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Gender Roles In The Simpsons

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With the Simpsons on TV, we are always very used to seeing a stereotypical nuclear family. The father works a nine to five job where ever he could get one, the mother takes care of the children by grocery shopping and washing dishes at all times, Bart is a hooligan who gets in trouble all the time, and Lisa is the angel of the family. Because of the stereotypical family structure, we already have insight onto how we can look at the Simpsons family through a feminist lens.

In this specific episode, we see the Simpsons in three different stories and the scenarios that they act out. Right off the bat, the opening sequence shows the characters participating in their stereotypical gender roles. Marge is doing the grocery shopping during the day, therefore we can infer that she is a stay at home mother who provides love and security for her family, but not money. Homer, on the other hand, is the oaf who is portrayed as the provider of the family, working to make ends meet. Through a feminist lens we see that these stereotypes are a facet of the way they live their lives. The man works, the woman stays at home, boys will be boys, and little girls are the pure and perfect kids.

When the opening of the show is done, the first shot is Marge flipping through the mail and addressing Homer while she reads through the bills. This …show more content…

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