I have been watching the popular animated series, The Simpsons, for as long as I can remember. Both my parents were huge fans, and soon indoctrinated my brother and me in Matt Groening’s strange, yellow universe. Even if you’ve never seen the show, chances are you are familiar with its legacy: Mark Liberman, director of the Linguistic Data Consortium, once remarked, “The Simpsons has apparently taken over from Shakespeare and the Bible as our culture’s greatest source of idioms, catchphrases and sundry other textual allusions.” So love ‘em or hate ‘em, here’s why this humble little cartoon is in actuality the best show on television.
1) It’s old.
The cartoon family first debuted on The Tracey Ullman Show in December of 1989, which formally makes it older than 97% of the people who read this blog. Respect your elders!
2) It’s current.
“D’oh!” “Yoink!” “Meh...” Any number of perfectly cromulent words have had their influence embiggened because of this show. Is it an internet meme? Then The Simpsons already did it.
3) It’s cultured.
Sure, pop culture is a given. But even highbrow humor has its place in Springfield. Politics, fine art, literature, and etiquette have all been featured at one time or another with enough derision to make any self-respecting gentleman’s monocle shatter on sight.
4) It’s religious.
Fun fact: I actually wrote my senior college term paper on the portrayal of religion in The Simpsons. Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, or atheism – no one is safe from their satirical punches. FTW, Christianity appears more often in this series than in Touched by an Angel.
5) It’s fair.
Since no one is safe, The Simpsons takes care to offend every group as equally as possible. And if you end up being targeted, it’s best to just laugh along. (I’m looking at you, Brazil.)
6) It’s fearless.
It started with Bart. Conservative parents were afraid that his smart-mouthed answers and devil-may-care attitude would infect their little angels’ minds like a flesh-eating bacteria or Justin Beiber album. Countries have banned them, presidents have denounced them, and yet a quarter century later that dysfunctional cartoon family rages on.
Say what you want, The Simpsons deserve our respect, if not our admiration. They’ve defined and depicted a generation of Americans, and I for one hope they never stop.
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