Blogpost 2: The Simpsons - Bad Parenting

I'm sure everyone of us knows about The Simpsons, one of the longest running sitcoms in television. It is about the antics of a dysfunctional family. Homer is the oafish unhealthy beer loving father, Marge is the hardworking homemaker wife, Bart is the ten year old underachiever (and proud of it), Lisa is the unappreciated eight year old genius, and Maggie is the cute, pacifier loving silent infant. When i was at high school, I began to get really hooked with this show. Soon, i downloaded the episodes that I missed and it became a habit for me to watch it. It was the only animated show that I appreciated, maybe because it was packed with sarcastic humors that was really intended to bring out some morals in our life, or maybe because it was generally funny and you can't help yourself but laugh every time. But as time goes by, you wonder and ask yourself, is it just all about the humor? Obviously, there are lots of bad signals channeled by this show. What can this show provide for the younger viewers? And how much impact will it cause in the minds of the juvenile and ignorant?

In this article that I've read which is about Sad Truth Behind The Simpsons written by someone who calls himself The Stickman in the blogsite ScrewAttack, he clearly brought out the main reason why Homer Simpson's personality is as bad as it gets, as he quotes "Homer and his upbringing. All of his failures  all of his families failures can be traced back to his childhood. Homer was born into a family of turmoil, with a mother who wished to be free of the conformist lifestyle that she was stuck in, and a father who was stuck in the past and despised any showing of creativity or expression. Being told his Mother was dead at an early age...", From there, his life took a downward spiral, being raised by a negligent father who himself was suffering from loneliness and depression only further warped him, finding comfort in overeating and watching television. Until he grow up with that kind of lifestyle and carried all the burden until he raised a family of his own. Homer still remains traumatized by his upbringing and bitter to his Father, putting him in a cheap home and rarely visiting him, at one point fantasizing about murdering him, a particularly dark moment for the show. Throw in his own inexperience as a father due to his own poor childhood and you've got one man who's entire life has just been a wrecking ball to those around him.

Homer as a father and a husband is pretty depressing. Marge and Homer are only still together because of Bart. Why? Because of Bart, Marge never got to live any of her fantasies out and was resigned to a life of mothering and caring for Homer who knowingly doesn't deserve to still have Marge around as a Wife or even a lover. Homer is as bad as a husband can get, and the only hook that keeps Homer and Marge's marriage alive is because of Bart and the rest of their kids. It is the result of a bad family planning. Warning to all young lovers to always wear protection before having sex. The Simpsons is just one big advert for contraception and family planning.

In relation to that, Marge's Artistic/Journalistic talents are wasted. She was a creatively minded, talented artist who's dreams of success and fame were ended when she met Homer. She attempted many times to follow her dreams to become successful, but she always ends up back where she started, a miserable housewife being choked by a family completely dependent on her routines and care. This kind of setting is present in our society. Marriage is more of an opportunity cost, you win some, you lose some. People getting married and lack family planning, marrying the wrong person, are more likely to waste their skills and talents and just be left out useless.

Bart Simpson who's apparently doomed to lose any resemblance of intelligence at a young age, and live out a life of mediocrity and failure. Maybe because of it being genetically passed on to him by his stubborn father, or a great impact on his life caused by his father's rude and inappropriate parenting. It is evident in most of the episodes that Homer oftenly physically hurts Bart, choking him when he does something wrong. This type of parenting is dreadful to the eyes of it's viewers, especially young and innocent. This are the most probable cause of Bart Simpson's life as a juvenile delinquent. Some episodes suggest that his future status was that he's a wrecking ball controller, an out of money, no talent guitarist, overweight male stripper or even a deadbeat dad of two, just like his father. A gloomy future for Bart, who has continued to remain ignorant of this until very recently when he became depressed about the rut his life was in. Again, linking to bad parenting, your way of raising them will always cause a great impact to your children on what they will become in the future.

Lisa Simpson's depression and social isolation has been a theme in the series from very early on. In the majority of episodes she does seem rather resigned and content with her life but she's been known and seen to become desperate at times, pretending to be someone else in order to make friends, anything to feel some kind of acceptance or happiness. This particular family setting would really affect a child's mentality towards life. Maybe she's depressed about how screwed up her family is and she gets overwhelmed by it that she loses every ounce of her self-esteem. But we all know Lisa is the responsible and serious girl, with dreams and desires in life to be successful. But this can't last forever with her under that kind of environment with his family. This speaks so much about how parenting really affects the children nowadays, and how it makes or breaks your children, depending on how you handle your family.

As early as her infant age, Maggie, the youngest offspring of The Simpsons, entails that there's a whole list of disturbing incidents involving Maggie that suggest she will one day become a violent, deranged person.All in all, it paints a grim picture for Maggie's mental stability, turned violent by her surroundings, she seems fated to a life of crime and violence. She may look all innocent and cute, but when you ask her about it she just sits there, silently suckling away on her dummy, what's she planning? When you put aside the humor on these scenes and based it on reality, it is really dreadful to see that as young as that, you can already see the effect on her, on how much the violence in her household caused her to adapt to it and be like it.

'The Simpson' depicts the reality that is happening in most of the households, especially here in the Philippines, where these scenarios are really present. Absence of family planning, bad parenting, and the likes. All are evident in the Filipino setting of families and we can't deny it. In the second article I read about Simpson Ethics written by John Sohn in the site The Simpson's Archive, as he quotes, "Despite the show’s animated appearance, having yellow-colored characters with odd hair, "The Simpsons" is a profound parody of life, "achieving the true essence of satire." The writers’ use of "incongruity, sarcasm, exaggeration, and other comedic techniques" gives the show its true genius. Although with "pratfalls and stupidity that is, at times, nothing short of brilliant," the show appeals to those "who can laugh at the low comedy, yet understand the biting satire that truly drives the series." All different aspects of life are scrutinized to a hilarious effect". Which is true because not all people can dig deeper on to what message a certain show really sends out to it's viewers. Indeed, the Simpson family is a reflection of the American lifestyle, each member following the stereotypes and cliches of society. And it's not presented as a compliment and a cheer for tolerance to this kind of lifestyle but a wake up call to all of us.

For me, the show presents a wide variety of arguments, containing reasonable yet blunt ideology. For some reason, i feel good to have the chance to scrutinize the show. Apart from all the humor i got from it, it's really nice to really catch the message and realize how important these morals are. These representations made in the show is considered to be an indirect approach to tell the world that our society is screwed up. The show presents itself as a good example only if you reverse it's psychology, because we all know it as some nonsense, pointless cartoon series, but when you really dig deeper, you can always find treasure in it. And i believe that's the beauty of this show. Consider this a warning. Proper family planning before marriage and especially before having kids is a must. People tend to disregard out of negligence, which is worst case scenario for most of the families in our society. And bad parenting is just something intolerable to the society. I believe our country is in the verge of downfall because of this. Because everything starts at home. Corrupt politicians, criminals, delinquents, all of this is the price for poor decision making. And whatever you bring from your home as your journey through this world, will define your personality. Whatever you say or do at home, you will always bring that outside, and later on, still be practiced in front of your children. Remember, children are too arrogant and ignorant to even act out for themselves, they always depend on their parents on most of their decisions. I say good parenting will always make a wise man and parents are responsible for their children's composure through proper and wise parenting.