Summary:
"She Used to be My Girl,” which is one episode from American television show The Simpsons, describes that Marge Simpson meets her old friend Chloe Talbot who becomes a famous journalist and comes back to Springfield. Chloe is successful, graceful and gentle. Lisa likes Chloe very much so that Marge becomes jealous. Lisa wants to go to the U.N. Women’s conference with Chloe, but her mother doesn’t allow her to do so. Therefore, Lisa hides into Chloe’s car for going to the conference. On the way, Chloe has a phone call which commands her to report an active volcano. When they arrive at the foot of the volcano, the volcano is erupting. Lisa and Chloe are trapped by magma. In the end, Marge saves Lisa and shows her powerful mother’s love. At the same time, Chloe’s ex. boyfriend in high school time saves Chloe by driving a helicopter.
Symbol:
Two-headed goat: every thing has two sides.
Court-ordered ankle bracelet: The monitoring of government
The cop: ruthless, careless
UN Women’s conference: feminism
Clown: loser
My interpretation for this story:
These symbols imply two kinds of interpretation.
First, the whole story is telling us that things are not what they look like. Chloe looks like very successful, but her job has risk. For example, the event of reporting an active volcano is very dangrous. As same as the identity of "two-headed goat," it is no doubt that everything has two sides.
Second, the whole story is showing the feminism by contrast. The contrast of attitudes between Mr. Simpson, Mrs. Simpson and the cop reveal the power of females obviously. The males in this episode are spineless and ridiculous. Contrarily, the famales are valorous and self-giving, especially Marge Simpson.
My interpretation for this story:
These symbols imply two kinds of interpretation.
First, the whole story is telling us that things are not what they look like. Chloe looks like very successful, but her job has risk. For example, the event of reporting an active volcano is very dangrous. As same as the identity of "two-headed goat," it is no doubt that everything has two sides.
Second, the whole story is showing the feminism by contrast. The contrast of attitudes between Mr. Simpson, Mrs. Simpson and the cop reveal the power of females obviously. The males in this episode are spineless and ridiculous. Contrarily, the famales are valorous and self-giving, especially Marge Simpson.
You are right that the gender roles in this episode are very polarized: men are stupid, women are smart. Certainly this is a cartoonish exaggeration. Do you see any symbols that would aid this argument about gender?
回复删除I think the woman who sleeps with the mayor is a negative symbol for feminism, because the mayor calls her “fertile moron.”
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