“Nothing in life comes easy,” this popular quote shows us what not to do with influential things in our lives. If we let these influences show us that good things do come easy the world becomes a depressing place. That is why we need influences that are honest and show us how the world truly works. The Simpsons are this influence; they are not the picture perfect family. While making us laugh they have taught us it’s ok not to be perfect as long as you are there for each other in the end. The show is great in many ways however I found three particularly interesting: the way they deal with controversial and popular issues, the way they handle religion, and the fan following for the show.
Throughout the shows history many episodes of The Simpsons have dealt with things that are controversial or popular culture. Three such instances are described in the following descriptions. The first episode that came to mind in the beginning of this project was the episode that paralleled the book lord of the flies. The title is actually "Das Bus” which in itself is a parody of "Das Boat.” In the episode the children are on their way to a Model United Nations conference wh
en there bus gets them stranded on a desert island. The children take all the same actions as the children in the classic book but with a twist only the Simpsons could give. The same catchy title idea was used in “The Tale of Two Springfield’s” when Bart and Lisa find a badger in their dog house. Homer tries to call the exterminator to have the pest removed however finds out that since it’s on the other side of the town that it is a newly imposed area code. This outrages both halves and causes a complete separation. Homer is then elected mayor of new Springfield. His plan too solve all of this was to construct a wall separating the two haves, an obvious shot at the Russians for constructing the Berlin wall. After living through this the people are treated to a concert by The Who and proceed to destroy the wall after some motivating words from members of the band. In „Lisa the tree hugger” Lisa falls for a very popular naturalist figure. When she joins dirt first, the naturalist organization, she decides to camp out in a giant redwood tree to keep it from being destroyed. One night when she gets extremely lonely Lisa climbs down from the tree and sneaks home. While she is home the tree is struck by lightning and destroyed. Everyone believes that she is a martyr and should be idolized. As a memory to Lisa, Lisa land is built. A complete theme park shaped around her the redwood is part of the sign. When Lisa comes out and says she isn’t dead people are outraged and the log falls. It then rolls all the way across the country and out to sea in the pacific destroying everything in its path. These types of issues are carried over into religion as well.
One particular article I found deals with the issues of religion when it is brought up in the show. The family by the show is protestant. However so many more iss
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