Imagine an animated T.V. show based on a middle class family from Springfield. This show follows the day to day activities of this family and their friends. With only this information, most parents would let their children watch this show. However, upon closer analyzation, many parents change their minds. The show I’m speaking of is “the Simpsons.” The Simpsons is a classic genre-bender T.V. show. A genre-bender is a story that breaks the rules of its genre. This show would be categorized as an animated TV show. These typical rules of a genre are called genre conventions. The conventions of animated TV shows or movies are many. Some of these conventions are the use the technique of animation, simple story lines, clean language, “a fantastical world with vivid imagination, and a good vs. evil scenario.” (thescriptlab.com) An article from thescriptlab.com says “Since its inception, animation has had a creative and imaginative tendency. Being able to bring animals and objects to life, this genre has catered towards fairy tales and children’s stories.” The Simpsons is definitely not catered towards fairy tales or children’s stories! That is just one example of how this show is a big breaker of the animated genre conventions. Because there’s so many curse words, sexual innuendos, and dark themes within it, The Simpsons is a genre bender.

         An article from CollegeHumor.com talking about dirty jokes from the Simpsons begins with this paragraph “For many of us who grew up in the 90s, The Simpsons was not only a hilarious, groundbreaking show, but a learning experience. It advanced our knowledge of pop culture well beyond our years. But aside from the dozens of references to movies, TV, and books that we had to ask our parents about, The Simpsons was also loaded with subtle and not-so-subtle sexual references. I recently rewatched the entire series and noted ten particularly sexual jokes that, as a kid, slipped past my ears.” This really is an eye-opening article because it’s talking about how many sexual jokes that there actually were throughout the show. Normally, an animated show like this would have certain expectations pertaining to the cleanliness of it. An animated kids show, that doesn’t break the rules of its genre, would be defined by many different things. Most people can agree that the rules of the genre would be animated characters, situations that are relatable to children, bright colors, no bad language, no sexual innuendos, a simple plot line, simple language, and a certain clean, entertainment value. When animated shows stick to the rules of its genre, adults usually wouldn’t be entertained by it. Some examples of TV shows within this genre include The Powerpuff Girls, Arthur, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and The Flintstones. Children love these types of shows because they're easy to understand and are usually very colorful.

         The Simpsons breaks many of these rules; such as having complicated "adult" situations, terrible language, layered plot lines, and so many buried innuendos. Some of the things that happen in this show are very relatable to adults, but inappropriate for children, such as problems with taxes, sexual relationships between adults, drug problems, alcoholism, and homosexuality. Some other examples that are just as bad as this show are, Family Guy, Sausage Party, American Dad and so many others that go uncensored and unnoticed because parents enjoy the shows enough to not care about the bad influences thing they're exposing their children to. The language in this show is very bad. While they don't come out and say swear words, they do use very vulgar language. An article from "SimpsonsWiki" breaks down the usage of bad words in just the first season of this series to the word, and how often it's used. It says that Bastard is the most used vulgar word at 30 times, followed closely by 3 different versions of the word bitch (bitch, 11 times; bitches, 2 times; and Bitchin', 7 times. As most parents know, children just repeat whatever they hear. This can be very bad, and super embarrassing if a parent allows their child to watch this show. Children like to have role models for different reasons; be it "coolness," or respect. Lots of children choose Bart as their role model. This is very bad because Bart is a class clown and is always performing some kind of stunt. Many children have copied Bart's behavior and gotten hurt very badly.

         This show and many others like it should not be allowed on TV. They purposefully try to make the shows enticing to children and then ruin they're once beautiful, innocent minds. The Simpsons takes a wholesome genre and completely trashes it. Because of this so many parents will be reluctant to let their kids watch good TV shows in the future for fear of another "Simpsons." The show bends the animated/children's genre too much, and needs to "stay in its own lane."

 

Ozzi, Dan. “10 Sexual Jokes On The Simpsons You Might’ve Missed as   a Kid.” CollegeHumor. N.p., 15 July 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.

 

"List of Vulgar Words." Wikisimpsons. N.p., n.d. Web.

23 Sept. 2016."

 

Buffam, Noelle. "Animated." Genre:. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.