Ok, so The Simpsons are not new to controversy and are possibly in competition with Family Guy as the most unPC and dysfunctional family on tv. But this image of the Africanized Simpsons (hat tip White African) made me feel uncomfortable and I started to reflect on this as an image for Africa. The chicken and goat are kinda cute, Marge has an enviably perfect, round afro and Bart’s sporting one of those inventive toy cars made from recycled wire. Given his job in an atomic energy plant in the tv series, Homer is unsurprisingly potrayed as a South African mine worker. But this stereotypical image doesn’t sit well with me. So Bart is now barefoot (not a bad thing in itself but it’s the context) and their couch is in need of some patchwork (poverty-struck or unmaterialistic – you decide).
BUT MOSTLY…
What’s with the exaggerated bright red, full lips?
Why is Marge heavily pregnant, despite the usual 3 Simpsons kids being accounted for?
Are there other layers lurking here that subtly convey the apparent face of Africa not only for the artist but the world at large?
Conclusion: This is so 20th century.
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Disclaimer: For the sake of clarity, this is not a creation by the makers of The Simpsons, Fox, etc.
2 Comments
9 September, 2008 at 1:55 am
Likes the new digz!
10 September, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Nice blog look!
I know what you mean… images by themselves don’t mean much, but the context, and a combination of images….