The simpsons marge opens a sandwich shop

Table of Contents

Other Titles in the Smart Pop Series Title Page

The Family Simpson - Like Looking in a Mirror? General Family Demographics Family Hierarchy Family Roles Family Rules Communication and Emotional Patterns Parenting Conflict Resolution Social Interaction A Healthy Family? The Simpson Family as the Cultural Ideal

For Better, or Worse? - The Love of Homer and Marge Interdependence Theory Homer and Marge: Satisfied? Homer and Marge: Dependent? Homer and Marge: Invested? Homer and Marge: For Better, or Worse? References Reference for scale:

“Which One of Us Is Truly Crazy?” - Pop Psychology and the Discourse of Sanity ...

Stupid Brain! - Homer’s Working Memory Odyssey References Acknowledgments

Homer’s Soul Homer and His Brain Homer’s Soul A Trickle-Down Understanding of the Mind:

Alcohol—The Cause of, and Solution to, All Life’s problems

Defining Alcohol Use Disorders: Do Homer, Barney and Ned Have the Same Problem? Dependence Risk in the Simpson Children General Risk Factors Specific Factors: Bart the Musician and President Lisa Bart the Musician or Bart the Policeman? The Evidence of “Simpson DNA” References

The Cafeteria Deep Fryer Is Not a Toy Recommended Further Reading

Righteousness and Relationships - Feminine Fury in The Simpsons or How Marge ... 1. Anger Always Messes up Relationships and Is Always Bad 2. Anger Destroys Your Health 3. Anger Means You’re a Weak, Emotionally Unstable Person 4. You Can Permanently Steer Clear of Anger 5. Anger Makes You Stupid and Makes It Difficult to Think Rationally Special Cases of Anger A Qualitative Content Analysis In Conclusion References

Self-Esteem in Springfieid - Self and Identity in the Land of D’oh Self-Esteem Self-Discrepancy Theory Self-Esteem and Performance Self-Esteem and the Performance of Others Conclusion References Acknowledgments

Can Bart or Homer Learn? Evidence of Observational Learning Evidence of Classical Conditioning Evidence of Instrumental Conditioning Evidence from Classical and Instrumental Conditioning Conclusions References

Sex and Gender in Sprigfield - Male, Female and D’oh Definitions Doctrine of Two Spheres Gender Stereotypes in The Simpsons Gender Roles in The Simpsons Masculinity and Femininity Conclusion: Sex and Gender in Springfield References

Hope Springs Parental - The Simpsons and Hopefulness References

Looking for Mr. Smarty Pants - Intelligence and Expertise in The Simpsons Intelligence Versus Expertise Domains of Expertise Who Should Provide Advice? Expertise and Development Conclusions References

The Personalities of The Simpsons - Simpsons’Big Five Peer Assessment The Study Results Summary References Acknowledgments

Lyle Lanley, You’re My Hero! - The Social Psychology of Group Membership and Influence

Power of Numbers Excellent! The Power of, Well, Power Examples of Applying Influence Tactics Conclusion

pringfield—How Not to Buy a Monorail - Decision-Making (Mostly Bad) in The Simpsons

Algorithmic (Marge/Lisa-Type) Decision-Making Heuristic (Homer/Bart-Type) Decision-Making

Conclusions References

(a) None of the Below - Psychology Testing on The Simpsons The Springfield Psychological Association’s Manual for Constructing Tests ... The Springfield Citizen’s Association Manual for Subverting Psychological

Tests

Copyright Page

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The Family Simpson

Like Looking in a Mirror?

Misty K. Hook, Ph.D.

THE UNITED STATES is a country that talks a lot about “family values.” That particular phrase is often used as the rationale for major social, political and even business decisions. But what does “family values” mean to individual people? In general, people tend to look at families through two lenses: (a) how their own family operates; and (b) how they think other families operate. We tend to think of our family as “normal,” but at the same time we judge the quality of our family life based on what we think other families are like. We form our views of other families based on what other people tell us . . . and what we see on television.

This can be unfortunate, because we tend to look at other families through rose- colored glasses. We have to rely on what other people tell us—and their accuracy is often in question. After all, who wants to admit that their family is flawed? Family processes are shrouded in secrecy. Gone are the days when we all lived together and could actually see how families talked and played together, what kinds of discipline methods were used, and what roles everyone played. Now we have to guess how it is that other families behave or rely on possibly erroneous self-reports.

Given this secrecy and the reluctance people have to let others into their private lives, where are we to look for examples of family life? Why, TV, of course! By making hits of TV shows like The Brady Bunch, The Waltons and The Cosby Show, we showed ourselves to be fascinated by other families. However, the early television version of families was too sanitized, too perfect. The Bradys didn’t even have a toilet and six kids shared a bathroom without maiming or killing each other! Anyone who has ever had to share a bathroom with even one sibling knows that is very optimistic. The Walton and Huxtable parents rarely lost their cool! Clearly these were Stepford parents. We enjoyed these shows because they portrayed families as we wished they were in real life. Of course, it’s all too easy to view our own families poorly in comparison.

Into this atmosphere of warm, loving and ideal families came the fledgling network FOX. They had other ideas about families—they could be loud, hostile, deviant and quite dysfunctional—and their programming reflected these notions. Thus, in its early days, FOX brought us two of the most dysfunctional family sitcoms to date: Married with Children and The Simpsons. The Bundy family depicted in Married with Children was too outrageous to be seen by most viewers as anything but a parody. The Simpson family was different. While they too could be rude and insulting, there was a soft core at the center of their dysfunction. This was a family who, at the end of the day, were there for each other. They loved each other and this could clearly be seen through their forgiveness of each other, their unity in the face of external adversity, their sacrifices and their own brand of affection. In many ways they were more like our families than the Bradys or the Cosbys. It was these qualities (along with all the things that the Simpsons get away with) that, in a TV Guide poll, made so many people choose the Simpsons as the TV family to which they would most like to belong.

In the Simpsons, we have a family that draws people into their world week after week, year after year. What does their family say about us? Are they the American family? Do they fit into our cultural ideals about families in general? Do they reflect our way of life, our family members, and our family values? Are they truly dysfunctional? In short, we need a deeper analysis of the Simpsons as a family within the larger system of families in the United States.

General Family Demographics

As a family, the Simpsons accurately reflect a large portion of the families in the United States. They are Caucasian, middle-class and have a typical family structure in that their nuclear family is comprised of two married heterosexual adults, three kids, a cat and a dog. They live near some extended family, including a grandfather, a grandmother (occasionally) and two aunts. Gender roles are somewhat traditional as Homer is the primary breadwinner and Marge, although she dabbles in outside careers, is generally a stay-at-home mother. Homer is allowed to come and go pretty much as he pleases, while Marge volunteers in the community and rules over the domestic domain. Thus, from the outside looking in, it seems as though the Simpsons look like a “normal” middle-class, Caucasian family. However, upon further examination, this is not exactly the case.

Family Hierarchy

When thinking about families, you usually expect to see a clear hierarchy. When there are grandparents around, they frequently hold considerable influence. They are followed in power by the parental dyad, with the father generally being the most powerful. Directly below the couple are the other adults in the family (like aunts and uncles). At the lowest end of the power spectrum are the children, with the most power being held by the oldest child and the youngest having the least amount of power. At first glance, the Simpson family appears to totally disrupt the traditional power hierarchy . . . but do they really?

In contrast to what you would expect to find, it seems as if Grandpa Abraham Simpson has the least amount of power in the family. He is treated as little more than a child and is often even ignored. Marge, Homer and the kids frequently laugh at his failing memory and his ineffectual attempts to get what he wants. Even Bart and Lisa do not listen to him. He is left behind, forgotten and rarely invited to spend time with the family (Marge: “Are you really going to ignore Grandpa for the rest of your life?” Homer: “Of course not, Marge. Just for the rest of his life”).

However ineffectual he is now, Abraham Simpson had a considerable influence in the formation of Homer’s character. Flashbacks repeatedly show what an angry, critical father he was to Homer. He yelled, used corporal punishment and constantly belittled Homer’s attempts to have fun, date and excel at various activities (Abe to young Homer: “You president? This is the greatest country in the world. We’ve got a whole system set up to keep people like you from ever becoming president”). These interactions stick with Homer. Marge has only to remind him of how his father treated him and Homer will change the way he treats Bart, Lisa and Maggie (like the time when he became coach of Bart’s football team and forced Bart to be quarterback despite his obvious lack of ability). Homer will become gentler and more supportive because he is determined to avoid being like his father. Homer also tries in vain to repair the relationship with Abraham and continuously seeks his approval. However, Abe continues to be just as critical as ever (“The good Lord allows us to grow old for a reason: so we can find fault in everything he’s made”). Grandpa Simpson is not

without influence, but he certainly does not play the traditional grandfather role in the family hierarchy.

In most traditionally gendered families, the father holds more power than the mother. Is this true for Homer and Marge? Homer does earn most of the money, tends to the finances (as is shown by his constant loss of wealth), metes out discipline to the children and does little, if any, of the household chores. He also is consulted on all major decisions. In contrast, Marge takes care of all of the household tasks and seems to defer to Homer on most major decisions. So, it seems as though Homer holds more power than Marge. However, Marge makes her desires known. She is good at subtly influencing Homer’s decisions and he consistently asks for help. Moreover, whenever Marge gets truly fed up with Homer’s behavior, she takes charge and tells him what he needs to do. In an effort to make Marge take him back, he tells her, “I know now what I can offer you that no one else can: complete and utter dependence!” Consequently, although she has to endure a lot to get it, in the end, Marge almost always gets what she wants. As such, it looks as though Marge holds the most power in the family although she lets Homer believe that he has more than he actually does.

For Bart and Lisa, the power equation is a little less clear. Bart tends to bully Lisa until he gets what he wants. He is free to be as insulting and rude to her as he wants to be. That is, until she gets fed up. Then, like Marge, Lisa takes charge and gets her way. Whenever Lisa gets hurt or angry, Bart will almost always suffer until he backs down and apologizes. For example, when Bart was being particularly mean to Lisa on a school field trip, she obtained a restraining order against him. Bart had to live outside the house and be in school with Groundskeeper Willie in order to adhere to the legal requirements of Lisa’s order. Bart suffered until he became so wild that Lisa forgave him and he ended up apologizing for his behavior. Consequently, the power is somewhat shared between Bart and Lisa despite Bart being the older child. As a baby, Maggie does indeed have the smallest amount of power.

When analyzing the power differential between the parental dyad and the kids, the situation is a bit more difficult. Like many of today’s parents, Marge and Homer do not seem to understand appropriate and consistent discipline. Thus, Bart, Lisa and Maggie (yes, Maggie—how many other babies shoot the local billionaire and get away with it?) do what they want without much parental interference. Marge and Homer rarely get the kind of obedience that they wish to have from their children. As Bart once said, “I can’t promise I’ll try. But I’ll try to try.” Thus, it seems that the kids have more power than the adults. However, just as in the parental dyad and the sibling

subsystem, the kids have more power until it becomes too much. Then Marge and Homer take charge and the power reverts back to its usual structure. For example, for punishment, Homer once refused to let Bart watch the Itchy & Scratchy movie. Homer dreamt that Bart ended up becoming a Supreme Court Justice as a result of Homer’s demonstration of parental power. Similarly, when Marge puts her foot down and exerts her power, the kids fall into line. When Bart was caught stealing, Marge is extremely upset. For once Bart shows remorse: “Mom, I’m really sorry.” Marge: “I know you are.” Bart: “Is there anything I can do?” Marge: “I dunno (long pause). Why don’t you go to bed?” Bart: “Okay.” Consequently, Marge and Homer do have more power than the kids when they decide to wield it. This is as it should be.

Family Roles

Every family has roles for its members to play and these vary by the type and needs of the individual family. Family roles are continuous patterns of behavior through which family members meet the needs of the family as a whole. Each role comes with specific cultural and family expectations for how these roles should be performed. Roles can be anything from something general, like parent or child, to something more specific, like nurturer or family hero. For healthy family functioning, both instrumental and effective roles must be present. Instrumental roles are those that provide physical resources, make decisions and manage the family. In contrast, effective roles provide emotional support and encouragement. Family members usually play more than one role and they can change.

While there are a number of roles possible, there are five general roles that are vital for a healthy family: Provider, Nurturer, Teacher, Maintenance and Sexual Gratifier. Homer fills the role of Provider. He works at the Springfield Power Plant and his salary pays for the house, food and other necessities. Marge is the Nurturer and Teacher. She gives comfort and emotional support for every member of the family and provides the physical, emotional, educational and social development of Homer, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. The Maintenance role involves leadership, decision-making, handling family finances and maintaining appropriate roles with respect to extended family, friends and neighbors. Other responsibilities of this role include maintaining discipline and enforcing behavioral standards. Both Homer and Marge occupy this role to varying degrees. Homer makes some decisions, handles the finances and participates in discipline. However, Marge fulfills the role to a greater degree. She also makes decisions, disciplines the kids and makes sure Homer, Bart, Lisa and Maggie all behave appropriately. She is the one who insists that the family be kind to their neighbors, the Flanderses, when they do not want to do so. She makes certain all members are dressed suitably and behave as well as she can make them. During Lisa’s wedding rehearsal dinner, Marge urgently whispers, “Bart! Homer! Maggie! Company eating rules!” Thus, Marge is the primary occupier of the Maintenance role. Indeed, she is the glue that keeps the family together.

However, she does not always have much influence over Homer. He frequently ignores her attempts to keep him within the bounds of correct society, like the time he decided to boycott church or when he decided to gain as much weight as possible in order to be able to work at home. The final role for healthy families, the Sexual Gratifier, involves the parental dyad. Although The Simpsons is a family show, it is quite clear that Marge and Homer have a very satisfying sex life. They keep their relationship fresh by taking opportunities for new experiences. They’ve literally rolled in the hay, made out in a miniature golf windmill, taken a sexual enhancement tonic and had plenty of spicy sexual experiences. As such, both Marge and Homer fulfill this role.

The Simpson kids also have family roles. All families seek balance and attempt to present a good image (whatever it may be) to outsiders. Thus, children choose their roles based on what they think the family needs. The Simpson children fall into some classic roles. Lisa is the family hero, the perfectionist. She is an excellent student and is accomplished in many different areas. As she once exclaimed, “Ugh! I am sick of everyone being so proud of me!” However, despite the successful appearance, the family hero often feels inadequate and their self-worth requires the approval of others. They badly want their families to look good and when they fall short of their goals, they feel like they have failed. Lisa strives desperately to be popular, win Homer’s approval and have her family look good. She feels awful when this does not happen. Her lack of popularity, for example, is a constant sore spot. When she was at military school trying to conquer The Eliminator, she says longingly, “If only I was back in Springfield, all my friends would be cheering me on! Oh, God, I’m delirious.”

Lisa also plays the Parentified Child role, especially when Homer is in charge. If Marge is not around or refuses to help, everyone turns to Lisa to tell them what to do. This was especially evident when Marge and Homer were having trouble in their marriage. Homer pleads with Lisa, “I know you’re only eight years old and I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on you, but you’ve got to save my marriage!” Lisa responds, “You’re very lucky to have Mom.” Homer (not liking what he hears) tries to put her back in her child role: “That’s your advice?! Go to bed!!” During another period of marital discord, Homer takes Lisa’s advice and convinces Marge to let him return to the family. Lisa says to him, “I knew you could do it! Now don’t screw it up.” Lisa’s role as the Parentified Child also extends to her attempts to get the family to do the right thing. She tries to convince them of the moral correctness of everything from recycling and vegetarianism to literacy and anti-consumerism.

In direct opposition of Lisa’s role, Bart is the classic scapegoat. The scapegoat is the child who acts out for attention. Acting out includes behavior problems, delinquency, or poor school performance. In the classroom, scapegoats often get into trouble because they don’t accept authority well. Bart constantly gives his teacher, Mrs. Krabappel, a hard time. Moreover, the list of Bart’s delinquent acts is long and cannot be enumerated here. However, suffice it to say that he is blamed for most of the family’s problems.

Maggie plays the mascot role. The mascot’s job is to be cute and humorous. While mascots are generally older children who can be the clown, Maggie still fits the bill as she diverts attention away from things via sucking on her pacifier or falling down. The roles that Bart, Lisa and Maggie play tend to be complementary versus symmetrical. Instead of acting alike (symmetrical), every member has a particular task to do (complementary). If one person fails to fulfill his or her role, other members are negatively affected and try to make up for it. Consequently, when Lisa is unsuccessful, she may act out (the scapegoat role) while Bart becomes the hero. Similarly, both Bart and Lisa have taken turns being mascot when Maggie is not being cute.

Family Rules

Just as every family has roles that its members play, every family also has its own rules. Some are overt and are openly discussed. These usually involve things like bedtime, when friends can come over, the timing of family meals and participation in religious activities. However, there are also covert rules. These are rules that exist but are not mentioned out loud; every family member is just expected to know them. These rules have more to do with interpersonal interactions than events or activities. They also are intimately linked with power and the roles that each family member plays.

For the Simpsons, one covert rule is that everyone can ignore and make fun of Grandpa Simpson. However, as befitting his status of holding some power in the family, another rule concerning Grandpa is that he is part of their lives. The family still invites him over to the house and he is involved in many aspects of their lives. When Grandpa is staying with them overnight, they wonder where he should sleep. Marge: “Where are we going to put him?” Homer: “Bart’s room.” Lisa: “Bart’s room.” Marge: “Bart’s room.” Bart: “Dumpster.”

Another covert rule is that it is okay to acknowledge Homer’s obvious failings. In this way, the power he holds in the family is lessened. When Homer became a food critic, Marge commented to the kids, “Only your father could take a part-time job at a small-town paper and wind up the target of international assassins.” When at a company picnic, Mr. Burns tells Homer: “Make yourself at home.” Bart responds, “Hear that, Dad? You can lie around in your underwear and scratch yourself.” At this same picnic, Homer tells Bart and Lisa, “My boss is gonna be at this picnic, so I want you to show your father some love and/or respect.” Lisa: “Tough choice.” Bart: “I’m taking respect.” In another example, when Homer asks the family if he is slow, all the kids look away in discomfort.

In her role of Nurturer, it is a rule that Marge will always think the best of Bart. She calls him “my special little guy” and is determined to close her eyes to his bad

behavior. For example, when Bart was caught shoplifting, Marge refused to believe it. Marge: “I know in my heart that Bart is not a shoplifter…Fine, fine, play the tape and you will see that you have got the wrong boy.” She is heartbroken when she discovers that he has indeed stolen from the store. Homer also has a rule concerning Bart: he will yell and threaten bodily harm (and in some of the earlier episodes he even appears to actually strangle him) unless Bart’s behavior benefits Homer in some way.

The rule regarding Lisa is that her gifts are frequently ignored and her political beliefs are patronized. When Lisa decided to become a vegetarian, Bart made fun of her concerns while Marge ignored them. Lisa asked, “What’s the difference between the lamb I’m eating and the one that kissed me?” Bart mockingly replied, “This one spent two hours in the broiler,” and chomped on a lamb chop. Marge said, “Bart, sensible bites.” Later, Homer was irritated with Lisa and said to her, “I don’t need any serving suggestions from YOU, you barbeque-wrecking, know-nothing, know-it-all!”

The rule for Bart and Lisa has its roots in the quest for power in the sibling subsystem. As they both are rivals for their parents’ affection and control of the family, Bart and Lisa constantly fight. Bart bullies Lisa while Lisa gets the best of Bart through her intellect. However, sometimes they just plain bug each other. During one family therapy session, Marge said, “Bart! How could you shock your little sister?!” Bart: “My finger slipped.” Lisa: {Shocks Bart} “So did mine!”

While these rules dictate everyday behavior, there are exceptions. While the family belittles Homer, they go out of their way to help him get the things he wants. In accordance with his wishes, Maggie’s first word is “Daddy.” During Springfield’s bicentennial parade, Lisa decides to forego telling the truth about Jebediah Springfield so that Homer can continue being the town crier. Everyone sometimes listens to and appreciates Lisa’s political leanings. Lisa and Bart can join together to accomplish a goal. When they both went to military school, Bart faced the ridicule of his classmates to help Lisa surmount a physical challenge.

Communication and Emotional Patterns

Every family has its distinct ways of communicating with one another. Some families are loud, fast talkers who interrupt constantly while others wait patiently for breaks in the conversation to speak. There are generally rules about who gets to speak first and last, who speaks the most, and what kinds of statements are allowed. Some families communicate solely at a surface level and do not allow members to express emotions or anything truly deep. Other families have very few boundaries surrounding appropriate conversation and talk about everything, including taboo topics like sex and drugs. In larger families, there are also rules about who talks the most to which other member. These are called alignments, coalitions and triangles. Traditionally, alignments occur among the parental dyad and coalitions are found in the sibling subsystem (the kids) but many other variations exist. Triangles occur whenever two people are in conflict and bring in a third person in order to defuse the situation.

The Simpsons appear to have relatively normal communication patterns. Each member of the family gets conversational time, with Marge and Homer usually getting the most. The family members do occasionally interrupt and ignore each other (especially when the TV is on) but not excessively. Homer tends to get the first word but usually not the last. That is reserved for Marge or the kids. In contrast to families in which the children are not allowed to question the adults, every Simpson is allowed to challenge the authority of everyone else. Bart and Lisa can ask questions about the purpose of the adults’ behavior or even directly criticize without retribution. However, Marge and Homer do provide structure in conversational rules. They give boundary directions (e.g., “Don’t talk when your mouth is full” and “Be polite”) and let the kids know when they’ve crossed the line. Moreover, while the Simpsons are able to talk about anything, Marge and Homer do enforce some limits. For example, they rarely reveal details of their sex life.

In terms of groupings within the family, several are traditional. Marge and Homer are definitely aligned with each other. While each may speak somewhat disparagingly of the other, they obviously are a team. They do not undermine one another’s authority and they usually consult with one another before making significant

decisions. Similarly, Bart, Lisa and Maggie are in a coalition with one another. Although Bart and Lisa continuously annoy one another, they frequently join in order to get what they want from their parents. In one episode, they decided they wanted a pool. So, they repeatedly asked Homer (in unison), “Dad, can we have a pool?” While Maggie cannot exert much influence, she appears to be in agreement with Bart and Lisa. There also appear to be alignments along gender lines as Marge and Lisa appear particularly close (and they throw Maggie into that mix at times), while Homer and Bart are often in agreement with one another. There also exist some triangles in the Simpson family—but who is in them is dependent upon the situation. If Marge and Homer are having difficulty, Homer will usually consult with Lisa to help him know what to do. Similarly, Homer will sometimes ask the kids’ opinions about a particular disagreement he is having with Marge. Bart and Lisa frequently try to get one or both of their parents to intervene in their disputes. However, the triangles within the family are not excessive.