Family values are basically ‘social norms’ for describing a family and the ‘proper’ roles of its members. ‘Most often, the term connotes a conservative ideology that supports sexual morality and traditional gender roles, and that opposes homosexual relationships, same-sex marriage, and abortion. The term may also refer to endorsing censorship of phenomena in the media (such as many forms of nudity, profanity, sexuality, and violence) which children might view’ en.Wikipedia.org.
Many people feel ‘The Simpsons’ promote family values because basically every bizarre event that has happened in every episode has been as a result of 1or more member/s of the family trying to please the rest of the family. This is evident in ‘Blue-collar slob’ in which homer becomes an astronaut. He does this because he feels he has lost the respect of his family and friends, and assumes that astronauts receive great respect. Although this episode can be interpreted as simple comedy, putting a ‘blue-collar slob’ in outer space, there are also underlying messages that highlight the love that keeps the Simpson family together. It connotes that respect must be in a family for it to function properly and the love in the Simpson family is so great that Homer is willing to risk his life (or other peoples) by becoming an astronaut to get some respect back. This is a subtle and effective way to promote family values.
In the ‘Homer Badman’ Episode we get a great insight into the family values of the Simpsons. At the start of this episode we see how homers greed seems to control him when a candy trade fair is in town. Marge and Homer go to the fair and homer forces Marge to wear a coat with lots of extra pockets so they can take as much ‘free’ candy as possible. This, on the one hand, could be interpreted as greed and that the Simpsons, possibly without realising it, value greed and taking as much as they can (which sets a bad example). On the other hand this can be seen upon as ceasing an opportunity, or living for the moment, which is promoting their family values. These are two very contrasting theories and it is easy to see how people think the Simpsons can promote family values and set bad examples.
One of the Simpsons main values is trust; this is a very strong theme in ‘Homer Badman’ because without the trust and support of his family homer would have been punished for ‘touching up’ the feminist student/babysitter Ashley Grant. Even when the rest of the Simpson family weren’t to sure if homer was telling the truth or not they decided to trust him, Lisa and Marge even persuaded Homer to declare his innocence on public access T.V. This just shows how much they are supporting him throughout his ordeal and that they will stand by him. It suggests they have very strong morals as a family and strong values also. They care for one another and will help each other out to pull through any given situation.
In terms of its family values, The Simpsons is just leading the way among a few shows which stress the extent to which a dysfunctional family can bond together and work pretty well as a unit whenever given a difficult situation. Other shows have emerged replicating the Simpsons to some extent, For example ‘Malcom In The Middle’, this is a very popular sitcom also about a dysfunctional family but, much like the Simpsons they manage to pull through everything. This shows how successful the Simpsons have been as a result to its sense of morality and how justice is always done at the end of the day. This is proved because shows, such as ‘Malcom In The Middle’ have recognised this success and tried to follow in the footsteps of the simpsons. This is very effective in proving the simpsons promote family values because other shows wouldn’t try and follow in the footsteps of a show that sets bad examples.
The show has not been without its subtle opinions intertwined in it. This is possibly one of the reasons some people think that it is setting bad examples. Some people may see the show as a way of manipulating peoples opinions, and as it is a cartoon a younger audience, who haven’t yet formed there own opinions and views on life, may be manipulated into thinking a certain way. One example of a subtle remark that may manipulate is said in a Halloween special, in which two aliens have taken over the bodies of two potential presidents (who happen to be the favourites):
Voter: I think I'll vote for a third party candidate!
Alien Democrat: Go ahead - throw your vote away!
This could be seen to a viewer as a value of ‘The Simpsons’ as a programme and not just the family (Homer, Marge etc…) and this could be interpreted as a bad example. This could be seen as ‘The Simpsons’ trying to influence votes and manipulate people’s decisions on important matters. Then again it could also be seen as a mere joke. This could have a varying result on the viewer, depending on his or her family values (and whether or not they have a sense of humour).
The Simpsons most well known critic was president Bush. In 1992 in a speech he declared that Americans should “start being more like the Walton’s, and start being less like the Simpsons”. Not only could this of had the knock-on effect of making more Simpson critics but it portrayed the Simpsons as being bad people with no family values, who set bad examples. Once someone has this in their head it is very easy to ignore any underlying themes of love, support, loyalty and trust and take the programme from a more superficial level and just see the burping, bum-scratching, chain-smoking (patty and Selma) and a lot of drinking (mainly Barney and Homer). These all could set bad examples, but in my opinion, anyone who watches the show with an open mind is much more likely to pick up on the Simpsons family values. Their morals, and how they would do anything for one another; for example, homer jumping Springfield gauge on a skateboard just to stop Bart from doing it. It is things like this (metaphorically) that promote true family values and people should take a leaf from the Simpsons book.
The programme doesn’t just rely on moral issues to be popular. It uses a range of carefully planned ideas to create a unique form of entertainment, with episodes costing over $1million to produce. This is because ‘The Simpsons’ uses clever camera angles and 3D effect to make it seem much more than just a cartoon. If you compare this to a cartoon such as Mickey mouse it is far more intelligent and advanced in the way it is presented. This is all done so that a viewer can connect more with the family and see them more like People and less like cartoon characters. This is very clever though because, despite the fact it is probably one of the most realistic animations around, it is still just an animation and therefore can get away with saying or doing anything. This is a great way to exploit any bizarre situation in the world and show the viewer how the Simpsons would get through it because of there values and how they work together.
The camera angles in ‘Homer Badman’ show homer taking a piece of candy off Ashley grants bottom but show it so it looks like he is grabbing her bottom and saying ‘mmmm sweet candy’. This shows us how people can be manipulated to think a certain way with the slightest of tricks and promotes the fact in the programme that people should not be so judgemental until they have seen both sides of an argument. In this episode Homer is bought to justice after Willy shows him a tape of what happened (because he had secretly been filming them) so in the end justice is done. This is another value ‘The Simpsons’ promotes consistently through all its episodes (except Halloween specials).
Overall I think the Simpsons can be seen to be promoting family values or setting bad examples depending on how much you are willing to open your mind up to the programme. Personally I think the Simpsons are a modal family who have big hearts and always manage to pull through for each other and I believe that if all families had the amount of love that is in the Simpson family the world would be a much better place.
