The Simpsons Impact on Family Values
The Simpsons first came to life on April 19th, 1987. It was aired as a
‘filler’ in the commercial breaks of ‘The Tracey Ullman Show’ and was
animated in 30 second mini-episodes. Matt Groening, the proud producer
and creator of The Simpsons, made these 30 second episodes after being
recognized for his ‘life is hell’ comic strip and asked by a fan,
Pauly Platt, if he would be interested in coming up with ideas for an
animation. Groening ceased the opportunity and now, 18 years on The
Simpsons have become a global success and have been honored with: a
Peabody award, over 20 Emmy awards, over 50 Emmy nominations, over 20
Annie awards, four Genesis awards a Golden Globe nomination and many
more accolades.
People seem to engage with the Simpsons so well because they are
portraying the average family but obviously with some not so average
experiences. The Simpsons themselves are a simple family in a small
town in Middle America called Springfield. They are: Homer (the loyal
but stupid father), Marge (the frustrated, trapped housewife/mother),
Bart (the rebellious son), Lisa (the unappreciated genius daughter),
and Maggie (the silent baby). This is a model family that many other
families may relate to or in someway mirror, but the main difference
being that the Simpsons qualities are exaggerated. On the other hand
there are people that dislike the Simpsons, possibly because they
think people viewing the programmes will stereotype American families
due to the Simpson family. People who don’t like the Simpsons may feel
that people watching it will ‘bracket off’ all American men, for
example, as being g...
... middle of paper ...
...d
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.
Move over Jetson there is a new beloved animated family in town, the Simpsons. The Simpson’s originally aired on December 17th, 1989 and has yet to make us stop laughing. The Simpson’s follow a not so typical American family from the fictional town of Springfield. The episode follow the satirical lives of Homer (Dad), Marge (mom), Bart (brother), Lisa (sister), and Maggie (little sister). Though this is a satirical TV show many episodes provide excellent points and example of material covered in a sociology class. The episode “Marge not be Proud” gives multiple examples of deviant behavior and this essay will discuss two of them.
Families have changed greatly over the past 60 years, and they continue to become more diverse.
I will discuss a T.V show that began in 1987 and ran until 1995 and compare that to a T.V show of today Modern Family; which first aired in 2009. The two are both American family sitcoms and comedies that have had great success throughout the air. These two shows are both unique in their own way. Full House is based in the late 80’s and early 90’s in San Francisco. Now Modern Family is today and still on air going for the 7th season based in the suburbs of Los Angeles. That if you look at the family photo of the entire Modern Family cast and the complete Full House cast shows how the typical sitcom family has changed over the time. 80’s to present
The American family can be defined in as many ways as there are families. For a single person, he or she may define his or her family as his or her pet. Others may define family as his or her friends, but for most people, family is traditionally defined as including his or her biological parents, siblings and immediate blood relations. The traditional American family, despite being depicted in television shows, such as Leave It To Beaver or buzzwords for marked political agendas, is a falsehood that truly never existed for the vast majority of Americans. The birth of the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s is often held responsible for the breakdown of the “traditional” family consisting of the working father, stay-at-home
Italian-Americans have had on the wrong side of many negative bigotry and stereotypes over many decades, and had braved through them. I am certain that in this day in America, Italian-Americans assumed that all of the racism would end, when in fact shows like Jersey Shore carry on the negative stereotypes that they desired to eliminate. I believe that the director of the show and the network provider needs to take a class or do some research what Italian-Americans have been through throughout the decades, and focus on the negative stereotypes that are very offensive. If they did that, I believe that they will gain more empathy and would cancel not only Jersey Shore from their networks, but also the dozen of other shows that show Italian-Americans in a negative
Influence is the ability to have a burden on someone or something. However, one doesn’t have to be a “individual of influence” to be influential. The lives of each person is most strongly influenced by the family and environment that we grew up in. The personality of our parent (s), whether we were born first or last, what the bonds are like between siblings, our teaching horizontal surface, the socioeconomic position of our home, the home we have settled, all of these concepts have formed us at the time period of our life when we’re in need of it most and shaped us to who we are now.
The American family model traditionally included the mother and father with two kids, a boy and girl. In this 1950’s family model the husband is seen as the breadwinner while the mother is the homemaker. This model is exemplified in the Battleship advertisement where the father is resting from a hard day’s by work playing a board game with his son. At the same time the mother is doing the days dishes with some help drying from her daughter. Today however, these rigid stereotypical roles are no longer applicable to the members of the modern family. With increases in divorce rates and teen pregnancy combined with the shift in economic roles of the majority of families, the traditional nuclear family is a minority (Wetzel, 1990). The JCPenny
years the American family and its values have been one of the top priorities of
In society today there tends to exist a nostalgia for the utopian family life of the past.
It is often said that the toughest part of being a kid is fitting in. The United States is a diverse country with many cultures; consequently, it can be overwhelming for adolescents to feel accepted for who they are and where they come from. Amy Tan is an American writer with traditional Chinese parents. She focuses her writing on mother-daughter relationships. Specifically, Tan’s article, “Fish Cheeks,” published in Seventeen Magazine, describes her struggle as a 14-year-old girl in America trying to establish her identity and fit in. Tan is in love with the minister’s son, Robert. For Christmas, Tan prays for Robert and a slim new American nose. Tan’s parents invite the minister and his family over for Christmas Eve dinner. Under those circumstances, Tan is overwhelmed with fear of what Robert will think of her family’s shabby Chinese Christmas. Tan’s mother prepares a strange Chinese menu consisting of prawns, fish, tofu, and squid. Tan is ashamed of her family because she thinks they are loud and lack American manners. After dinner, Tan’s mother tells her to be proud of who she is and where she comes from. Nevertheless, it took many years for Tan to appreciate her mother’s lesson. For Christmas Eve that year, Tan’s mother made all of her favorite foods. Amy Tan writes this article using different literary devices suggesting that family plays a fundamental role in forming one’s identity.
Is it true that working-class couples actually marry for love, or does it depend on the situation? What causes people to want to get married? Do people want to marry someone based off similar family values? If so, what differentiates family values from regular values? A family value is a value that a family holds while a regular value is held by an individual. Family values can change as a family grows and changes. My family personally has gone through several family value transitions, and so has many other families in the world.
Modern Family is easy to relate to because the three families in the show are all “modern” families in today’s culture. The different themes shown throughout the show all contribute to the show being so influential. Each episode is very positive and has an underlying message in the end and shows that there is always a different purpose to each episode which is what makes the show so influential. The family has conflicts but is always functioning which is what makes the show special and relatable.
Family has played an intricate role in the development of the society in which we live. The diversity in which families are formed is now becoming even more diverse with the American culture, which is changing at a rapid pace. Diverse cultures coupled with social economic challenges are key contributors to the dramatic change to the institution of family. With these challenges facing the institution of family, this closely tightknit unit which has been the cornerstone of American society has diminishing from a traditional standpoint. Non-kinship family networks like the one described in Karen V. Hansen’s “The Cranes, An Absorbent Safety Net,” goes against the norm of the common institution of family within America. Although the Crane family
Family dynamics and their structure have gone through many changes in the last 100 years. The development of diverse and unique family styles was very interesting and I was surprised by the many changes over the spectrum of time. In addition, I discovered that I have been a little sheltered by my own environment. I had failed to learn about other cultures, but what I learned from this course and the way we define family was eye opening. Considering the definition of a family unit, it is easy to see how much that definition has changed. People living in the same home and celebrating the same belief system, although not related by blood, are still considered family. From single parents, to grandparents raising the grandchildren, and homosexual
Every family has different values and how every family is different. From the time I was little till now I never really understood the meaning of the word family values. I think of it as two things family and then values; family is basically the people I live with. The people that support them and love them, even their parents and siblings and other adults that live there. Values are what we have but family value put together is values that are traditionally learned or relearned within a family, for example those of high moral standards and discipline.