Analyzing the Simpsons

The Simpson’s

Homer-

Homer is a vibrant character. he is father, husband and a safety inspector. Some of the things on his favorite list are beer” Duffy”, donuts; his wife’s cooking and watching TV. Some of the things he dislikes are Mr. Burns (his boss) taking responsibility for his actions and his next-door neighbor Ned Flanders. Even though is an unintelligent, sloppy adult he is always there for his family when they need him.

Marge- Marge Simpson homer’s wife. She is a housewife and her day involves cooking, packing lunchboxes, cleaning the house and taking care of her kids and homer (who acts like a kid most of the time. Marge also has two twin sisters called Selma and Patty. Marge has been through a lot. she was once kidnapped by a biker gang. And she’s had work line goes from being a police officer to fighting violence.

Lisa- Lisa Simpson is the intelligent one in the family. She is eight years old but she has the brain of a college student. she loves to write inspirational essays, the whole family won a trip to Washington D.C once because of an essay that Lisa wrote. Her favorite things are her saxophone, her doll, homework and school. If she could wish for anything it would have to be world peace

Bart- young Bart Simpson is known as a troublemaker and a menace by most of Springfield residents. He always manages to get himself into some sort of trouble. Bart’s role model and heroes are krusty the clown and Santa’s little helper. His best friend is his dad, homer. But Bart has his good sides too. He decided to be friend’s with millhouse who is seen as an outsider by the other kids at school. He once helped his teacher to kind love and he helped jail some criminals.

Maggie- little Maggie Simpson is just a year ...

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Maggie- little Maggie Simpson is just a year old but she is a very strong-minded character. she is not a huge focus in the show. She always has a pacifier in her mouth and does not do a lot. But in one episode Maggie is seen wondering all over Springfield and she even tried to kill the millionaire Mr. Burns once. Her biggest wish is to learn how to walk and talk one day.

An episode

An episode that I choose which has race connections is the one when the Simpson’s win a safari to Tanzania Africa. I choose this particular episode because it portrays Africans in a sort of humiliating way. There is no humor in it at all. What I am referring to is there is a scene where they show the airplane steward is also the president of the country and the guide is also the chief of the “masai” people. There are ridiculing the whole idea of Africa. The Simpson’s shows do offend a lot of people. Specially the ethnic minorities in America like Japanese, Hindus, others.

The show’s connection to race

In this part I will be discussing how African-Americans and other minorities are portrayed on the show. In America “blacks” have treated really bad. However there has been an improvement to how they are portrayed on TV. Being dark skinned is thought to mean being different not just by colour but by nature. Western culture has adapted the consideration that black people are more communicative then white people. Black people are the media main focus when it comes to music and sports. it is hardly ever considered that black people success in these area’s is because of poverty. I find it quite interesting that there is only 3 black characters in the Simpson’s show. There seems to be a lack of coloured people on the show. But that is not necessarily a negative thing. The reason for that is, The Simpson’s show is one of few (if not the only one) that has the best representation of black people on TV. Simply because of the role the black characters are playing where one is a successful, well-liked doctor and the other one is a police officer. Compared to other shows or movies where black people are almost always represented as “gangsters and drug dealers”. The main problem that black actors have is that they have to play black characters. They are told to act as a “typical” black person. Almost every sitcom has same sort of situation where race or prejudice is mentioned. This even occurs in sitcoms, which are entirely focused on black people. Of all the years that I’ve been watching Simpson’s I have not yet seen an episode where the black characters on the show are dealing with race issues. The lives they are living are very similar to all the other characters on the show. This is because in Simpson’s hometown Springfield is doesn’t matter whether you are black, white, yellow or any other color. There are only 3 black characters in Springfield but even if there had been more it wouldn’t matter. Maybe the Simpson’s show has the best racial equality in the world of television. The show is known all over the world Springfield could be the only place in the world where one’s skin color is not of any significance at all.