Simpsons mania is in full swing as the movie is screened across the world. Homer’s distinctively domed yellow head beams at us from billboards and magazines. He is quite the celebrity. However, amidst the hype and laughter I have to ask myself whether Homer as hero is a good thing.
Over the years I have to admit that I have succumbed to the charms of the Simpsons. With children growing from childhood to young teenagers, their delight in watching the show has worn down my defenses. I have laughed with and at Homer. However, in my more reflective moments I have wondered about my laughing at Homer.
“Get a life”, I hear readers shout with derision, even before I have given my reasons, but I believe there is something serious to be said about the way we see Homer and by implication the way we see men and by that I include our sons and boys.
I am just old enough to have grown up with the concept of heroes. When I was a child I devoured picture books about Napoleon, Caesar and Alexander and when older I shifted emphasis to the great explorers Scott and Shakelton and finally to democratic politicians like Churchill and Kennedy. Many of these heroes of the past have now had their images tainted or questioned as the revisionists have had their way. Yet for me there is still some magic connected with their names; still something to admire.
However, the concept of hero or of heroic lives has now fallen into disfavour. Instead of interest in lives of people who attempted great feats or who held idealistic beliefs we are bombarded by celebrity banality. Is there really anything to admire about Paris Hilton and her time in prison; or the state of Brad Pitt’s marriage to Angelina Joilie?
And our entertainment mirrors such changes in culture. The Simpsons has been an incredibly successful show over the last two decades and now it is a film. Undoubtedly Marge and Lisa will continue to portray common sense and intelligence; Bart will get into trouble and Homer…well Homer will be stupid and crass. And we will laugh. However, and this is the point, when we laugh at Homer, we are really laughing at men in general, as men we are laughing at ourselves. At a time when there is an essential debate about men’s place in the world and about boys in general; how to raise them and how to educate them - is such laughter really for the best?
Once our heroes tried to explore unknown lands or stood against tyranny, now they glory in their own stupidity and act dumb. So, although we may find Homer funny, we should not regard him as anything more than a yellow cartoon character. He is not a role model for our boys. Take him off the billboards and magazines and replace him with someone who our boys should really look up to. Find someone heroic as a role model to help our boys learn about what it is to be a man and behave accordingly.
Alan Goodwin is a New Zealand writer. Read his novel Gravity’s Chain http://www.gravityschain.com which explores the themes of modern science and its effects on our world in the context of a modern drama.
Source: www.articlesbase.com