The Simpsons

The Simpsons is a satirical animated comedy series created by Life in Hell cartoonist Matt Groening. The Simpsons started as part of The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987. On December 17, 1989 the show debuted on the Fox Network. The show was also made into a feature-length movie, which was released on July 27, 2007.

The Simpsons is the longest-running sitcom in the United States, as well as the longest-running animated television series, and is viewed all over the world. It has won 27 Emmy Awards. On October 16, 2016 the 600th episode, the Halloween episode "Treehouse of Horror XXVII", was broadcast.^[1] With its 636th episode, "Forgive and Regret", broadcast during its 29th season on April 29, 2018, The Simpsons surpassed Gunsmoke (which produced 635 episodes between 1955 and 1975) for the most episodes of a scripted primetime American TV series;^[2] this episode was landmarked in the opening sequence with a parody of the Gunsmoke opening credits, which featured Maggie Simpson facing Marshall Matt Dillon in a gunfight in the streets of Dodge City.^[3]

In Iran, China and Venezuela, The Simpsons is banned by the regimes in those countries.^[4][5] Although the show was among the most controversial of its day, it now pales in comparison to Family Guy and South Park, to name a few. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your point of view, but for your average Conservapedia reader, it would be bad. The show is considered to have a considerable Democratic bias.

Family[edit]

The show revolves around the fictional Simpson family.

Homer Jay Simpson[edit]

The overweight, balding father of the family. Homer "works" as a safety inspector in the local nuclear power plant, where he usually sleeps, which gets him into trouble with his boss, Mr. Burns. However, many episodes have shown him performing a wide range of other jobs. Homer enjoys a diet mostly centered around donuts and "Duff" beer. Homer is by choice quite lazy, but does get pushed into occasionally performing heroic acts for his family.

Marjorie "Marge" Bouvier Simpson[edit]

Marge is the mother of the family. Instantly recognizable thanks to her unfeasibly large blue beehive hairdo, Marge provides the foundation for the family. Her relationship with Homer is portrayed as a loving one, but frequently exasperating due mostly to Homer's buffoonery. Marge is in many respects the prototypical suburban American mother, as she stays at home and takes care of the family while Homer works. On a few occasions Marge has gotten a job, which has sometimes met with horrible results, but sometimes with more pleasant ones.

Bartholomew "Bart" Simpson[edit]

Their son Bart, the eldest child, is a troublemaker and self-proclaimed underachiever. Bart has a mixed relationship with his father. While sometimes harboring a very close relationship with his father, Bart's opinion of Homer is all over the radar, ranging from very affectionate love to deep frustration.

Lisa Simpson[edit]

The older daughter. Lisak is mostly concerned with being a good student, protecting the environment (although she is involved in activism with other liberal causes at different points in the show's history, such as recycling), and playing the saxophone. Her high intelligence relative to the rest of her family often makes her feel isolated.

Margaret "Maggie" Simpson[edit]

A baby who hardly ever talks, instead sucking her pacifier twice. On a couple of occasions she has proven to have exceptionally high intelligence. For example, when her pacifier was taken away during a trip to a daycare center, she staged an elaborate plot to get it back.

Extended Simpson Family[edit]

Abe Simpson[edit]

Homer's dad. Is quite cankerous and acerbic.

Other Characters[edit]

However, the show has a vast gallery of supporting characters, who often steal the show.

Krusty the Clown[edit]

A local clown with his own television show, who is one of the most famous residents of Springfield. Bart idolizes him.

Chief Wiggum[edit]

Springfield's police chief, whose performance is quite poor.

Ralph Wiggum[edit]

Chief Wiggum's son, who is displays bizzare unexplainable behavior.

Moe[edit]

The proprietor of Moe's Tavern, Springfield's bar, and a friend of Homer.

Episodes[edit]

Currently, there are 639 episodes in 29 seasons.

Conservative Episodes[edit]

• The Crepes of Wrath: Lisa discusses with Adil, an Albanian Communist spy. Adil wants to know: "How can you defend a country where five percent of the people control 95 percent of the wealth?", whereupon Lisa answers: "I'm defending a country where people can think, and act, and worship any way they want!"
• Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington: Lisa becomes a Patriot.
• Bart Gets an "F": Bart prays to God to pass a school test.
• Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment: Lisa is concerned about her father, who breaks the Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not steal.
• Homer the Heretic: Homer quits going to church and is chastized for it by God in a dream.
• Duffless: Homer fights Alcoholism.
• Bart Sells His Soul: Bart recognizes the existence of the soul.
• Homer Loves Flanders: Ned Flanders and his Bible group help Stan Taylor overcome his sexual addiction.
• Bart's Comet: Contains a humorous condemnation towards liberal attempts to withdraw funds from defense and place them into healthcare at the beginning of the episode, as two fighter craft, shortly after Groundskeeper Willie's failed attempt at shooting down a defaced weather balloon down the sky, attempts to find out who was firing at them, and misidentifies him as an Iraqi fighter jet and has Sidewinder missiles shoot themselves down, with one of the pilots then pinning the blame on their shooting themselves down on faulty equipment due to funding for the military being cut in favor of healthcare, and the other pilot begging for him to give it a chance only for their parachutes to fail, and then proceeding to fight in the desert.
• The Trouble With Trillions: Ned Flanders makes an Conservative quote about the Nanny state. His son asks: "Daddy, what do taxes pay for?", whereupon his father answers: "Why, everything! Policemen, trees, sunshine- and let's not forget the folks who just don't feel like working, God bless 'em.". Also depicts Fidel Castro and Communist Cuba in a negative light, as he was shown taking the trillion dollar bill from Mr. Burns in a very underhanded manner via distraction and deceit, and Castro also admitting that their system simply does not work (as well as deeply considering renouncing it). Also has a mocking of homosexuality, as immediately beforehand, he admitted he liked that America had "a street named after [Castro]" only to react with shock at who occupied it (a reference to The Castro, a notorious homosexual neighborhood in San Francisco).
• Simpsons Bible Stories: The Simpsons dream Bible Stories (although it partially mocks the Bible Characters).
• Alone Again, Natura-diddily: Ned Flanders keeps his faith in God, even after his wife Maude died.
• Weekend at Burnsie's: Marge is worried about Homer's drug use.
• The Father, The Son, and the Holy Guest Star: Bart and Homer convert to Catholicism.
• Treehouse of Horror XIII: Springfield becomes a Gun-free zone thanks to Lisa's anti-gun activism. As a result of it, Springfield gets terrorized by Wild West outlaws and Kaiser Wilhelm II, who have all risen from the dead. Homer gets back into the past to prevent Gun control and defeat the villains in the present.
• Pray Anything: Homer starts to pray, but later he sues the church. He gets punished by a weather disaster.
• 'Tis the Fifteenth Season: Homer wants to become a good Christian.
• Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays: Marge fights an Anti-family campaign.
• The Simpsons Movie: Environmentalist EPA wants to destroy Springfield.
• That '90s Show: Marge is romanticized by her radical feminist/elitist Anti-American university professor, which leads Homer (who's paying for her tuition) into a deep depression and leads him to become a grunge rock star (parody of Kurt Cobain). Marge later learns the error of her ways and abandons her professor and returns to Homer, who Marge thinks has become a drug addict, only to learn he actually became a diabetic, which she helps him to recover from. There's also a condemnation against Bill Clinton, as Homer and Marge (while the former is recovering at the hospital) end up speaking badly about Bill Clinton.
• I Married Marge: Was pro-family values, as after accidentally getting Marge pregnant, Homer proceeded to make every effort to provide for his family, including marrying Marge and proposing to her on his own volition, and when Marge was about to go into labor, he immediately attempts to head over to the hospital to watch her deliver the baby.
• Lisa's First Word: Like above, it was pro-family values, as after Lisa was conceived, Homer, like before, made several efforts to better his family and provide for his then-upcoming daughter, even moving to a bigger house with his father's help.
• Million Dollar Abie: Has a condemnation of anti-life concepts such as assisted suicide, to the extent that Chief Wiggum arrested Dr. Erogan the very second the voters explicitly overturned Springfield's assisted suicide law.

Liberal Episodes[edit]

• Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish: Supports Environmentalism and criticizes nuclear power. Also, the title of the episode was a reference to Lyndon B. Johnson's talking point for his infamous Great Society social welfare programs.
• Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy: Lisa, after getting a talking Malibu Stacy doll and getting outraged by some of her statements (a reference to the "Math Class is Tough" talking Teen Barbie doll controversy), makes a pro-feminist crusade against the company and eventually creates a Lisa Lionheart doll that pushes the agenda, with the doll's cited inspirations being "the wisdom of Gertrude Stein, the wit of Cathy Guisewite, the tenacity of Nina Totenberg, the common sense of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the down-to-earth good looks of Eleanor Roosevelt." It's also implied that she forced her family to do other left-wing causes she adopted such as making them march in a "gay pride" parade and boycott Fox News over owning a Syrian Chemical Weapons Plant. There was also a brief exchange that implied that Marge had been unknowingly brainwashed by Malibu Stacy as a child. In addition, Stacey Lovell, the doll's creator and her ally, is implied to have committed treason against the United States during the Vietnam War by funneling funds to the Viet Cong and is treated positively for it. There was also a brief homosexual joke with Smithers, and Abe's complaint about how "the president is a Demmycrat" (presumably a reference to Bill Clinton, who was the president at the time the episode aired) is mocked due to it being from a list of complaints that drove the family to flee from him as soon as they got back to the house.
• Sideshow Bob Roberts: Takes jabs at the Republican Party as attempted murderer Sideshow Bob becomes a Republican mayor (although that being said, there was also some jabs at the Democrat Party in the form of Mayor Quimby, himself a parody of members of the notoriously liberal Kennedy clan), there's also right-wing talk show host named Birch Barlow (parody of Rush Limbaugh) who defends him whether it's right or wrong. Later in the episode, in a similar manner to the Watergate Scandal, it was revealed that Bob committed voter fraud (though ironically, an earlier scene had Homer and Krusty, both of whom Bob had antagonized earlier, throwing their votes for Bob, strongly implying that Bob would have won against Quimby even without the fraud). The episode had been written as a result of the Republican Revolution of 1994.
• Homer's Phobia: Homer criticizes the practice of homosexuality, but in the end he changes his mind. There's also a slight jab at hunting in the episode as well, as Bart, when Homer attempted to have him partake in the activity in an attempt to make him more "manly", referred to the activity as "gay".
• The Old Man and the Lisa: Promotes Environmentalism.
• Mother Simpson: Treats the hippie movement and the decadence of the late-1960s in a positive and sympathetic manner relating to the titular character, Mona Simpson.
• D'oh-in' in the Wind: Again, promotes the hippie movement in a positive manner.
• Smart and Smarter: When Maggie gets a high score on an IQ test, Philippa says "That's amazing for a Christian!"; implying that most Christians are dumb.
• There's Something About Marrying: Marge supports same-sex "marriage".
• G.I. (Annoyed Grunt): Mocks and villainizes the United States Army, and even went as far as to condemn Army recruiters and enlistees.^[6] Also has a brief joke referring to the Abu Ghraib scandal that occurred at the time. It is also to be noted that the mockery and demonization was done to such an extent that even otherwise very liberal publications such as IGN thought the episode went too far in this action and was tasteless instead of genuinely funny.^[7]
• The Monkey Suit: Promotes Evolutionism and mocks Creationism in a similar manner to the Worst Liberal film Inherit the Wind, and to a certain extent the propagandized version of the Scopes Monkey Trial.
• Lisa the Skeptic: Reinforces the misconception that science and religion are irreconcilable opposites, and has a scene where Lisa mocks Christians as believing in "imaginary angels" for refusing science, and the Christians organizing a riot against science centers, including, ironically enough, a Christian Science Reading Center. It also has a brief homosexual joke where Smithers, believing the end was near, proceeds to kiss Mr. Burns firmly in the mouth.
• You Kent Always Say What You Want: Kent Brockman says a blasphemous word (the episode never says what word it is), mocks the Parents Television Council and then has Brockman and Lisa expose the "Fox News conspiracy"
• Mypods and Boomsticks: Promotes Islam.
• Loan-a Lisa: Bart makes an atheist statement: "We've already heard stories from thousands of years ago about stuff that didn't happen."
• Opposites A-Frack: Against Fracking.
• A few episodes feature a group of "evil Republicans".

Other Political Episodes[edit]

• Brother from the Same Planet: Although ambiguous as to whether it's pro-family, the episode does have a condemnation of the Communist Party, as a scene where Bart and his "Bigger Brother" Tom from the Bigger Brother program attend a Baseball Game has a Communist Party recruiter trying to gather recruits at the stadium, only for the audience to unanimously jeer him and pelt him with tomatoes (hence why that day was called "tomato day"), with the recruiter also implying that there was a "dart day" that has something similar occur, only with darts in place of tomatoes.
• Two Bad Neighbors: Homer becomes an enemy of his new neighbor George H.W. Bush (RINO). In the end Gerald Ford (Conservative) is the new neighbor of the Simpsons, who becomes a friend of Homer. The episode had been created largely as a response to some negative criticism towards the show from both George and Barbara Bush (in particular, the former's stump speech stating regarding family values that America needs to be "more like the Watsons and less like the Simpsons."). Also has a condemnation towards Ayatollah Khomeini as well as his theocratic Iranian regime, as during a rummage sale at the beginning, Homer and Marge are planning to sell a novelty T-shirt that says "Ayatollah [censored]aholla" with it prominently displaying Khomeini's face on it, with Marge insisting they sell it due to his already being long dead, while Homer insists on keeping it because the shirt technically applies to all the Ayatollahs, citing Ayatollah Nakhbadeh, Ayatollah Zahedi, and Ayatollah Razmada as examples.
• Bart Gets an Elephant: There are two political conventions that are used as site gags when the titular elephant, Stampy, proceeds to go on a rampage. On the one hand, the Republican Party is demonized with the slogans "We Want what's worst for people" and "We're Just Plain Evil". But on the other, the Democrat Party Convention didn't fare well, either, with its slogans highlighting their incompetence and contempt for life with the slogans "We hate life and ourselves" and "We Can't Govern".
• Treehouse of Horror II: Lisa's nightmare, an adaptation of the Monkey's Paw, has a subtle condemnation towards anti-Second Amendment beliefs, as after Lisa wishes for World Peace, everyone destroys all of their weapons and guns, and proceed to sing "Kumbaya", only for Kang and Kodos (two drooling, tentacled, one-eyed aliens who laugh exceedingly) to proceed to invade the planet easily because of it. Bart's nightmare, based on The Twilight Zone's "It's a Good Life", however, has a slight anti-family message, due to the nightmare being Bart releasing Homer from his psychic-induced curse by bonding with him.
• Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badassssss Song: On the one hand, it gives a brief condemnation of the Public School System, as Superintendent Chalmers briefly mentions that the school system will collapse at a quick rate and suggests they let it ride out. On the other hand, it promotes the separation of church and state as the reason Chalmers has Skinner get his job as principal back was solely because his replacement, Ned Flanders, introduced prayer into school, and it also briefly implies that Flanders' Christian ideals are what led to the school becoming dysfunctional.
• Much Apu About Nothing: Homer is initially against immigration of Illegal aliens before deciding to support it, with any criticism against illegal immigration being depicted in a negative light. On the other hand, it also depicts the naturalization process to become a legal immigrant to the United States, as Apu decides to undergo the naturalization program to become a US Citizen, and showcases it in a positive light. It also depicts encroaching government in a negative light due to the whole illegal immigration criticisms in the episode being due to Mayor Quimby blaming the tax increases on illegal immigrants when in reality it was the result of his own policies, with Lisa asking why they do that.
• Mountain of Madness: The episode has a somewhat positive depiction of work ethics, as Mr. Burns had organized a team building exercise after a disastrous fire drill demonstration, and it portrays the Nazis in a negative light via Mr. Burns's cabin-fever induced hallucination. On the other hand, Homer's cabin-fever induced hallucination of "political powers" to oppose Mr. Burns' Nazi army lumps conservatives Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt alongside leftists such as Communist dictator Mao Zedong.
• The Cartridge Family: Homer becomes a gun owner. It is controversial, whether this episode is pro-Gun Control or anti-gun control. The writer of this episode is John Swartzwelder, who is a Second Amendment supporter.
• New Kids on the Blecch: Mocks and villainizes the United States Navy by implicating them in a conspiracy of using boy bands to brainwash children into joining the Navy. On the other hand, it also mocks John Lennon's anti-war song "Give Peace a Chance" at one point, and it does accurately depict the Hippie movement as anti-American.
• Coming to Homerica: Another Pro-Illegal immigration-episode (as well as having a very poor metaphor for illegal immigration, not to mention immigration as a whole, largely because the town that moved to Springfield, Ogdenville, was also within American borders like Springfield was). On the other hand, the episode also mocks environmentalist elements, as the main reason why Ogdenville moved to Springfield was because they made a Mother Nature burger which had been touted as being environmentally friendly, only for the populace to suffer from a massive food poisoning outbreak due to the barley being contaminated by rats.
• Bart-Mangled Banner: The Simpsons get arrested for criticizing government. They leave America, but go back, because of homesickness.
• Little Big Girl: Bart willingly tries to marry Darcy to provide the child with a father figure after discovering she had been impregnated by a Norwegian exchange student.
• E. Pluribus Wiggum: When Springfield becomes the site of the first presidential primary, the townspeople plan to support their own write-in candidate: Ralph Wiggum.

Themes[edit]

While The Simpsons has many liberal themes, the basis and morals of the show often portray family centered values in a warped sort of way and many episodes have a strong church focus. The show also has many episodes which focus on politics. The writers of the show come from both liberal and conservative backgrounds, and this is reflected through the portrayal of American politics on the show. The Springfield Republican Party is headed by the villainous Mr. Burns and meets in an old castle. Twice they have put forward candidates for elections: Burns himself ran for governor of the anonymous state Springfield is in, though he eventually lost; while in a later episode Sideshow Bob, though twice convicted for attempted murder, becomes Mayor of Springfield. He is removed from office when it is discovered that he personally and secretly committed large scale voting fraud. Meanwhile, the Springfield Democrat Party is led by Mayor "Diamond" Joe Quimby, who is portrayed as a promiscuous, pot-smoking, unfaithful and corrupt politician, once admitting openly that he murdered his opponents. Quimby and his family are clearly modeled on the Kennedy family, as Mayor Quimby's voice is identical to the one used when imitating John F. Kennedy on the show. Lisa Simpson was an ardent opponent of President Donald Trump and attempted to sway her father's vote (albeit in a dream), and the show itself went into a scroll of an extensive list of alleged transgressions, failures, and scandals of the Administration; the episode aired shortly before the Nov 3 2020 Presidential election, and no doubt that thousands of first time eligible voters were among those watching the broadcast. Justin Trudeau makes an appearance on the show, which is less than flattering, even including SNC Lavalan Scandal, which ought to be recognized as the Canadian version of the Watergate Scandal.

Public Education is satirized in the form of Springfield Elementary, which is portrayed as often taking extreme cost cutting measures at the expense of the children's education. When Bart gets Principal Skinner fired, Ned Flanders takes over as school principal and, as a result of his leniency towards trouble makers, the students run wild. In an attempt to get Skinner his job back, Bart takes Superintendent Chalmers to inspect the school. Despite the chaos he witnesses, Chalmers decides to let Ned remain Principal saying: "...the way America's public schools are sliding, they'll all be this way in a few months. I say, lay back and enjoy it! It's a hell of a toboggan ride". However, when he discovers that Flanders has brought prayer into the school, he fires him on the spot.

The show's portrayal of religion and Christianity in particular is often given in the form of Ned Flanders, the Simpsons' next door neighbor. A devout Christian, Ned is sometimes overbearing in his faith, but he is consistently shown to be compassionate and decent. In the series' first few seasons Ned was generally loathed by Homer for the perceived (and often real) superiority of Ned's quality of life. Later episodes have shown the two to be quite close at times, with more than a few featuring mutual adventures. Ned's reception among Christians has generally been positive due to his strong faith in God, even when faced with obstacles such as a failure of his business, The Leftorium, a hurricane destroying his house and most tragically, the death of his wife Maude.^[8]

Well-known atheist Richard Dawkins had an appearance at The Simpsons as the Devil.^[9]

The series has crossed over with the animated show Rick and Morty, where Rick expresses great admiration for the simpsons after Morty accidently kills the family while piloting the pair's spaceship. The pair manage to repair the situation, but Rick's poor sterilization habits come back to bite him.... ^[10]

Controversy[edit]

During the early years of the show Bart Simpson was criticized for being a poor role model for children. The Simpsons have used their talents as pitchmen to promote unhealthy snack food products such as Butterfingers and Whoppers, which is often seen by young viewers. Though The Simpsons is considerably less atheistic than other Fox shows such as Family Guy, recently it has become quite controversial. Ironically, Marge Simpson, arguably the most wholesome character on the show, has been a highly controversial character, as she appeared on the cover and as a centerfold of Playboy, a pornographic magazine.

In the 2009 Halloween Special, "Treehouse of Horror XX," the writers of the show took a jab at the Eucharist. In one story in this episode, the people of Springfield were zombified and Bart's DNA was a cure. When the Simpsons escaped Springfield, other survivors wanted to eat him, but Marge screams:

“What kind of civilized people eat the body and blood of their savior?”

Catholic League President Bill Donahue criticized the writers for this line.^[11]

Some Christian family groups such as the Parents Television Council criticized the episodes There's Something About Marrying of supporting same-sex "marriage".^[12] One episode of the Treehouse of Horror had to move timeslots in New Zealand under the orders of the official censor for fears of its violent content impacting child viewers. The show has also dramatically expanded the market for adult animation, inspiring many much more vulgar programs; there is now an entire channel dedicated to such programs, Adult Swim.

Drinking Game[edit]

Whenever one of the characters takes a drink, you take a drink

Liberalism[edit]

The Simpsons is one of the most liberal television shows around. The family routinely mocking religion and traditional values, while embracing a lifestyle that would make many conservatives cringe. Homer Simpson is the stereotypical blue-collar worker who is always getting into trouble. He's also quite lazy, often sleeping on the job or watching TV instead of working. His wife Marge is a stay-at-home mom who constantly nags him about his shortcomings. Their kids are nothing to write home about either - Bart is a rebellious young boy who gets into all sorts of mischief, while Lisa is an ultra-lefty schoolgirl with no respect for authority figures.

Then there are the show's supporting characters, most of whom are just as liberal as the Simpsons themselves. There's Barney, Homer's drinking buddy; Flanders, the annoying next door neighbor; Mr Burns, Springfield's resident rich guy; and Lenny & Carl, two more of Homer's work friends (who happen to be gay). Even Krusty the Clown - one of Bart & Lisa's favorite TV personalities - has leftwing leanings!

In recent years it seems like every episode contains some sort of social justice message or pro-"progressivism" agenda item being pushed by creator Matt Groening. The Simpsons has become less about entertaniment and more about indoctrination. If you're looking for a conservative-friendly show, look elsewhere - this is most certainly not it.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The official Simpsons website
• The Simpsons at IMDb
• Vatican gives its approval of the Simpsons