Tegan Stover

Tonight I decided I would like to share with you some academic writing. When I had my Anthropology of Women and Men class in 2011, I had been watching a lot of old Simpsons episodes with my boyfriend around the time we got an assignment to do a gender analysis of a sitcom. The Simpsons may be animated, but it’s technically a sitcom, so it was an obvious choice. Please note that the interspersed pictures and videos were not in the original assignment, but I’ve added them for your convenience and enjoyment.:

Gender Analysis of The Simpsons
Tegan Stover
Anthropology 403 – Anthropology of Women and Men

The Simpsons series is ripe with examples of gender roles and hierarchies, and with over twenty seasons of episodes to choose from, it’s hard not to find them. In fact, they are sprinkled through almost every episode. In order to analyze the state of gender relations in The Simpsons, or any other show in general, the criteria must be laid out: gender roles, stereotypes, power negotiations, hierarchies, and differences in race, class, religion, and age, in addition to gender. However, seeing as this show is a situation comedy, the instances of these differences are a lot more exaggerated, even more so because the series is a cartoon and therefore is more socially allowed to be exaggerated.

Some of the more clear differences between males and females in The Simpsons are illustrated through stereotypes. The episode which most highly illustrates this point is “Lisa vs Malibu Stacy”, which was certainly the voluminous of material out of the five. In the main plot of the episode, Lisa is disheartened at the release of a new talking version of Malibu Stacy, the “Barbie” of The Simpsons universe. This talking Stacy spouts various sexist and stereotypical phrases such as “Don’t ask me, I’m just a girl,” “Let’s wear makeup so that the boys like us,” “Thinking too much gives you wrinkles,” and “My name is Stacy but you can call me [wolf whistle sound]!” None of Lisa’s peers take her complaints seriously, so she takes her complaints about the message that the phrases might send to little girls to the creator herself. Although having been ousted from her own company, she agrees that these stereotypical phrases are a negative influence and helps Lisa create a positive doll for girls her age. In reflection of the stereotype of women’s love for shopping and materialism, excitement for the release of this doll, Lisa Lionheart, is thwarted by the Malibu Stacy company, who have been monitoring Lisa’s attempt to release a positive doll. They release a “new” Malibu Stacy, whose only new feature is a simple hat, and roll a cart of the “new” Stacy dolls right in front of the stack of Lisa Lionheart dolls. Marge backs up the stereotypes that the dolls represents by perpetuating them. An example of this is bluntly made when Lisa complains to her family at the dinner table and Marge softly chides her for being an activist and raising her voice on issues too much; she attempts to distract her from her troubles by suggesting “Now let’s forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.” Lisa glowers and pulls the drawstring on Stacy’s back, only for her to recite what Marge says in verbatim. Marge’s connection to the domestic stereotype is also reflected in the episode “Deep Space Homer”, in which she attempts to distract the family’s worries about the safety of Homer, who is in space as an “average American astronaut” by spontaneously shouting “Who wants ginger snaps?” Alternatively, in the episode “Homer Loves Flanders”, Homer attempts to win a pair of tickets to a football game from a radio contest. Ned Flanders, his pious Christian neighbor who he normally hates, wins the tickets and invites him. He initially declines, as he does not want to have to go with Flanders. However, Homer changes his mind and goes, and finally takes a liking to Flanders. He starts looking forward to spending time with him so much that he spurns his wife’s attention one day, quickly spurting “Can’t talk, see Flanders, later sex,” and hurrying out the door, illustrating the stereotype of men being sex-driven, and ignoring the fact that Marge might have just wanted to spend some quality time with her husband.

Gender roles in The Simpsons were very prevalent in the episodes used for this analysis.  However, most of the gender roles present are those of males. The men are clearly the breadwinners of their families, and the heads of the households. They are responsible for making sure that their children and spouses are provided for. In contrast, most of the women who regularly appear on the series have the role of wife and children. They are generally found participating in the domestic sector, caring for their children, husbands, and other family members. Alternately, the female characters who are not married, such as Marge’s sisters Patty and Selma, are generally limited to white collar jobs, such as the local DMV, where the two work. In the episodes that I watched for the analysis, the one very strong female character I came across was the aforementioned Stacy Lovell, namesake and creator of Malibu Stacy. However, even she was not in a position of power at the time of the episode, as she had been ousted from her own company for exercising her power for purposes she felt were right, which the company executives didn’t think were “marketable”. While the roles that the female characters play in these episodes are fairly straightforward, they are not rigid. The women are still free to pursue new experiences -Marge will occasionally take up a new hobby at the expense of watching the children- and even take over tasks for the men, depending on the family. The same might not  necessarily be true for Maude Flanders, as the Flanders household is a very pious and traditional one. However, in “The Last Temptation of Homer,” there is a clear example of flexibility in gender roles. Mr. Burns is chastised by an advisory board for not having any female workers, so he is forced to hire a woman, Mindy Simmons, in order to make the employment quota fair.

In The Simpsons, one of the ways in which power is negotiated is through privilege. Young, white males generally have privilege and a voice in society due to gender stratification, as well as racial and social class stratification, which is bluntly illustrated in a quote by Homer. In “Lisa vs Malibu Stacy”, Lisa and Abraham Simpson are at the kitchen table, lamenting that due to their status as a young girl and an elderly man, that their voices aren’t heard. Homer walks in, and in a seemingly random manner states “I’m a white male, age 18-49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are!” and merely walks out of the room after grabbing a snack called “Nuts and Gum – Together at Last”, illustrating a dumb suggestion. Another example in the same episode is illustrated when Lisa initially goes to the Malibu Stacy company to bring her complaints to the executives. When she brings up the issues at hand to a female executive who gave the tour, the woman states that the company is very mindful of comments and suggestions, but is interrupted by a room full of male executives, who make sexist remarks, referring to her as “Jiggles” and telling her to “back that gorgeous butt” into the meeting. She merely chuckles, unfazed, and closes the door suggestively with her hip. She is using her sexuality as a means of negotiation for power, despite the fact that helping to perpetuate a product like the talking Malibu Stacy makes it harder for women to be taken seriously.

The means of control used by men and women in The Simpsons are quite blatant, seeing as the characters are prone to exaggerated interpretations. Present in most of the episodes, and particularly the episode “$pringfield”, Montgomery Burns’ means of control is money. An illustration of the amount of money in Mr. Burns’ possession is shown when his assistant, Waylon Smithers, and he engage in a “money fight”, reminiscent of a snowball fight. In this episode, when Springfield’s economy is in a slump, Mr. Burns funds the opening of a casino under the guise of helping the city, when he really means to use the plan to take control of the city. Alternately, Timothy Lovejoy’s means of control and authority is religious in nature. In “Homer Loves Flanders,” after Flanders finally becomes impatient by attention from Homer and lashes out at him, Homer delivers a touching speech about how kind and giving he is, however it’s not until Reverend Lovejoy decided that he is redeemed that everyone spontaneously agrees that Flanders is still a “good guy.” Granted, that is an exaggerated example.

Almost all of the gender hierarchies observed in the episodes were male-oriented. It is clear that there are not many females in authority positions in the series. This can be noted by the fact that in the church, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy is the authority, Clancy Wiggum is the authority in the legal system, the mayor is a male, Joe Quimby, and Homer Simpson’s boss is a very old white millionaire, Montgomery Burns. With the exceptions of a few teachers, such as Edna Krabappel and Elizabeth Hoover at Springfield Elementary, and a few cameo characters like Stacy Lovell, the creator of Malibu Stacy, there are very few examples of female authority figures or female hierarchy, if any. Even then, the women in positions of authority as teachers are supervised by Principal Seymour Skinner and Superintendent Gary Chalmers. While Montgomery Burns’ spot on the gender hierarchy can be explained by financial access and Reverend Lovejoy’s spot is likely due to religious tradition, the means by which the other men gained their status is not as clear. Access to education could be listed as a means, but with characters such as Officer Wiggum, that does not seem to apply. Most of the hierarchies are simply based on the fact that a male is in the upper-most position and therefore in charge.

Age and class affect the way that characters are treated. Because Abraham Simpson is an elderly man, he is ignored due to the fact that he is seen as senile, despite being an older male authority. His family members, both male and female, generally regard no importance to his concerns. Alternately, Lisa’s age causes a lack of concern by others in regard to her complaints on Malibu Stacy due to the fact that she is a little girl and thought to likely know nothing compared to an adult male, or even adult female. She is “just a kid.” Class affects the way that almost all of the middle-class workers are treated. This is mainly illustrated by the way in which Montgomery Burns views the citizens of Springfield. He finds them to be of no importance.

Considering the amount of years that The Simpsons television series has spanned, it is likely that the examples of gender and power found would fill many publications. As it is present in everyday life, it is present in the series, and especially so due to exaggeration. The writers of The Simpsons seem very keen on subtly or occasionally bluntly sneaking in social commentary into the episodes, which makes it a prime choice for illustrating, although exaggeratedly, the relations between women and men.

Works Cited

Deep Space Homer [Television series episode]. (1994). In Groening, M. (Executive Producer), The Simpsons. FOX. 

Homer Loves Flanders [Television series episode]. (1994). In Groening, M. (Executive Producer), The Simpsons. FOX. 

Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy [Television series episode]. (1994). In Groening, M. (Executive Producer), The Simpsons. FOX. 

The last temptation of homer [Television series episode]. (1993). In Groening, M. (Executive Producer), The Simpsons. FOX. 

$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) [Television series episode]. (1993). In Groening, M. (Executive Producer), The Simpsons. FOX.