First Simpsons show

The first Simpsons episode that we watched showed many of the ideas and themes that we have discussed in class. This episode was about Bart and his girlfriend Greta. She liked him a lot but he really was not that interested in him so he broke up with her. After they broke up she started dating one of Bart’s friends. Because of this Bart then wanted to get back together with Greta. This situation deals with the ideas of the mimetic desire because when Bart was dating Greta he did not want her but once his friend starting dating her Bart was upset and wanted her back. These circumstances then turned into an erotic triangle with Bart and his friend being the subjects and Greta being the one in the middle. The two boys are trying to win her over but she has no control over what they do or how they act.
Another scenario that was evolving in this show was the idea of the heteronormative society. Quite often throughout the episode they would portray the more masculine man, Greta’s dad, having the big car and being tough and strong. Also in the show Greta claimed that she did not want to be with Bart’s friend because he was not masculine enough. Portraying the idea that there is an obvious view in society of what defines masculine and normal for a man.
Before watching these two episodes in class I had never watched the Simpsons before. However, it is still quite easy to tell what type of audience they are gearing this show towards. For the most part the main audience is men, which you can see by the overwhelming emphasis on masculinity in this episode. This can be problematic because men are watching these episodes believing that this is how they must act in order to be considered masculine in our heteronormative society.