Women are a lot like refrigerators and beer. Or, at least, according to Homer Simpson they are. His attempts to explain women to his son Bart somehow easily go astray every time during The Simpsons, which celebrated its 20th anniversary on TV in December.
“A woman is a lot like a refrigerator. They’re about six feet tall, 300 pounds. They make ice, and, oh wait a minute. Actually, a woman is more like a beer,” he says “They smell good, they look good. You’d step over your own mother just to get one. But you can’t stop at one—you want to drink another woman.”
In terms of how the show has portrayed women throughout the series, Homer isn’t far off in his definition. Women are a bit misunderstood by their male counterparts. It usually takes a big mistake for Homer, Bart, Grandpa Simpson, or any of the other guys to realize their wrongs. Homer doesn’t get his daughter Lisa’s saxophone reed in time for the big concert because he spent the night drinking at Moe’s bar. He doesn’t appreciate how important it was to her.
In another episode, Homer sneaks away to go fishing while he and wife Marge are at a marriage retreat—basically choosing to do the opposite of saving his relationship. (D’oh!) While these examples may seem like just bad parenting or husbanding, it shows how Marge and Lisa are often misunderstood by the men in their lives. In part, that’s due to the Al Bundy-like nature of Homer’s character, but also because of the legacy of the Simpson men: stupidity.
In one episode, Lisa’s worried she’s destined to lose her smarts and become like her dimwitted dad. She soon discovers that all of the Simpson women grow up to be doctors and businesspeople, while a stupid gene makes all of the Simpson men, well, stupid.
Even Maggie, the baby of the family, is portrayed as intelligent. She escapes a daycare centre, saves Homer from drowning, and bowls a perfect 300 game (but Homer accuses her of an over-step and bumps her score down to a 295).
Though the women in the show have their blonde (or in Marge’s case, blue) moments, The Simpsons portrays all of them (except maybe the Crazy Cat Lady) as intelligent people with real desires, hopes and vices. Remember when Marge gets hooked on gambling? Another episode focuses on Ms. Krabappel, Bart’s teacher, who has a real loneliness and longing for love in her life. Other examples include Marge’s sisters: Selma adopts a daughter, while Patty is the only openly gay character on the show.
(But it’s important to note that while the women are shown as real people, all of them wear dresses while the men wear pants. Though this might be to make the genders clear in the animation, it’s not exactly a realistic portrayal of how women dress.)
Despite the men largely having no clue about their ladies, the show is great for illustrating how much love and ultimate respect they have for them. And the show also demonstrates how the women have increasingly more respect for themselves as the show continues.
In the early episodes, Lisa is portrayed as a kind of Female Bart who’s just as much of a troublemaker. She quickly turns into the smartypants of the family, and she frequently helps solve problems and mysteries key to the episode plots. As the series has continued, Lisa becomes one of the only vegetarians and Buddhists. All of these things give her more of a distinct identity.
Marge, on the other hand, begins the series as a housewife whose only job is to take care of her rambunctious family. She’s portrayed as the typical passive American homemaker. Her trademark nagging sound is basically the equivalent of her disapproving something, but she often doesn’t voice her own opinion other than that. But Marge gets plenty of chances to show her independence and strength as a woman throughout the series. She becomes a police officer (a better one than the men on the force), an artist, and a bodybuilder, all of which are typically male-dominated careers. Although her husband sometimes makes sexist comments, he learns to appreciate her and even tells her that she is a good cop.
Off-screen, Marge made the cover of Playboy, though some of her animated body parts were conveniently covered up. Still, she’s portrayed as a sexual woman, which isn’t too different from the show.
The Simpsons women aren’t quite like refrigerators or beer, but they’re just as key to the success of the long-running show.
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