decided to air it again on Christmas Eve. (Dale and Trich, 19) In a
little over a month, The Simpsons made it's debut as a weekly show,
"Bartthe Genius" was the first regular episode. In the middle of a feared
assessment test,Bart switches his test with the completed one of Nelson
Prince, Class Nerd. Bart andhis parents are called into Principal
Seymour Skinner's office where they are told thatBart has a 216 IQ.
(Homer thought is was 912.) Skinner requests that Bart attends
TheEnriched Learning Center for Children. Suddenly, Homer takes a
liking to his son. They joke together, play ball together, embarrass Marge
at an opera together. ("Toreador, oh don't spit on the floor. Use the
cuspidor. That's what it's for." Bart singsalong with the opera Carmen.)
Soon at Bart's old school, Springfield ElementarySchool, Bart's graffiti is
roped off and tagged, "The Principal. By Bart Simpson. IQ216." Bart's
friend no longer like him, they refer to him as Poindexter. The kids at
hisnew school trick him into giving up his lunch. In frank, Bart is
miserable. Then, afterturning himself green in an uneducated science
experiment, Bart reveals to his newprincipal that he cheated on the test.
That night, as Homer is helping Bart clean himselfoff, Bart tells Homer the
same. Homer instantly transforms into a murderous rampageagain. The
episode ends with Bart locking himself in his room and Homer trying
toknock down the door so he can tear Bart into pieces. (Vitti) Soon,
Simpsons merchandise was all over America. Every kid wanted an
"Underachiever and Proud of It, Man" or an "I'm Bart Simpson, Who the
Hell Are You?" shirt. Hats could be seen everywhere that had Bart
dressed like a devil saying "Go For It, Dude!" or with Homer, his arms
open, lunging forward saying "Why You Little." The most popular shirt
was a family picture with Homer choking Bart. Duringthe first week of
school in 1990, two thirds of the sixth graders in America wore Simpsons
paraphernalia. (Dale and Trich, 43) As the popularity of The
Simpsons grew, so did parents' fears. To their horror,Bart Simpson
became a role model. "Aye Carumba!" was a popular expression
amongkids. Almost anything a child did wrong was attributed to "last
Sunday's Simpsons." (Dale and Trich, 45) Bad ideas continued to be
broadcast into kids' minds. In the third episode, ababy-sitter robbed the
Simpson household of most of it's belongings. In the fourthepisode,
Homer caused a nuclear accident, got fired, and attempted suicide. Bart
stolethe head off of the statue of Jebidiah Springfield, Springfield's
founder in the sixthepisode. In the eighth episode, Bart took a picture of
Homer with an exotic dancer anddistributed them to the entire town.
Marge had an affair in the ninth episode. Homerstole cable, and almost
everything else imaginable in the fifteenth episode. (Groening,37)
The Simpsons is often viewed as one of the biggest threats to
Christianity. TheSimpson family goes to church on a regular basis, but
Bart and Homer loath it. Atypical Sunday School conversation is as
follows: Child: "Will my dog, Fluffy go to heaven?"
Sunday
School Teacher: "No" Other Child: "How about
my cat?" Teacher: "No, Heaven is only for
people." Bart: "What if my leg gets gangrene and has
to be amputated? Will it be waiting for me in heaven?
Teacher: "Yes" Bart: "What
about a robot with a human brain?" Teacher: "I don't know! Is
a little blind faith too much to ask for?" (Pepoon) The pastor,
Reverend Lovejoy is a hypocrite. In "22 Short Films About Springfield"
he leads his dog to the Flanders' yard to go to the bathroom. He
praisesthe dog until Ned Flanders comes outside. He then acts angry
and threatens the dogwith hell. When Ned leaves, he praises the dog
again. (Swartzwelder) In one episode,Homer quits going to church and
falls in love with life. He claims to have his ownreligion so he doesn't
have to go to work on holidays, such as the Feast of
MaximumOccupancy. In a conversation with Lisa: Lisa: "Dad, I don't
understand, why have you dedicated yourself to living a life of
blasphemy?" Homer: "Don't worry Lisa,
if I'm wrong, I'll repent on my death bed." (Meyer) The Simpsons is
not just an enemy of Christianity, though. In one episode,where Krusty
the Clown is reunited with his father, a rabbi, almost the entire episode
isspent making fun of Judaism. Lisa asks Bart, "Do you know what a
rabbi's most valuedpossession is?" Bart replied, "I dunno, those stupid
little hats." Hinduism is constantlyjoked with by using East Indian,
Kwik-E-Mart clerk, Apu Mahasapeemapitalon. Apu isonce asked is he is
Hindu. He replied, "By the thousand arms of Bishna, I swear it is alie."
Once Homer was in the Kwik-E-Mart:Homer: "Hey Apu. No offensive,
but when they were handing out religions, you must have been on the
can." Apu: "Mr. Simpson, please take your jerky and
get out and come again!" (Meyer) The average child can acquire a
plethora of foul words from one episode. In"Flaming Moe's", Bart is
"jinxed", meaning he can't talk until somebody says his name.Homer:
"What is it boy?"Bart: [Grunts]Homer: "Us anything the matter, my son?
Talk to me young man."Bart: [Takes a pencil and writes 'Say my
name.]Homer: "Say your name? Why should Ido that, my lad?"Bart:
"Because I'm jinxed damnit!"Homer: [Punches Bart in the arm.]Bart:
"Ow! What was that for!"Homer: You spoke while you were jinxed, so I
get to punch you in the arm! Sorry, it's the law!" (Cohen) Homer
Simpson definitely has the worst influence on children. Once,
Homeroverheard Ralph Wiggum say the he would do anything for Lisa.
In the next scene,Ralph is coating the Simpson's roof in tar. Ralph calls
out, "Mr. Simpson, the tar fumesare making me dizzy." Homer, relaxing
in a hammock replies, nonchalantly, "Yeah,they'll do that." Homer fits the
genera of the parent who pressures his kid to do well insports. In one
episode, after Bart scored a winning goal, Homer congratulated
him,"Okay Bart, you won the hockey game. Now, just as I promised,
here's your turtle, aliveand unhurt." Homer got angry at Marge once for
spending lots of money to vaccinateMaggie against diseases she doesn't
have. His advice on how to get out of jury duty is"to tell them that you're
prejudiced against all races." His self proclaimed, best adviceis,
"Sometimes the only way you can feel good about yourself is to make
other peoplelook stupid." (Groening, 26) Personally, I believe that
The Simpsons affects children, but not necessarily in abad way. Children
never hurt themselves mimicking The Three Stooges, nor do theywith
The Simpsons. Almost every episode ends with a family that loves each
other. Some episodes have answered the question of them affecting
children on theirown. Once, Marge began to protest Itchy and Scratchy
cartoons. Itchy is apsychopathic mouse who's only purpose is to kill and
torture Scratchy, a cat. Nearingthe end of the episode, Marge realizes
that Itchy and Scratchy is not hurting anyone. They take a satirical view to
the situation when a group of mothers try to stopMichaelangelo's David
from visiting the Springfield Museum of Art by means that it
ispornographic. (Koger and Wolodarsky) Unlike many sitcoms, The
Simpsons is more like everyday life. Homer works ina power plant. In
many other sitcoms, the father works a popular job, such as
anaccountant, or with a television studio. The Simpson family is not a
wealthy familyliving in a $300,000 house. Many children can relate to
this. (Rebeck, 622) In some cases, The Simpsons is educational.
Karen Brecze credits Homer Simpson with saving her 8-year-old son,
Alex's life. Bence, of Auburn, Washington, says the boy was choking on
an orange when his 10-year-old brother, Chris, used the Heimlich
maneuver, which he learned from "Homer at the Bat", where Homer is
choking on a doughnut. Unlike Alex, Homer doesn't receive help and
coughs up thedoughnut as his co-workers look at the Heimlich maneuver
poster. (Dyer, D3) The Simpsons affects kids, just as anything
around them will. Perhaps peoplefear The Simpsons because they can
see a little of The Simpsons in themselves. We allhave inner child's
trying to get out that behave just like Bart. We all do "pull a
Homer"sometimes. It just happens. The show doesn't make us do it. It
just happens. If thisworld did not have The Simpsons children would
behave in the same manner, they justmight laugh quite as much.
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John Swartzwelder, Dir: JimReardon, Prof: James L. Brooks. Fox.
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John Vitti, Dir: David Silverman, Prod: James L.Brooks. Fox. WHNS,
Greenville. 14 Jan, 1990Dale, Steve, and Shane Tritsh. Simpson Mania.
Lincolnwood: PublicationsInternational, Ltd., 1991."Flaming Moe's." The
Simpsons. By: Robert Cohen, Dir: Rich Moore and Alan Smart,Prod:
James L. Brooks. Fox. WHNS, Greenville. 21 Nov, 1991Groening, Matt.
The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album. New York: Harper Perennial,
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Prod: James L. Brooks. Fox. WHNS, Greenville. 7 Feb, 1991"Itchy &
Scratchy & Marge." The Simpsons. By: John Swartzwelder, Dir: Jim
Reardon,Prod: James L. Brooks. Fox. WHNS, Greenville. 20 Dec,
1990"Like Father, Like Clown." The Simpsons. By: Jay Choker and
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Brooks. Fox. WHNS,Greenville. 24 Oct., 1991Rebeck, Victoria.
"Recognizing Ourselves in the Simpsons" The Christian Century
27June, 1990.Varhola, Aaron. "The Simpsons" Dies. 1994.
. Christianity, though. In one episode,where Krusty
the Clown is reunited with his father, a rabbi, almost the entire episode
isspent making fun of Judaism praises the dog
again. (Swartzwelder) In one episode,Homer quits going to church and
falls in love with life. He claims to have his ownreligion so he doesn't
have