The Simpsons? Good or evil

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The problem with this question is that there are *different *phases of the Simpsons Show. One cannot simply judge the whole of the show by combining its entire collection of episodes over the past decade. There were fundamental shifts in Simpson humor and satire and this needs to be addressed in order to effectively judge the Simpsons.

For example, the first seven years of the Simpsons were brilliant. There are many, many wonderful “family” episodes that have great messages. A couple that I highly recommend are the one’s where Homer and Marge tell of how Lisa was born and the episode in which Homer and Marge get pregnant with Bart. Yes, the Simpsons were a somewhat dysfunctional family, but the bottom line of the show in the beginning is that they *were *a family and in the end they still loved each other.

Unfortunately, this is not the case today at all. The Simpsons has become more about the individual characters and is more animated sketch-comedy than anything else. Also, because they’ve found it necessary to become more crude in their humor, the wit and intelligence of its beginnings have been lost and are decidely unfunny.

So, was the Simpsons in the beginning good or evil? I’d say defintely good.

Are the Simpsons today good or evil? I’d have to say they’re awful.
 
I think it’s funny. I don’t think people should watch it until they’re teenagers though, as it does have some adult humor in it.
 
Here is the description for a recently aired Simpsons cartoon. It is this kind of stuff that makes me believe they are evil. The devil takes on many forms and tryes to appeal to us in many ways.

May 2005,

To boost tourism in Springfield, the town decides to legalize same-sex marriages. Homer discovers the monetary value of gay marriages, becomes an ordained minister via the internet, and soon marries everyone and everything in town. Patty Bouvier then comes to Homer and asks him to marry her – to Veronica a professional women’s golfer. Selma is happy for her sister that she found love, but is sad that now she is all alone. While Marge is coping with the fact that her big sister is marrying a woman, she discovers that Veronica is a man disguised as a lesbian! When the truth is exposed, Veronica is kicked out of the LPGA and Patty is driven back into the arms of the one person who truly understands her, Selma.
 
I didn’t vote. Labeling things “evil” is a silly fundamentalist game. Catholics are above that.

We watched the first season and loved it, but stopped watching it when it became stupid, as inevitably happens to every TV show. It has probably gotten better and stupid again and again over the years, but we just never watched it any more.

Sometimes I see commercials which show an episode with some decidedly unwholesome content. Matt Groening is a left wing nut, and given an audience he will no doubt strive to offend on occasion. I just don’t bother to watch it.
 
My username is a direct result of The Simpsons.

That said, everyone is a target of the show’s writers at some point. They don’t play favorites (or in-favorites, if you will).
 
Not counting the last couple seasons…The Simpsons are awesome…They’ve started to go downhill considerably…
 
vicia3:
To boost tourism in Springfield, the town decides to legalize same-sex marriages. Homer discovers the monetary value of gay marriages, becomes an ordained minister via the internet, and soon marries everyone and everything in town. Patty Bouvier then comes to Homer and asks him to marry her – to Veronica a professional women’s golfer. Selma is happy for her sister that she found love, but is sad that now she is all alone. While Marge is coping with the fact that her big sister is marrying a woman, she discovers that Veronica is a man disguised as a lesbian! When the truth is exposed, Veronica is kicked out of the LPGA and Patty is driven back into the arms of the one person who truly understands her, Selma.
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I didn’t see this episode, but this doesn’t sound evil to me. It sounds like the show is making gay marriage look ridiculous & stupid.

I used to watch the Simpsons faithfully, but I don’t watch much TV at all nowadays. I never saw anything evil or liberal about it. Sure, it makes religious people look silly, but it makes *everyone *look that way. Frequently the underlying message is a positive one. Lisa is liberal, but she isn’t exempt - her charactor is so exaggerated its a parody of liberals the same way Ned is a parody of evangelicals. There are shows I find evil and offensive - “Friends” for instance, or “Will and Grace”, for the way they portray sexual immorality as normal and healthy and ignore Christian morality - they don’t even bother to mock it, they just act as if it never existed. The Simpsons, on the other hand, almost never fails to give morality a voice through one or another of its characters.

“Oooo! I’m MAKING PEOPLE HAPPY! I’m the magical man from happy land, in a gumdrop house on LOLLLLYPOP LANE! — By the way, I was being sarcastic.”
 
The show was never intended for kids. That was the rub when they pitched it. The network execs. didn’t know if a prime-time cartoon -aimed- at adults would work. It’s not for kids. That’s a given.

As for it being stupid, dumb, etc. I’m afraid I have to disagree. The show is written supurbly. They are able to satire so many different things on so many different levels. I would venture that many people who think the jokes and gags are dumb simply don’t get them.

“How can we make the script better?
Let’s pepper it with profanity. That’s what David Mamet does”

Anyone? I almost fell down laughing when I heard that. What makes the scripts so good is that they’re able to say what they need to say and cover it with more base humor, such as fart jokes and people getting hit in the groin.

Here’s a great example. Not a belly laugh quote, but one that requires a bit of thought.

Mother Simpson: [sings] How many roads must a man walk down / Before you can call him a man…
Homer: Seven.
Lisa: No, dad, it’s a rhetorical question.
Homer: OK, eight.
Lisa: Dad, do you even know what “rhetorical” means?
Homer: Do I know what “rhetorical” means?

Or how about this one…

Marge: I’m worried about the kids, Homey. Lisa’s becoming very obsessive. This morning I caught her trying to dissect her own raincoat.
Homer: I know. And this perpetual-motion machine she made today is a joke. It just keeps going faster and faster.
Marge: And Bart isn’t doing very well either. He needs boundaries and structure. There’s something about flying a kite at night that’s so unwholesome.
[Looks out window]
Bart: [creepily] Hello, mother dear.
Marge: That’s it, we have to get them back to school.
Homer: I’m with you, Marge. Lisa. Get in here.
[Lisa walks in]
Homer: In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics
 
The Simpsons, like Married With Children, is an anti-family sit-com which I find offensive.
 
ANTI-FAMILY?
First of all, they have stayed together since the show started.
Second, when Milhouse’s family divorced, the issue was NOT treated as a positive. It was treated as a negative and it was implied that the divorce didn’t solve anything; Milhouse’s parents were still having problems.

If you ask me, South Park is WAY more destructive than the Simpsons could ever be.
 
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rocklobster:
ANTI-FAMILY?
First of all, they have stayed together since the show started.
Second, when Milhouse’s family divorced, the issue was NOT treated as a positive. It was treated as a negative and it was implied that the divorce didn’t solve anything; Milhouse’s parents were still having problems.

If you ask me, South Park is WAY more destructive than the Simpsons could ever be.
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South Park is in the same league as the Simpsons or Married with Children.
 
I would never allow my young children to watch it. It’s not intended for children. My husband and I don’t watch it regularly, but when we do we usually think it pretty hilarious! There was a time when the jokes all revolved around Homer and it was all slapstick comedy. I’m not a big fan of those but like the political and social satire in the later episodes. The Simpsons is *not *anti-family at all, nothing like Married With Children. Maybe those who think it is anti-family watched it in the very beginning when it revolved around Bart and Homer’s rocky relationship. One of my favorite episodes was one where everyone was worried because the baby, Maggie, couldn’t talk. Homer is so worried about her, and then when he finally tucks her it to bed he tells her “I love you no matter what.” After he leaves the room she takes the pacifier out of her mouth and says “nite nite Daddy.” It was so cute. Homer is always working on his relationship with Marge even when they have problems, and Bart and Lisa always realize they love each other in the end.

I do however, find South Park offensive and just plain stupid. My dad and brother used to watch it but I couldn’t stand it.
 
My husband had a running joke for awhile that we were The Flanders family… they are highly Christian neighbors living next door to the Simpsons. I think the Flanders are hilarious. One of the great things about Simpsons is the huge and varied cast of characters. The have every *type *of person a town can have.

Every time my husband and i see doughnuts we say…
MMM Doughnuts… (like Homer) or MMMM Lard…

I wouldn’t watch South Park or Married With Children. I honestly don’t put Simpsons in the same category, and I am extremely picky. South park is blatantly offensive, that is the whole point of the show, it’s garbage if you ask me.

I would put Simpsons and King of the Hill in the same category. They are cartoons which deal with adult themes, but are NOT anti-family.

South Park is an idiot-themed cartoon… but I guess that’s why my brother likes it … .just kidding, I Iove my brother. I did happen to see one where they were poking fun at Mormans and a Morman family was trying to convert one of the kids… but then my brother had one on once that was poking fun at Christian Rock music… and I made him turn it off, even though my kids weren’t in the room! One of the South Park kids wrote a Christian love song about Jesus and it started sounding like a rather inappropriate RnBsong. SO OFFENSIVE, but I guess that was the point. Just not my cup of Joe… but Simpsons is great.
 
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Rhubarb:
The show was never intended for kids. That was the rub when they pitched it. The network execs. didn’t know if a prime-time cartoon -aimed- at adults would work. It’s not for kids. That’s a given.

As for it being stupid, dumb, etc. I’m afraid I have to disagree. The show is written supurbly. They are able to satire so many different things on so many different levels. I would venture that many people who think the jokes and gags are dumb simply don’t get them.

“How can we make the script better?
Let’s pepper it with profanity. That’s what David Mamet does”

Anyone? I almost fell down laughing when I heard that. What makes the scripts so good is that they’re able to say what they need to say and cover it with more base humor, such as fart jokes and people getting hit in the groin.

Here’s a great example. Not a belly laugh quote, but one that requires a bit of thought.

Mother Simpson: [sings] How many roads must a man walk down / Before you can call him a man…
Homer: Seven.
Lisa: No, dad, it’s a rhetorical question.
Homer: OK, eight.
Lisa: Dad, do you even know what “rhetorical” means?
Homer: Do I know what “rhetorical” means?

Or how about this one…

Marge: I’m worried about the kids, Homey. Lisa’s becoming very obsessive. This morning I caught her trying to dissect her own raincoat.
Homer: I know. And this perpetual-motion machine she made today is a joke. It just keeps going faster and faster.
Marge: And Bart isn’t doing very well either. He needs boundaries and structure. There’s something about flying a kite at night that’s so unwholesome.
[Looks out window]
Bart: [creepily] Hello, mother dear.
Marge: That’s it, we have to get them back to school.
Homer: I’m with you, Marge. Lisa. Get in here.
[Lisa walks in]
Homer: In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics
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The funny thing about reading this dialogue is that I can hear their voices perfectly in my head while I read it. :bounce:
 
It’s a satire. What was that… I think it was Jonathan Swift who wrote an essay suggesting the British Government sell Irish babies for meat in the grocieries. It wasn’t suggesting canibalism. Swift was saying that the British Government already eats the Irish people, in unfair taxes and what have you.

Look at Lisa. She’s not a real person. She’s a stereotype. Young, Intellectual, Enviromentalist, Feminist, Vegetarian, Buddist. She’s every liberal stereotype rolled into one whiney, obnoxious package (Another Liberal stereotype) Ned Flanders is a stereotype. I remember he said in one episode “We give to five different churches, just in case” I know so many people who are into “brownie point” religion, as I call it. It’s social commentary cleverly disguised. Ms. Krabaple, Ms. Hoover are lushes who would rather smoke in the teachers lounge then be in class. This isn’t the writters pushing booze and cigarettes on us. This is commentary about the public education system in the US.

Heck, they even name their characters after the Stereotypes they personify. “Comic Book Guy” is the only name for the overweight, hobby fanatic man who runs the comic book store. Apu, Moe, Grounds Keeper Willy, Lunch Lady Doris, Professer Frink, Kent Brockman, Barny, Mister Burns, Krusty the Klown, Otto… all minor characters that are pretty much only the stereotype they play.

I remember when Grandpa Simpson was sick, Marge asked Lovejoy to read him Last Rites. Lovejoy responded with a rather snotty tone “That’s Catholic Marge. Why don’t you ask me to put on a mask and dance around.”

This isn’t anti-Catholic. This is -legitimately- what a lot of non-Catholics sound like. I remember my Mother was written out of my Great-Grandmother’s will because she, a Lutheran, went to Brunch and then Mass with her Catholic boyfriend on a date. She nearly disowned my Mother. She got all the old relatives together to have a sort of intervention.

It’s satire. It’s Irony. It has many, many more levels then what you see on the surface.

As for the show being anti-family I really don’t see that. Marge and Homer are happily married. Homer has been tempted twice that I know of to cheat on Marge. Each time he always runs home, leaving the usually beautiful woman behind. They try to raise their kids in a loving Christian home. They attend church regularly even if they’re falling asleep in their pews. (You guessed it… more commentary and satire) The children are constantly told how they’re loved. They’re disciplined when they do bad and after their misadventures they usually learn some lesson that many people would do well to learn. You just need to get past the occasional cuss and slapstick that hide the message oh so well.
 
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Rhubarb:
I remember when Grandpa Simpson was sick, Marge asked Lovejoy to read him Last Rites. Lovejoy responded with a rather snotty tone “That’s Catholic Marge. Why don’t you ask me to put on a mask and dance around.”
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I started reading “The Gospel According the Simpsons” this afternoon and after reading the first chapter, I had to skip ahead and see what they had to say about Catholics. The quote above was mentioned. From what I have read so far, it is a very interesting book. I am a HARDCORE Simpsons fan anyway, so what ever I read in the book, it will never turn me away from the Simpsons. Yes, there is material in the show that is offensive, but you get that in everyday life, so no big deal.

Season 6 on DVD, Tuesday August 16th. Woo Hoo.
 
Bobby A. Greene:
The Simpsons, like Married With Children, is an anti-family sit-com which I find offensive.
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Did you ever watch the first several seasons? There are some *great *family episodes, such as “Lisa’s first word,” or “So, I married Marge.”

The Simpsons is *very *pro-family - at least it was in the beginning. Right now, the Simpsons are a bit rediculous and out-played.
 
For those who are interested, I went to Sam’s Club yesterday and picked up the Simpsons Season 6 (which just came out).
I haven’t seen it yet, but by the titles It looks pretty good!
 
I don’t think they’re evil.They fun to watch.Maybe they have a few bad moments but most of it they are all right.:rotfl:
 
I started watching the Simpsons when the Tracy Ullman Show aired it back in the 80’s - and I never found it too disgusting and at times it brought up interesting themes within the scripts that prompted teachers at school to actually incorporate it into the lesson plans.

Not to mention the great variety of music I got introduced to when they had on guest stars like Barry White. 🙂
 
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