Feminism In The Simpsons: Feminism Within The Simpsons

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Recommended: Gender roles stereotypes in media feminist view

Michelle Boone & Kevin Gaspar
Dawn Kelsey
COMM 200: Gateway to Communication Studies
1 May 2014
Review of Literature: Feminism Within The Simpsons
Seeking to institute equal opportunities for women, Lisa Simpson, a character from the animated television series The Simpsons, persistently promotes the rights and equality of women. The mother figure, Marge Simpson, is Lisa’s opposing female role when it comes to advocating feminism. In this show, both characters provide insight into the stereotypes of suffrage and domesticity in American culture. Homer Simpson, on the other hand, gives the viewer an atmosphere of the chauvinistic role of a father/husband in response to Marge’s mother/housewife duties. These attributes also show how gender roles are affected. In the typical modern American lifestyle, men are no longer the bread-winners of the household. Women are increasingly breaking from their past title roles of housewives, and becoming liberated from their monotonous womanly practices. The societal structures within The Simpsons mirrors some of the realities about the average American family. These feministic characteristics offers a window into the roles of not just the females, but also of the males who attempt to preserve their preferred standard of living. The purpose of this review is to bring to light the issues portrayed in The Simpsons about feminism, gender roles, and domesticity in past and present American culture.
Feminism
The Simpsons have seemingly expressed and interpreted every aspect of feminism throughout the series. Henry describes feminism in his article Don’t Ask Me, I’m Just a Girl by mentioning that feminism in popular culture is flooded “with a great deal of confusion and contradiction”. He also focuses o...

... middle of paper ...

...eal-life settings.
In the articles that have been presented, the commonalities center within feministic characteristics, domesticity and home life, and gender roles in the animated television series The Simpsons. We learned that there was a lack of articles that examine feminism in the series. There was a great amount of information on gender roles and home life. We found that there needs to be more studies and research done on the topic of feminism with more characters than just the Simpson family. We propose to further examine feminism within The Simpsons including the different cultures and groups in the show and comparing them to the Simpson family. A good example of characters to analyze would be the Nahasapeemapetilon family. They are Hindu and could have similar or different religious practices that influence their feminism, domesticity, and gender roles.

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