The Uncomfortable Truth About Growing Up

The Uncomfortable Truth About Growing Up
Or, How to Save “The Simpsons”

Fox Television’s “The Simpsons” has grown to be the longest running animated show in history. It started as crude shorts on “The Tracy Ullman Show” and has since gone on to become such a large popular culture phenomenon that I will wager that anyone reading this can name all of the Simpson Family members and at least three side characters.

Of late, as the show rolls out its twenty-eighth season, criticism has grown that in the past five years, at least, that the show has grown tired and stale, with more pop culture referencing happening than actual storytelling. I must agree because I have not ever, in those last five years, found myself compelled enough to seek out any new episodes. They have grown tired and over-reliant on the formula – Homer gets into a fantastical situation, in which Marge wavers in her support, Bart serves as a comedic foil to Homer, Lisa the condescending liberal voice of reason, and Maggie squeaks on her pacifier, while peripheral characters do what they were created for, to push along Homer on his exploits towards a useless climax that resets everything to status quo and the next episode does this all over again, but maybe they focus on Bart or Marge or Lisa, or one of those many, many side characters. Slate Magazine does this great breakdown of the “Sitcom Formula” that “The Simpsons”, having been on for so long, that many its many fans have come to subconsciously recognize the formula that it bores them.

The writers of “The Simpsons” work in what is called a “floating timeline” which means that while everything changes around them, points of reference in history and pop culture remain, the Family Simpson will stay their set ages. For a while this has work, but now we find ourselves, nationally, in an era of self-reference. Prequels, sequel, reboots, pre-boots, se-boots, and spin-offs all ride that corporate brand recognition train where getting the reference substitutes for comedy writing. Because of this new media mentality, I must agree that the quality of “The Simpsons” in terms of storytelling, character-building, heart, and souls have all suffered in quality.

One day, it struck me that in the quagmire of Internet fandom criticism, that the fix to the quality of the series has been sitting in front of us the whole time, and the show has pulled it off with some of their best episodes, that I am shocked that no one thought of it before. Instead of changing show-runners, or producers, or simply ending the show as many fans scream for, to fix “The Simpsons” is as easy as any reboot can be: age the characters.

That’s right. Reset their ages, stick them back on that floating timeline and you will find such a wellspring of fertile storytelling ground that could possibly help the show last another ten year, at least. Some of the best and most memorable episodes have been the timeline altering peeks into the character’s futures. Here is how I envision the characters changing in the first episode of this new age, in an episode I want write entitled: “The Inexplicable Eight Year Leap”.

The Simpson Family is now a housed divided; Marge has long had enough of Homer’s antics and has divorced him. She still lives in the familiar home on Evergreen Terrace, having residential custody of the three children who seem happy in the face of their separation. Her primary concern is of Bart, who is now eighteen, and what he will do now that he does not have to live under her roof legally.

Bart: 18 is now in high school having grown out of his childhood wildness and has shown to be more circumspect with an aptitude towards math and business. In this episode, he is a side character to the main plot, but revolves around his trying to win a date with a young lady he has long had a crush on. We see that he still has a steak of wildness about him that he is at constant odds with, which sometimes, humorously, ruin his chances of winning his crush’s heart, much to the worry of his mother.

Lisa: 16, is now a sophomore in high school, now having grown out of her vegan stage, through still a vegetarian, and Buddhist phases, with a lean toward agnosticism and soft liberalism. Hers is the main plot as she is applying to the new charter high school with every family member letting her down in appointment keeping and moral support, and seems very bothered by those name “Simpson” of late. She works out her complications to attend workshops and interview sessions and when a crucial interview is threatened due to the nature of her family, her old grade school substitute teacher shows up to help her get to the crucial appointment, gain the confidence once more to ace the interview, and gives her a glowing review. In a twist, she may give him his own confidence back as a teacher as he faces his age. (In later episodes and seasons we learn of his passing and how it affects Lisa.) Lisa is not as lauded for her intelligence as before and she harbors the notion that she suffers from a chemical imbalance that mires her in depressions. Much of the focus of the new episodes is of Lisa learning to live with this challenge and find balance with it. Writers could find that balance of finding humor with her character without making fun of her affliction.

Maggie: 8 or 9, is very much the New Lisa; an academic and artistic superstar, in which Lisa fears and, is proud of, the fact that Maggie may be smarter than she ever was; progressive, staunchly so, feminist, artistic, world-weary, musically inclined towards a number of instruments while practicing none, more likely to debate her sister, often correcting her outdated assumptions. “Well, actually,” will become a phrase that drives Lisa up the wall. It is the crux of antagonism between them, as they will often clash. Maggie is the physical evolution of Lisa’s ideology. Maggie will be the true, subtle star of the new era, as she has learned many things from her family which showcases how much the Simpson clan is truly a caring and supporting lot when all is said and done, and in a bouts of vulnerability, she harbors the secret hope that her parents will get back together. Over the course of the new episodes, we find out from whom she has learned her ways – her morals are from her mother, her stubbornness, her father, her fearlessness, her brother, but most important, and this can be the tie that binds the two sisters when Lisa is at her nadir, she learned her ideals and courage from a big sister who stood up to so many things in her young life. How can she not see Lisa as her hero in her life?

Marge: will have gone back to policing to make ends meet which can be troublesome as she will not be at home as often as she would want. This can be the primary conflict between her and her two daughters. She has an easy-going, attractive demeanor while dealing with Chief Wiggum and his impending retirement, which has him sweating bullets. It will be implied that Marge is back on the dating scene much to the chagrin of her remaining sister Selma; Patty long having passed from lung cancer. Flanders and she are the rumored couple now, much the chagrin of Homer, though in reality, they are only close friends. As an officer of the law she encounters many of the aged side characters of the show in various ways and often finds ways to help them out of their predicaments. She remains the moral center of the show, only more solidly so than in the past seasons. She is a woman more sure of herself.

Homer: is down to one line on his head and it is gray. Having won a lawsuit against the nuclear plant, he now lives in semi-retirement in a bungalow with his dying father Abe. He takes the occasional odd job here and there to help friends and this is where we see his growth of character. Here is a man who has learned to be more careful and of the value of family. He no longer goes on wacky adventures and is more concerned at being there for his kids now that the family is split and often dispenses nuggets of wisdom accrued by those wacky adventure to help his visiting children cope with their growing lives. Flashback episodes can involve some of those wacky adventures. Homer becomes more of a background character and maybe, sooner or later, a lovely country singer comes back into his life giving him one last chance to get romance right.

The sad fact is that the characters of the Simpsons are stuck in a history and at ages that they cannot easily be written for anymore. The go-to solution is to mire their stories in pop culture referencing and lost are some of the human touches that made the series great worthwhile viewing in its earlier and middle seasons. Now, we only stay for the opening couch gag, and then change the channel. But what happens when Bart is suddenly 18 and needs to be in two places at once? Or Lisa has to compromise one of her long-standing principles to secure her dream summer job? Or that Maggie now has a more complete function in the world of ‘The Simpsons’? How do we view Homer now that he is older and wiser, and Marge who is more confident in herself and her purpose?

Aging the characters was used to great affect in some flash-forward episodes and maybe two to five seasons of writing that subverts all those expectations, making the Simpson Family more human and relatble again is what is needed to help to series flourish once again.

Respectfully Submitted,

Ernest M Whiteman III

PS: I do have futures in mind for such characters as Milhouse and the Bullies that is mature and kind of complex, but aging the characters dovetails with these complications nicely and steering the series into a more dramatic function can also help, in my opinion. – EW3