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America’s and perhaps the world’s favorite prime time animated family is bidding us farewell after 32 seasons.  Right now the show is in season 30.  This show is woven into the American fabric of entertainment, pop  culture, parody and satire.  The latter is what the show is most noted for.

Since I was a child, I have looked forward to two things, actually three: Fridays with a book or playing with friends outside, Saturday mornings and cartoons  and Sunday evenings with The Simpsons.  

The show never disappointed when it came to humor, lessons embedded into the plot and subjects from politics, family/religion, education, entertainment /pop culture.  At first glance, regular animated shows geared toward imaginative play and cognitive development have some of these topics, but to an extent and only concentrating on the developing mind/early development and metacognition  for example, modeling appropriate behaviors to authorities and peers to sequences in math and phonetics.  These shows responsibly highlight things we observe and experience every day.  On PBS’  ‘Arthur’, s10 Ep.4 , Arthur’s best friend  makes a bet that “her family can use less water than his family.”  However,  ‘ in spite of her effort’ , her family keeps using more water than intended.  This is all due to the family cat’s tendency to sit on the toilet’s lever.   (https://arthur.fandom.com/wiki/Feeling_Flush)  

Keeping measure of water meter levels/water conservation is understood by those in early childhood as summing up.   Likewise, The Simpsons has their own way of teaching, like all satires: literary, televised and performed; things that are important to us but done in broader terms to get us thinking.  

Since the show, which was created by Matt Groening   and voiced by actors such as:  Hank Azaria, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Shearer, and Yeardley Smith to name a few has debuted in 1990; it has been full of jokes and satire.  

Satire (n.) “an artistic work that attackshuman vice or foolishness, derision or wit.” (The American Heritage Desk Dictionary).  This literary term has been demonstrated for centuries, mainly political satire in Greek works.  For example “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes.  The first joke that people have probably been overlooking  according to former showrunner , writer and producer  Mike Reiss  

“When the Simpsons title card emerges from the clouds, you see the first half of the family’s  name, “The Simps,… “Simps is short for simpletons-stupid people- like the ones you’re about to see in the show.” (Springfield Confidential Jokes, Secrets and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing   for The Simpsons p.1).  That’s only the beginning.  In my own rolodex of episodes, not to add to predictions and theories pertaining to business/politics, local government, global influence and lack of research and gullability that keep us from progressing;  There is the monorail episode.  Respectively titled ‘Marge vs. the Monorail’,   Springfield gets wooed into advancing and being more industrialized like their neighbors by a smooth talking salesman.  This idea is not welcomed by Marge Simpson who is known for being reasonable.   Unfortunately the town winds up forking over a huge sum of money for this awful project.  They get taken when the system malfunctions after Homer- the conductor- makes a mistake at the controls.  That should have warned the residents that if an offer sounds convincing to soon, do your homework.   Hold leaders accountable.  

 While the show has been popular for their political input, in the beginning it was not welcomed by families and/or the religious community.  People expected the show to be wrapped in a fluffy plot like show designed for Disney or Hallmark.  When it comes to religion/family the show stood out.  

 To illustrate, everyone knows of a person who is a little more in tune spiritually than us.  In Springfield, that is Ned Flanders who is viewed positively for his religious strength.  He does have relatable attributes in various episodes.  Regarding this topic, there is an episode where Bart is defiant enough to announce that no one has a soul after he gets in trouble for pulling a prank during a church service.  As a result his friend Milhouse buys his soul for $5.  Bart’s sister Lisa takes advantage of his naivety realizing his odd behavior. He assumes that the human soul is tangible.  Your soul is who you are at heart.  When it comes to spiritual matters and children they need to be allowed to have and ask questions.

   Likewise, when Lisa gives up meat in Season 7 Ep.5, we see that she has made this decision out of her own will and becomes more ‘educated’ about decision making as time goes on.  She develops critical thinking.  

    To summarize, ‘The Simpsons’ and shows like it: Family Guy, American Dad, the short-lived The Cleveland Show, South Park, Big Mouth, Bob’s Burgers and The Boondocks are and were never necessarily intended to divide or hurt, but to offer a view of a ‘slice of life’ and introduce us to how we think and feel about things that are apart of way of life.  

Listening to Author and Life Coach Raymona Felder’s  message on February 22nd  2019 for her book signing, reminded me of Psalm 139 that says “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”NKJV. This scripture deals with our mindset and how we value ourselves over life’s circumstances, hardships and expectations.  There has been an awareness of how women in general view themselves in society’s eyes since the 1950s with the evolution of a woman’s role being not only in the home, but outside of the home as well.  This led to at least for all women, a positive view of ‘femininity’, but a decrease in self-efficacy, or belief in the ability to achieve a goal and self-esteem and awareness in Black women.     One way the previous negative fact is made visible is in Raymona's  book “Black and Ugly Howev’a”.   I have not yet read the book, but based on her recent speaking engagement/book signing, I can tell that it is about how she has had to rearrange her mindset in order to believe better things about herself.  A negative self-perception for anyone keeps you in a downward spiral and you miss yourself.  With the advent of gender roles changing, marketing strongly geared toward Caucasian women and their families (in the beginning), the internet and social media’s grasp, things have changed.  

   In the media, Caucasian families were thoroughly represented due to familiarity and dominance at the rise of commercials, magazines and television.  African-Americans were not that rounded out due to distanced and aloof campaigns and misconstrued facts.  For example, in the 1970s, there were not many ads that related to the Black population and according to Danyel Smith, Music Journalist “You did not see commercials directed towards African-Americans in the 1970s.  When an Afro sheen commercial aired, “the voiceover sounded like and African-American voice.” (“Soul Train-The Hippest Trip in America” Online Video Clip.  koko4u2luv. 17 July 2014. Web. 23 February 2019)

 Raymona says that “everyone has a howev’a.”  “Everyone has an ugly.”  Things that they have been ashamed of and need to overcome in order to be who they were meant to be and live out their own truth. As women and African-American women, we have to accept each other, support each other so as not to buy in to wrestling negative self-perception. 

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