Writing an essay on literary critical theory. We were told that we could apply a theory on a piece of media of our choice. I was thinking feminism in the simpsons. Looking at "Lisa vs Malibu Stacy" mostly but would really appreciate any quotes, interviews or ideas that either show times when the Simpsons reinforces or subverts stereotypical gender roles.
I always thought Marge cooking the 3 eyed fish in response to this line to be a strong feminist take.
That's an amazing quote to use! I have to use it now. Thank you so much!
You might say he was an American hero
Let’s not go nuts.
Lowenstein
my name is zweig
*Lowenstein
“My father…was a stewardess! 😭😭😭”
Good point, I hadn't even considered this episode but the backstory of Marge's dad definitely lends itself to breaking stereotypical gender roles
Yes. This one singular moment upended her preconceived notions of traditional gender roles and traumatized her to the point that, even as an adult, she wasn't able to process the event and ride a plane all those years later.
Well, that one moment and maybe this one ...
So that's what a cornfield looks like
Yes, yes, it’s all a rich tapestry.
He was going against gender roles but also deeply ashamed about it. And with Marge being a child, this would be somewhere in the 60s?
The one where Marge become a handyman, and got Homer to be the face of the company because nobody wanted to let a woman do their handiwork for them
Another I would have never even thought of! Great suggestion!
Marge also becomes a lumberjill!
The episode is "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em." Season 18 episode 3.
Isn’t that just Remington Steele
most Lisa centered episodes, imo. especially Moanin' Lisa - the whole "girls must smile" stereotype, and Marge breaking the cycle by telling Lisa she CAN be sad and act like it, no matter what everyone else says. :)
This one really resonated with me as a young kid - literally the first and only time I’d ever heard anyone say it was OK to have your feelings about something and not have to perform for the world. Amazing
Lisa and Bart playing hockey comes to mind
Lisa, if the Bible has taught us nothing else-- and it hasn't-- it's that girls should stick to girls' sports, such as hot oil wrestling, foxy boxing, and such and such.
and her scene int he football episode
How about Homer’s speech at the end of Homer’s Night Out (the one where he gets caught dancing with Princess Kashmiri), about how the girls the audience is ogling are “our sisters, our daughters, our aunts and our uncles. Well, not our uncles. They are our mothers.”
Lots to unpack in that episode for sure. Homer making Bart meet Princess Kashmir to demonstrate that she’s a human being but she’s essentially vapid and brainless.
I just watched that episode the other night and I don’t recall her being especially dumb or shallow. When she tells them about herself, she phrases it like a personal ad (“…and my turn-ons include silk sheets and a warm fireplace”) but other than that it’s played pretty straight.
Yeah they’re strangers harassing her at work, I’d say her reaction was fair!
Get out of my cage! My boss will freak out!
When Lisa is trying to expose Jedidiah Springfield, and Ms Hoover says something along the lines of “this is just more dead white male bashing from a PC thug. It’s women like you who keep the rest of us from landing husbands”.
Could be used to show the push and pull between progress and reactionary thought.
I’ve been called a greasy thug too!
I never realized Miss Hoover was a Fox News viewer.
I love this line so much!
"UM, YEAH. OH, I JUST-- I JUST WANTED TO SAY HOW GREAT IT IS... TO FINALLY SEE SOME CHICKS ON THE BENCH. - MM. - KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, TOOTS" -Feminist icon Bart Simpson
S8E25: The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
(Company L? But they smell!)
Let me try to understand the situation... You're a GIRL!
Yes!
Yes, we've all heard the chant
I would say that Marge on the Lam is another good episode about gender, as is the one where Marge becomes cop (I don’t remember the name).
A lot of blue hair? What a freak!
Marge becoming a cop is The Springfield Connection
You’re right.
Hey, Jiggles! Grab a pad and back that gorgeous butt in here.
Ah, don't act like you don't like it.
S5E18: Burns' Heir. "I don't know what 'phallocentric' means, but no girls!"
In Mr Plow, they’re at the car show and EVERY man asks the model standing by the car “do you come with the car?” To which she responds the same “oh you! Hehehehe” every time.
So many Lisa episodes have great feminist moments. But Lisa vs Malibu Stacy is my favorite. Even have Lisa Lionheart tattooed on me
When they covered this episode in the talking Simpsons podcast, one of the hosts tried explaining the nuance of feminism to the guest. Rebecca Sugar the creator of Steven universe.
Oh damn, I’ll have to find this episode! Love me some Rebecca Sugar. When they were on the history of animation podcast, it was so awesome hearing what different things inspired them to become an animator and creator themselves. And that includes the gender roles and identities explored in SU
Oof.
Do something more interesting than analyzing a particular episode or character. Lisa vs Malibu Stacy is already a feminist critique in itself.
How are the citizens of Springfield a foil to Lisa's feminist ideals?
How has the portrayal of feminism evolved over 34 seasons?
How does the Simpsons walk the line between satirization of feminist values versus espousing them?
How does the portrayal of dysfunctional masculinity in the Simpsons reflect its feminist critique?
Talk about how the show's mostly-male writing room has affected its portrayal of feminism over the show's history.
Egghead likes his bookywook.
Make sure to not do what Donny Don't Does
Aw, they won’t let you have any fun
Lisa the Simpson?
That is on my list! I'm hoping to looking into it soon! Thanks for the suggestion
That's the first I thought of. Particularly all the Simpson women being intelligent and successful
Works for the Lumber King
Lumber. We need lumber.
Maybe S17E19? That's the one where the school gets divided by gender and Lisa pretends to be a boy to learn math.
There's also Homer vs. Patty and Selma, where Bart does ballet.
And while not a single episode, I always found the dynamic with Homer's mother interesting. Where she goes on the run leaving Homer to be raised by a single father. Whose competence varies depending on the episode.
Edit. I just thought of another great one. It's S19E07, where Marge opens up a gym for women. She ends up becoming really successful, and Homer ends up getting liposuction because he fears she'll dump him for someone better.
“Do it Lisa, you’ll be greater than or equal to boys!”
“Even though you’re only eight, your possibilities are infinite!”
“TWENTY SEVEN”
From The Wizard on Evergreen Terrace
Lisa: Dad, women won't like being shot in the face
Homer: Women will like what I tell them to like
Then there was that conversation that Marge and Homer were having at the dinner breakfast table in Girls Just Wanna Have Sums about inventions and it ending with Homer ending up on the couch (according to Homer - a female invention lol)
Homer Alone maybe? All Marge really needed was a vacation.
Bart does ballet, and spray paints “the patriarchy is a wiener” on a wall, and there’s that female journalist who outpaces Kent
You definitely want to embiggen your essay with perfectly cromulent words and ideas.
My husband teaches this exact episode at college level in his Rhetoric courses along with “Separate Vocations” (S3 E18) where Bart and Lisa take career aptitude tests and Lisa’s says she would be a homemaker. He has his students examine the argument the episodes are making about gender, among other things, and how the use of humor is used in that argument. You can look up the Wiki pages for that episode to find a few other literary sources that can support your essay.
If you want a recent episode, season 36 episode 6, “Women in Shorts” is a female focused anthology episode. There’s also a specific musical number that calls out Homer trying to weaponize incompetence so he doesn’t have to buy Marge tampons.
It’s also interesting because I’m 95% sure in one of the middle seasons there’s one if not more examples of Homer weaponizing incompetence unironically
This would be great to use as comparison to older episodes! I'll definitely have to include some examples of weaponised incompetence
Maggie literally shot Mr. Burns in one episode and the mob in another. Idk feels like girl power.
Marge being a cop.
Women always have trouble with the wall.
Can never seem to find the door.
They can never find the door.
Mother Simpson seems like another good one
"The Springfield Connection" S6, Ep23. A great episode, plenty of material. Marge becomes a police officer, much to the hilarity of the current Springfield police, after Homer is scammed at Three Card Monty. Despite Marge catching Snake, Homer still thinks he and the police saved "a hysterical woman". Marge proves them wrong. Lisa has a great moment too, questioning the integrity of the police system. Check it out! 🙏
I love this idea. I think there's a lot you can do with Marge. I think there's a lot here in general, due to the age of the show and the cultural shifts that have gone on during it's run. Not to be a big weirdo, but I'd love to read this when you're done. I don't have any specific ideas, I'm not a super fan of the show and there's such a wealth of material.
Women invented the windshield wipers…
Homer: yeah, goes great with another male invention. The car!
is that the sound of butting in i hear?!
Don’t ask me, I’m just a girl
"So... You're one of those 'Don't call me a chick' chicks"
There’s no fire escape on this lesbian bar!
You may be interested in two chapters of The Simpsons and Philosophy. One is on Lisa and anti intellectualism, and another on Marge as the Angel of the House archetype that Virginia Woolf lampoons for her self sacrificing for her family. You might also get a lot of material out of the depictions of Patty and Selma, who, are contrasting to Marge in being undesirable and unfeminine, but are interesting characters in their own right as single women who travel greatly, have careers, and are clearly perceptive about Homer's flaws as a husband.
Underrated book
Please avoid the recent plot point that Marge has had secret money all along to help. It was such a gutless story line.
Season 20, episode 20 'Four great women and a manicure' has a few segments that might be useful.
Not now, I'm...too drunk
I mean, theres that weird episode from the modern era where Marge starts body building and r-words Homer
Theres a million cross dressing jokes so hard to pick just one from the whole series.
Milhouse and Martin Prince have too many effeminate jokes to list
"large Marge" about objectification from men
"Bart after Dark" has all sorts of gender stuff going on - the burlesque stuff obviously but also the running joke of Homer not looking after the house whenever Marge leaves
all the nearly had an affair episodes like "life on the fast lane" and "last temptation of Homer" have gender as a topic
women will like what I tell them to like
Malibu Stacy episode.
“Dad, women don't like being shot in the face."
“Women will like what I tell them to like.”
All the simpson men being stupid and all the simpson women being doctors and lawyers and researchers. Simpson DNA
This was stupid and pandering. Bart is just as deserving of and entitled to a good future as Lisa. Do they ever show him with a future as someone successful and having a family that doesn't break up?
If he's always going to be some kind of failure as an adult then it proves Skinner right, which completes the failures of the school system that the show has always parodied. I think it makes more sense if adult Bart is driven to prove Skinner wrong as one last prank.
At the cost of not watching the itchy & scratchy movie
As I recall, Bart's future as Supreme Court justice vs. being Bang-Bang Bart was a scare tactic by Krabapple to shift the blame for any future outcome off of the school and onto Bart's parents, so that's more to my point. In other episodes Skinner refers to the school-to-prison pipeline.
I find it hard to get a conclusion out of the school situation since they are on this eternal loop with everyone being on the same year. Bart being successful for the lol would also be a win for skinner and the reverse psychology that always worked on bart. He would not get angry at all, just take the glory for it. Actually a double win as I see skinner as lazy as Homer at the plant, he just seems to know that as long as Chalmers isn't screaming his name he will keep his job.
The one where Marge joins the police force is a great one. Homer doesn't take her seriously—nobody does, really—and she turns out to be the one good cop in town.
And it has one of my favorite quotes ever, even if it's not related to feminism.
Homer: "When Marge told me she was going to the police academy I thought it would be fun and exciting, like that movie, Spaceballs! But instead it's been painful and disturbing like that movie Police Academy."
I doubt I'll see anyone else mention it, but you should check out an episode from this past season, season 36 episode 6, "Women in Shorts"
Take a step back to see more than just the main characters. The show really does push the idea of what the different waves of feminism have entered into the show and at what times. Patty and Selma' relationships and portrayal with their sister, Mrs Krabapple's impacted on then kids, the Burlesque house's space as part of the town, Lisa and Maggie's athleticism, even the couples response to Arnie Ziff has a lot of 2nd and 3rd waive discourses in them.
I don't remember the exact one, someone more handsome/beautiful will correct me. There is an episode where Lisa does ballet and feels pressure to smoke cigarettes to "stay skinny". The whole 2000s was brutal for young woman and trying to wear a size 00. Seems relevant. But I'm also a cis dude so my opinion is only from what I've heard and seen, not experienced.
I honestly don’t remember if I liked this one or not (although I know the podcast Worst Episode Ever hated it) but the episode The Blue and The Gray where Marge stops dying her hair and lets it go gray could be an interesting one to delve into.
Oh! And Werking Mom! Where Marge accidentally becomes a drag queen. I personally love that one but lots of fans hate it
My fave episode is "Homer Badman" due to it's take down of media hysteria. However my sister hates it as she says it shows a terrible message on women who are open about a man sexually harassing them, that it's a "misunderstanding". It would be an interesting dive into the feminist values (or not) of that episode 🤔
Many people poiting to marge but in the episodes were she was supposed to be the star, in my (probably wrong) opinion she ends up just doing what the script demands without true character and circles back to just being marge the wife and mother. In the movie she finally got tired of homer assholery and they get back; when she was a cop, real estate agent, bodybuilder and anything else she was the best that ever was, maybe too much for her own good (the cops laughing at her for not accepting corruption); and remember everytime she was worried for what other people will think of her or the family.
Please post your essay when you're done, I'd be interested in reading it and I'm sure others would too.
Marge gets harassed for being a SAHM by other women like Lindsey Nagle and points out that's its her choice to do what she wants.
“Selma’s Choice” and “A fist named Selma” are pretty good looks at how “spinsters” were portrayed in media. Selma wants the stereotyping family, that’s her character, but isn’t willing to comprimise her core values to get it.
So you're one of those, don't call me a chick, chicks, huh?
In one episode, Homer becomes a hair stylist. Quite anti-feminist, actually, in how he tires of the women... 🤔
Homer only being okay with Bart and Milhouse dressing up like girls and dancing because of their excuse of being drunk.
The best bit is when Lisa is excited to go to the airshow and meet the female pilot who bombed so many mosques during the gulf war. A perfect critique of liberal, girlboss feminism.
Can probably use this segment
https://preview.redd.it/ozvuge1z8wbf1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e3136746ac86529bd7cca4f78dd7ef163ce7fb5
This is a great misdirection joke. If OP can work this humorously into the project it’s a win.
That seems more like an indictment of Lisa as a virtue-signaler.
Yes I think so too since she's upset when she can't be upset about anything lol