The Flimpsons
Ariela Haro von Mogel February 22nd, 2009
Homer Simpson once said that the world would be a better place if the Simpsons and the Flanders’ joined together and became one family. Well, I think the world would be a better place if female and male characters got equal representation on television. I know, you may be thinking, wow, this woman really has too much time on her hands to be analyzing the female to male ratio representation on The Simpsons. Well, that’s fine. I don’t have that much time on my hands. I just like to prioritize when I need to complain. And The Simpsons is one of my favorite shows and the quintessential American cartoon. Almost everyone you know has heard of The Simpsons.
I never really thought about this until a good friend of mine from high school pointed out the male-bias in The Simpsons. And he is right. More episodes center on Homer and Bart than on Marge and Lisa. Precious few are about Maggie (though she is a baby, so that might be kind of boring). But the part that really gets to me is the fact that the side characters are so heavily skewed towards male characters.
Let me illustrate. Continue Reading »