All The Wrong Reasons- Thoughts on The Simpsons

In Middle School I read an article, in the school's god-awful student paper, that has stuck with me to this day. It was only about five hundred words, but had three authors, all of them popular girls. It was about The Simpsons, though I forget the title. It was probably something like, "The Simpsons is, Like, So Lame".

It was some of the most atrocious journalism ever published, worse even than Maureen Dowd or Thomas Friedman (though admittedly not much). The girls' prose was meandering and vague, but their general point was this: "We don't understand why this show is considered funny." As a dedicated fan of The Simpsons, I didn't even need to feel angry. These girls had decided to take on one of the greatest achievements of our generation and their greatest argument was that they didn't get it?

There were a couple of guys, however, who didn't feel this way. Their response came in the form of a rebuttal, "The Simpsons is an Awesome Show!!!", which, if anything, was worse than the article that prompted it. The guys got all the facts wrong, claiming that Homer was named after the author of The Odyssey, and then using this as evidence of the shows intellectualism. If they had done 5 minutes of research they would have known that Homer is simply the name of Matt Groening's dad, just as Lisa is his sister, and Marge is his mom. But I can forgive this. Back then the internet hadn't been invented and the DVD was just a glimmer in the eye of some Japanese guy, so these facts were a bit harder to come by

The real problem, then, was that the guys completely missed the point of the show. I should mention that these guys were, like the girls, quite popular and quite stupid, so their idea of a good Simpsons joke was Homer falling down a staircase and saying "d'oh". Don't get me wrong, I'm as big a fan of "The bit my bottom and now my bottom's big" as the next guy, but that wasn't really what the show was about. What did make the show great was stuff like this, which comes at the end of Streetcar!, the musical adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire that the town of Springfield puts on in season 4:

Cast: You can always depend on the kindness of strangers. To pluck up your spirits, and shield you from dangers...
Blanche: Now here's a tip from Blanche you won't regret...
Cast: A stranger's just a friend you haven't met. You haven't met. STREETCAR!

How could anyone get Tennesse Williams so wrong? The scene seemed like pure, impossible fiction until I read that newspaper article, and realized that people get it that wrong all the time.


The ultimate insult was the final article that appeared in the school paper a few days later, written by the girls that had started the whole contorversy. In it, they completely retracted their initial opionion and went on to lavish praise on a show, which, only two days ago, they just didn't get.

What was the cause for their turnaround? They claimed to have watched an episode after reading the rebuttal, and quickly realized the error of their ways. Their excuse was weak. I knew right away that they had seen an article written by some popular guys, and they saw their chance to do some social networking. It didn't matter if they liked the show or not. As long as they claimed to like it, it gave them common ground, and a chance to become even more popular.


A couple years ago, when "The Simpsons Fan Club" was still a thriving, powerful organization, I chose to play an episode about censorship, entitled "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge". This episode is a true masterpiece, definitely one of the most politically charged Simpsons. And it's extremely funny.

In it, Marge protests and effectively shuts down the pointlessly violent "Itchy & Scratchy", but refuses to do the same when Michelangelo's David comes to Springfield. As the show reaches it's important climax, the bell rang and all but three of us ran out of the room. It was then that Matt Sauter, Mr. Warren, and I watched the following scene in which Marge and Homer visit the statue alone:

Homer: Well, there he is. Michelangelo's `Dave'. Pretty soon, every boy and girl in Springfield Elementary School is going to come and see this thing.
Marge: Really? Why?
Homer: They're forcing 'em! [laughs]

I felt like a professor must feel when his students rush out of class at the end of a lecture, before I had finished speaking. It didn't feel good. What point was "The Simpsons Fan Club" if there was only three real fans in it? But we kept it going. We provided an important service to the school for 2 1/2 years, and, maybe, because of us, there is an SMES kid somewhere who can watch the Simpsons looking for more than catch phrases.

In closing let me say that anyone who says that Family Guy is a better show than The Simpsons is not my friend. Really, I want nothing to do with you. Family Guy is a very, very mediocre show, that pretty much does all the lame stuff in the Simpsons, without any of the comedic skill. My number one complaint about Princeton is probably the number of people who like Family Guy here. I can see what appeals to people about Family Guy. It's a big, dumb comedy with about 10 jokes a minute. But I think we need to ask for something more than that.

Maybe this comes off as popous, or pointless, or long-winded. Oh well. This much I'm sure of. Somewhere, on the campus of some junior college, are two guys I went to Middle School with, watching Family Guy, and laughing like crazy.