i didn t do it how the simpsons affects kids

I Didn't Do It: How The Simpsons Affects Kids
The Simpsons is one of Americas most popular television
shows. It ranks
as the number one television program for viewers under eighteen
years of age.
However, the ideals that The Simpsons conveys are not always
wholesome,
sometimes not even in good taste. It is inevitable that The
Simpsons is
affecting children.
Matt Groening took up drawing to escape from his troubles
in 1977. At
the time, Groening was working for the L.A. Reader, a free weekly
newspaper. He
began working 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 in Hell gradually became a common comic strip in
many free
weeklies and college newspapers 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 as Taxi, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Terms of Endearment.
Brooks
originally wanted Groening to make an animated pilot of Life in
Hell. Groening
chose not to do so in fear of loosing royalties from papers that
printed the

strip. Groening presented Brooks with an overweight, balding
father, a mother
with a blue beehive hairdo, and three obnoxious spiky haired
children. Groening
intended for them to represent the typical American family "who
love each other
and drive each other crazy". Groening named the characters after
his own family.
His parents were named Homer and Margaret and he had two younger
sisters named
Lisa and Maggie. Bart was an anagram for "brat". Groening chose
the last name
"Simpson" to sound like the typical American family name.
(Varhola, 2)
Brooks decided to put the 30 or 60 second animations on
between skits on
The Tracy Ullman Show on the unsuccessful Fox network. Cast
members Dan
Castellaneta and Julie Kavner did the voices of Homer and Marge.
Yeardley Smith
(later to star in Herman'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
the Simpson family into their own show. The Fox network was
looking for
material to appeal to younger viewers. The only show they had
that drew a young
audience was Married With Children. To Fox's pleasure, The
Simpsons saved the
network from near failure. (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 all of 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 not receive a Christmas bonus.
When he
learns that Marge is relying on the money for Christmas, he
decides that he will
do the Christmas shopping for the year. He quickly buys Marge
panty hose, Bart
paper, Lisa crayons, and Maggie a dog toy. When he realizes that
he is not
doing very well, he gets a second job as a mall Santa for the
extra money. On
the way home from work, he steals a Christmas tree. The next day
at the mall,

Bart sits on his Dad's lap and pulls down his beard. Homer
responds by choking
Bart and making him help make Christmas better. On Christmas
Eve, Homer
receives his check, $13.70 for over 40 hours work. Homer takes
Bart to the dog
track as a final chance for Christmas money. They discovered a
gem in the third
race, Santa's Little Helper. How could this dog loose on
Christmas Eve? The
odds were 99 to 1, they were going 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 winning tickets into the
night, they saw
the track manager throw out a dog. It was not just any dog, it
was Santa's
Little Helper. When Bart and Homer came home to their worried
family, 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.
It dealt 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,
"Bart the 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 and his parents are called into Principal
Seymour Skinner's
office where they are told that Bart has a 216 IQ. (Homer
thought is was 912.)
Skinner requests that Bart attends The Enriched 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 sings
along with the
opera Carmen.) Soon at Bart's old school, Springfield Elementary
School, Bart's
graffiti is roped off and tagged, "The Principal. By Bart
Simpson. IQ 216."
Bart's friend no longer like him, they refer to him as
Poindexter. The kids at
his new school trick him into giving up his lunch. In frank,
Bart is miserable.
Then, after turning himself green in an uneducated science
experiment, Bart
reveals to his new principal that he cheated on the test. That
night, as Homer

is helping Bart clean himself off, Bart tells Homer the same.
Homer instantly
transforms into a murderous rampage again. The episode ends with
Bart locking
himself in his room and Homer trying to knock 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. During the 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 among kids. 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, a baby-sitter robbed the Simpson household of most of
it's belongings.
In the fourth episode, Homer caused a nuclear accident, got
fired, and attempted
suicide. Bart stole the head off of the statue of Jebidiah
Springfield,
Springfield's founder in the sixth episode. In the eighth
episode, Bart took a
picture of Homer with an exotic dancer and distributed them to
the entire town.
Marge had an affair in the ninth episode. Homer stole 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. The Simpson family goes to church on a regular
basis, but Bart and
Homer loath it. A typical 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
praises the dog until Ned Flanders comes outside. He then acts
angry and
threatens the dog with 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 own religion so he doesn't have
to go to work
on holidays, such as the Feast of Maximum Occupancy. 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 is spent making fun of Judaism. Lisa asks Bart,
"Do you know
what a rabbi's most valued possession is?" Bart replied, "I
dunno, those stupid

little hats." Hinduism is constantly joked with by using East
Indian, Kwik-E-
Mart clerk, Apu Mahasapeemapitalon. Apu is once asked is he is
Hindu. He
replied, "By the thousand arms of Bishna, I swear it is a lie."
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 I do 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,

Homer overheard 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 fumes are 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 in sports. 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, alive and
unhurt." Homer
got angry at Marge once for spending lots of money to vaccinate
Maggie 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
advice is, "Sometimes the only way you can feel good about
yourself is to make
other people look stupid." (Groening, 26)
Personally, I believe that The Simpsons affects children,
but not
necessarily in a bad way. Children never hurt themselves
mimicking The Three
Stooges, nor do they with The Simpsons. Almost every episode
ends with a family
that loves each other.

Some episodes have answered the question of them
affecting children on
their own. Once, Marge began to protest Itchy and Scratchy
cartoons. Itchy is
a psychopathic mouse who's only purpose is to kill and torture
Scratchy, a cat.
Nearing the 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 stop Michaelangelo's David from visiting the
Springfield Museum
of Art by means that it is pornographic. (Koger and Wolodarsky)
Unlike many sitcoms, The Simpsons is more like everyday
life. Homer
works in a power plant. In many other sitcoms, the father works
a popular job,
such as an accountant, or with a television studio. The Simpson
family is not a
wealthy family living 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 the doughnut as his co-workers look at the Heimlich
maneuver
poster. (Dyer, D3)
The Simpsons affects kids, just as anything around them
will. Perhaps
people fear The Simpsons because they can see a little of The
Simpsons in
themselves. We all have 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 this world did not have The
Simpsons
children would behave in the same manner, they just might laugh
quite as much.
WORKS CITED
"22 Short Films About Springfield." The Simpsons. By: John
Swartzwelder, Dir:
Jim Reardon, Prof: James L. Brooks. Fox. WHNS, Greenville. 12
May, 1996.
"Bart the Genius." The Simpsons. By: John Vitti, Dir: David
Silverman, Prod:
James L. Brooks. Fox. WHNS, Greenville. 14 Jan, 1990
Dale, Steve, and Shane Tritsh. Simpson Mania. Lincolnwood:
Publications
International, 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,
1991
Groening, Matt. The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album. New York:
Harper
Perennial, 1994.
"Homer at the Bat." The Simpsons. By: John Swartzwelder, Dir:
Jim Reardon,
Prod: James L. Brooks. Fox. WHNS, Greenville. 20 Feb, 1992
"Homer the Heretic." The Simpsons. By: George Meyer, Dir: Jim
Reardon, Prod:
James L. Brooks. Fox. WHNS, Greenville. 8 Oct., 1992
"Homer's Odyssey." The Simpsons. By: Jay Choker and Wallaby
Wolodarsky, Dir:
Wesley Archer, Prod: James L. Brooks. Fox. WHNS, Greenville.
21 Jan, 1990
"Homer Simpson Saves the Day." San Francisco Chronicle 21 May,
1992: D3
"Homer VCR. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment." The Simpsons. By:
Steve Pepsin,
Dir: Rich Moore, 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
Wallaby Wolodarsky,
Dir: Jefferson Lynch with Brad Bird, Prod. James L. Brooks. Fox.
WHNS,
Greenville. 24 Oct., 1991

Rebeck, Victoria. "Recognizing Ourselves in the Simpsons" The
Christian
Century 27 June, 1990.
Varhola, Aaron. "The Simpsons" Dies. 1994.