Saturday, September 9, 2006: an analysis of Homer Simpson
GAHH! 4 hours have passed and all i've done is calc and english. i have yet to cover organic chem! (but actually i think organic chem is my best topic so i dont have to focus on that too much..) but blehhh! i havent done much! :
***
Homer Simpson - despicable character, drinks too much eats too much. loves being lazy, hates to work. the perfect example of a slob. he contradicts all the values and attitudes set by society -unsuccessful, poor parenting skills, fat, alcoholic. what is he trying to prove?
yet the strange thing is, people like him. children think the world of him. statistics show that majority of english children think that he's the best dad in the world. why? simply because he is a fictional character that we can relate to. he's the one that is able to defy the pressure to comform to societal standards. secretly, we want to be like him. (or rather i do. who does want to do nothing for a living?) but because the world said we have to do this, and the country has set a criteria that we have to live up to, thats why we give up our deepest darkest desires to be what the world deems us to be, to have, to own. yes. we are positioned to feel disgusted with Homer Simpson.
so, why do we watch his cartoon? one, for entertainment purposes. who doesnt want a good laugh? Homer Simpson has to be the worst produced character alive. the cartoon is too addictive. we just want to keep watching to see what more worse misdeeds he can come up with with each progressing episode. two, because we secretly want to be like him. as mentioned before, he is the only one that can ignore societal values and attitudes to be himself, to persue the temporary gratifications that the world offers. sure, we may despise his behaviour, but truthfully? i'm sure every one would like to be just like him. in today's society, with the "bad values" such as lust, alcoholism, smoking, being unproductive, being a dimwit, it is no wonder that people are drawn to Homer Simpson, who meets every one of these values. because of our inability to slack off, seeing Homer Simpson do so, makes us envious and glad at the same time. envious because Homer is able to do so, and glad because finally there is some one who escapes the trap of the "right" values and attitudes albeit that Homer Simpson is after all only a fictional character. but because we are so in tune with the characterisation of Homer Simpson, and the fact that he seems so real to our reality, makes us feel that Homer isn't really that ficticious after all.
the world of Homer Simpson must be like heaven. something which is so unreachable and unattainable because of not just the world, but your family and friends as well; what they all expect of you. Homer Simpson is so simple minded and straight forward that nothing can stop him from drinking yet another can of Duff while sitting in front of the television, with that spare tyre peeking out from underneath his food stained, crumpled shirt. the attitude, that of being free from the world's opinion, is what we like. "the reality of constant striving and constant disappointment" is what the article says, and is what we face everyday. yet being able to sit down after school or work to watch an episode of "The Simpsons" and relate to Homer's feelings, seeing how he reacts towards these disappointments just gives us a glimmer of the possibility of what if: what we would do if the world hadnt already plan our future.
***
oh my gosh, and i dont even like simpsons. i dont watch it. what kind of personal response is this?
bah. i have to turn that into a 2 page essay. at least there are more stuff in the article that i can talk about. but in this argument, i've already digressed from the main topic. WHAT IS HUMAN BEHAVIOUR! what does it mean??! should i define it as our feelings and reactions toward Homer Simpson? gah. helppp. and you know what, its really ironic for me that what the examiners what to hear is about the my perspective as a human being on this world, not about my perspective as a christian on the views and values and attitudes which these passages contain. sure, i can write about it, but i wont score. and i havent even talked about techniques used in the passage. bleh. and i havent started on chem. oh mudder, its already 6.30. save me, someone.
a shout of praise.
5:38 PM
