“The Simpsons” is one of America’s most popular television shows. It ranks as the number one television program for viewers under eighteen years of age. However, the ideals that “The Simpsons” conveys are not always wholesome, sometimes not even in good taste. It is inevitable that “The Simpsons” are affecting today’s children. In order to understand the impact “The Simpsons” have on our culture we must first understand their origin. The first place we need to look is towards Matt Groening. Matt Groening took up drawing to escape from his troubles in 1977. At the time, Groening was working for the LA Reader, a free, weekly newspaper. He began working on Life in Hell, a humorous comic strip consisting of people with rabbit ears. The LA Reader picked up a copy of his comic strip and liked what they saw. Life in Hell gradually became a common comic strip in many free weeklies and college newspapers across the country. It even developed a cult status. (Varhola, 1) Life in Hell drew the attention of James L. Brooks, producer of works such as “Taxi”, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and “Terms of Endearment”. Brooks originally wanted Groening to make an animated pilot of Life in Hell. Groening chose not to in fear of loosing royalties from the papers that printed the strip. Groening presented Brooks with an overweight, balding father, a mother with a blue beehive hairdo, and three obnoxious spiky- hairded children. Groening intended for them to represent the typical American family who loves each other but drive each other crazy. Groening named the characters after his own family. His parents were named Homer and Margaret and he had two younger sisters named Lisa and Maggie. “Bart was an anagram for "brat". Groening chose the last name "Simpson" to sound like the typical American family name.” (Varhola, 2)Brooks decided ...
