The
show of the infamous dysfunctional TV family, The Simpsons, is the longest
running animated series of all time. What was concocted by Matt Groening in the
lobby of James L. Brooke’s office has now become a pop culture phenomenon. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and even Maggie, have managed to touch
the hearts of millions since their very first appearances in the Tracy Ullman
Show, when they were just part of a 10 minute skit. It wasn’t until 1989 that
they branched off into their own 30 minute spin-off, The Simpsons. Since then,
The Simpsons have had over 400 episodes, a movie, video games, and produced
award winning shorts, like Maggie’s segment “The Longest Daycare”. The show and
its contributors have won a total of 136 awards and been nominated for another
195. It’s been 25 years since its pilot episode and it’s still going. It seems
like, as it was stated in the song played during the episode ‘Gump Roast’,
“they’ll never stop the Simpsons” (a parody of Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t
Start the Fire”).
The
show began with Matt Groening’s goal to provide audiences with something
different from the “mainstream trash” they were watching. The family was
nothing like what was on TV at the time of its creation. They were (and still
are) violent and dysfunctional, to say the least, but it was their
imperfections that brought viewers closer to those yellow characters on a
personal level. Homer struggled, as a father and husband, to keep his family
together. In the first full-length episode, The
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, Christmas for the family was on the
verge of being ruined when Bart had a run in with the law and Homer’s boss, Mr.
Burns, announced that there would be no Christmas bonus. He struggled along
with the millions of fathers to provide for his wife and kids. Viewers saw a
man determined to instill his values in his children and give them what he was
never given as a child. In later episodes, his character changed into the
dimwitted drunk but he always kept his sweet side.
Bart is a typical boy: rebellious,
struggled with bullies, overall just trying to fit in. He related to the
teenagers of the 90’s with his spiked up hair do, riding around the town of
Springfield on his lime green skateboard. Eventually, his face was everywhere
from t-shirts to cereal boxes. He even came out with a music video and later an
album featuring his hit song, ‘Do the
Bartman’.
Lisa first started out
as Bart’s female counterpart, playing the role of his bratty little sister, but
later branched out to a more in-depth character. At the very young age of eight,
her intelligence surpassed that of the majority of the students in her school
(and very likely that of many Springfield citizens). That, along with her
maturity, made her an outcast in school. She struggled to find her identity,
until her saxophone helped her express herself through her music. Lisa is an
inspiration to many young girls, including myself.
Marge, woman with the
iconic blue hair, started out as the stereotypical nagging wife but became
Homer’s moral compass. Her role of wife and mother proved to be just as
challenging as it is in the real world. In some cases it became too
overwhelming, a feeling mothers know all too well…
Maggie is the sweet
little baby that completes any family. Although she was mostly seen in the arms
of her mother, she turns out to be a very dynamic character. At first, her
adventures came in small clips of her and the household pets, Snowball II and
Santa’s Little Helper. However, her character proves to be more profound than
the babies of other cartoon families. Maggie proves to be smarter than given
credit for; she’s saved Homer’s life several times but also turns out to be the
shooter in the two part story ‘Who Shot
Mr. Burns?’ This is a baby that is anything but two dimensional.
*Note: This is an extremely rough draft, a lot will be cut, moved and added.
