NYT: 'Simpsons' Animates Gay Nuptials, and a Debate

[DeepModem Mom]

'Simpsons' Animates Gay Nuptials, and a Debate
By SHARON WAXMAN

Published: February 21, 2005


Fox
Marge Simpson, left, and her sister Patty Bouvier, right, with Patty's girlfriend in last night's "Simpsons."


LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20 - In the ongoing culture wars over whether gays should have the right to marry, an animated question reared its head on Sunday prime-time television: as goes "The Simpsons," does the nation go, too?

In an episode titled "There's Something About Marrying," a longtime character on Fox's 15-year hit - it was Marge Simpson's sister Patty Bouvier, a closely held secret until the 8 p.m. broadcast - came out of the closet while Homer Simpson conducted dozens of same-sex weddings after small-town Springfield legalized the unions in a bid to increase tourism. As television's longest-running situation comedy, "The Simpsons" is no stranger to hot-button social, religious and political issues, mocking wardrobe malfunctions, Hollywood liberals and born-again Christians, among other targets.

But when a show as mainstream and popular as this takes on one of the most divisive issues in American society, it is certain to attract attention. Bookmakers in the United States and England were taking bets as to which character would be revealed as homosexual, and whether there would be a kiss - a nod, perhaps, to the popular programming gimmick of having lesbian characters lock lips during sweeps periods like the current one.

But mostly, television experts, fans and advocates for gay marriage ruminated over the larger significance of the moment....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/arts/television/21simpsons.html

[Cocoa]

1. laughable quote, even by Brent Bozell standards

"At a time when the public mood is overwhelmingly against gay marriage, any show that promotes gay marriage is deliberately bucking the public mood," he said.

[rodeodance]

2. sci-fi comics were ahead of their time--as science has caught up with

some of the stuff (space travel). my theory is that if accepted in comics/animation--maybe it will greadddddddddduuuuallly become excepted in real life.

[Catshrink]

6. He admitted he hadn't seen the episode...

is that a surprise?

[shadowknows69]

33. well then you shouldn't be allowed to write about it n/t

[Blue_Tires]

8. lol

[Guaranteed]

12. So what if it's "bucking the public mood?" People are stupid

pieces of shit, especially in this country, it seems.

That being said, I don't think that his support from the public is nearly as strong as he'd like to think it is.

[Cocoa]

13. the phrase makes it sound like a crime

premeditated mood-bucking. A capital offense.

[Guaranteed]

14. LOL nt

[Jade Fox]

20. Literally laughing out loud.....

Good one!

[Megahurtz]

36. Lol!

:D

[fishwax]

16. that's hilarious

bozell is such a tool. :eyes:

How long before "deliberately bucking the public mood" (sounds vaguely indecent in isolation) is subject to FCC fines?

[Jade Fox]

21. Buck-off, Brent! n/t

[pelagius]

35. Laughable quote and and mostly untrue...

...but what the hell do I care if I'm out of goosestep with the rest of America?

[NYC Liberal]

3. The people who express "outrage" over this episode

are the VERY SAME people who can't WAIT to watch strangers marry for money and people eating bugs.

:eyes:

[Toots]

4. Jeff Gannon and KKKarl rove are in an uproar about this

:shrug:

[maxsolomon]

5. yay simpsons

stick it to the hypocritical dumb fucks.

springfield IS america.

the simpsons CREATES REALITY in this country as much as the bush admin. does.

[Bill McBlueState]

7. Brent Bozo's comment

Do children need to have gay marriage thrust in their faces as an issue?

Yeah, Brent, makes me wonder what you've been having thrust in your face lately. Seems like the homophobes always unintentionally use phrases like "shoved down our throats" and "thrust in our faces."

[knitter4democracy]

9. Is it a children's show?

I know there are kids watching it, but is Simpsons really a children's show?

Btw, what is wrong with getting kids to talk about what marriage is, what it means, and why those people are kissing? I don't see anything wrong with it. It's life, and you can't keep everything away from your kids. Instead, you can use it as a chance to have a good talk. Oh, wait, that's the problem: he doesn't want to talk about it. :eyes:

[Catfight]

10. Anyone who allows young children to watch the Simpson's has a lot

more problems than than gay marriage going on in the household. That show isn't for little children anymore than South Park is. The religious Wrong need to grow up, the 'gay agenda' is totally winning here because I don't hear anything being said about God values, loving, tolerance or anything that has to do with moral values, I just hear a lot of bigotry, hatred and ignorance coming out of their minds and mouths. Why don't they shut their stupid mouths for a minute and try to comprehend that the world is far more rich in diversity than their little white slave mentality would like to believe. Talk about 'divorced from reality,' these people have got to get a life and quit being obsessed over gays and start paying attention to their own houses, because they sound like complete messes to me if they are allowing their children to watch prime-time Simpson's instead of reading "My Pet Goat."

[Tuttle]

15. "meh..."

to quote Bart and Lisa... maybe "Anyone who allows young children to watch the Simpson's UNSUPERVISED has a lot more problems..." might be more accurate?

We tend to watch it as a family (ages 51, 42, 15 and 8) and enjoy it TOGETHER. Anything that needs an explanation *does* get explained (sometimes the eight year old explains to the parents).

BTW, the show seems to be enjoying much better writing this season (far better than the previous two seasons) but there is much that comes across better during re-runs.

The Simpsons are our neighbors: all of our collective neighbors, like it or not.

It was a reasonably good show but an excellent handling of out-of-the-closet family members and weird 'morals' IMHO.

Tut-tut

[skeeters]

25. Agree With Tuttle

I was glad to see the subject covered and would love to see more shows do the same. We are really being censored by the Religious Reich.

As for the Simpsons. Never miss it. The show is not as good as the early episodes. But I do find them funnier the second time I watch the new ones.

Did not laugh as much as I would have liked.

But I raise a Duff to the creators for tackling the issue.

[killbotfactory]

18. I've been watching The Simpsons for over half my life

Started with the tracy ulman show. As an alcoholic sociopath who wants to marry the same sex and thus destroy civilization, I think I turned out just fine.

[shadowknows69]

34. you godless freak!!!

we can't have alcoholics getting married!!!

;-)

[Nimrod]

11. Considering how much

They like drawing Marge nekkid, I think calling it a children's show will be a stretch. Of course, the Christian Mafia are going to be comparing it to Barney getting reamed by Spongebob during Saturday morning cartoons.

Unfortunately, what you're talking about is called "parenting". Most of these outraged parents gave up a long time ago on taking responsibility for their own kids. The "Phantom Child" phenomenon is much simpler - no responsibility there, you don't have to educate or care for the Phantom Child. All you do is scream for somebody to PLEASE think of him while you push your own ideals on people that don't want them. Meanwhile your REAL kids are contemplating suicide or running away just to get the fuck away from you.

[knitter4democracy]

24. Maybe you're right

Maybe the "Think of the children" motto is just a red herring, but I think many take it as a real call. I personally am concerned about what my kids are exposed to--crass marketing comes to mind--and I don't think people who are concerned about it are crazy.

Maybe that commentator doesn't watch the Simpsons and so doesn't know that it's not a children's show. Okay, my kids like to watch it, but we go through it and talk about it on their level.

[Nimrod]

27. You should be concerned

And in fact I find that admirable. Here's the question though - in the course of regulating what your children are exposed to, do you attempt to regulate what other people's children and other ADULTS are exposed to?

See, that's the big difference between actually thinking of the children and thinking of enforcing your ideals under the pretense of thinking of the children.

I, for example, don't think children should be exposed to pornography. That's my opinion. However at the same time I don't think pornography should be eliminated in the name of the children. I don't have kids, but if I did I would consider it MY responsibility to regulate whether MY kids were exposed to pornography or not. I would not attempt to regulate whether YOUR kids were exposed to pornography, or yourself, or your Aunt Edna who's 65, or your dog, or anybody else. Firstly it's not my business, secondly it's not my problem.

99% of the time this "Think of the children" battle cry is code for "I don't like this so the entire world should bend to my personal desire and eradicate it". If they were REALLY thinking of the children they'd think of their own and leave mine the fuck alone. If I want their help as a parent, I'll ask for it.

[knitter4democracy]

28. No, of course not.

Furthermore, I don't think that I can enforce my parenting ideals on any other parents, let alone other adults. For example, I don't let my kids watch Nickelodeon, but I'm not going around telling other parents to boycott it. We all should have the right to raise our kids as we see fit.

[Nimrod]

29. I salute you

You seem to be one of the tiny minority who understands the word "parenting". :) I salute you.

[knitter4democracy]

30. Uh . . . Thanks.

Ummm. My kids are watching a movie right now, so I'm feeling really guilty about being on-line and all. Of course, it's Pippi Longstocking and we're reading the books too, but still . . .

[Nimrod]

31. "Parenting" doesn't mean you have to sit on them

At least not in my mind.

[killbotfactory]

17. Just because it's animated doesn't mean it's for kids

The old looney toones cartoons were made for all ages, and some were made for entertaining the troops during wwII.

The current public mood is a handfull of religious right whackjobs acting like gay marraige spells the end of civilization, while the rest of america is either indifferent, hasn't given much thought to it and default to "against", or don't care wether gays get married.

The religious right need to get a life.

[Bleacher Creature]

19. The real problem in America is . . .

that supposedly "credible" publications like the NYT are giving a voice to freaks like Brent Bozell. As much as he wants to believe that he's in the mainstream, he's not. And I'm not just saying that as a typical East Coast, elite, Northern liberal. He's a wackjob who has as much business being quoted by the New York Times as I do.

However, I will say that his "outrage of the week" clips on his website provide me with endless amusement -- http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/clips/main.asp

[mikeytherat]

22. The Archbishop of Canterbury thinks it teaches great lessons..

He and his wife Jane Paul, who lectures in theology at a college in Bristol, have two children--Rhiannon, who is 14, and Pip, who is six (as of 2002). He admits that he enjoys watching "The Simpsons" and describes the program as "one of the most subtle pieces of propaganda around in the cause of sense, humility and virtue."

http://www.cditrainers.org/anglicanism.htm

mikey_the_rat

[RelativelyJones]

23. I'll forgive the Simpsons

Since Brent Bozell's been Joe-Bucking my mood for a long time.

[DeepModem Mom]

26. LOL, Relatively -- and welcome to DU!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

32. Extrapolating from Bozell's reasoning,

Sidney Poitier shouldn't have made all those movies about race because that would be "bucking the public mood" about race relations at the time.