Read this in the NY Times this morning:
<H2>At Least One Program Runs Toward Controversy
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By ALESSANDRA STANLEY [/size]
atty Bouvier, Marge's chain-smoking, "MacGyver"-loving sister, came out of the cartoon closet on last night's episode of "The Simpsons." The episode was preceded by a warning that because the show contained discussion of same-sex marriage, "parental discretion" was advised.
Gay characters are not new to television, or to "The Simpsons," for that matter (Montgomery Burns's doting assistant, Waylon Smithers, collects Malibu Stacy dolls and vacations at men's singles resorts.)
A few years ago, the coming out of a prime-time character would probably not have caused much of a stir. But in the current climate, with the issue of gay rights spiking in the public discourse, the episode stood out. What could have seemed like a sweeps month gimmick became instead an aptly satirical comment.
The debate over same-sex marriages, and the way the conservative right inflated that debate into a wedge issue during the presidential campaign, is one factor. At the same time, growing fears about the possible spread of a rare strain of H.I.V. that is resistant to virtually all of the standard drugs has revived concern about unsafe sex among gays.
And cartoons are suddenly at the epicenter of the dispute. Conservative Christian groups are increasingly bold about attacking children's programming for pro-homosexual messages. After the new education secretary, Margaret Spellings, recently warned PBS that she had "very serious concerns" about an episode in "Postcards from Buster," in which a real little girl in Vermont introduces the cartoon bunny Buster Baxter to her mother and her mother's lesbian partner, PBS pulled the episode. Last month, Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, complained that the creators of SpongeBob SquarePants had allowed the character to be used in a "pro-homosexual" music video made for schoolchildren.
Some gay groups may have been relieved to see that in a secretly taped conversation with Doug Wead, a former aide to George H. W. Bush, the current President Bush said that despite his opposition to gay marriage, he did not want the Republican Party to campaign against homosexuality. But he also expressed concern that his reluctance to bash gays might alienate Christian conservatives. He certainly appears to have minced his words when talking to evangelical leaders. On the tapes, some of which were played for The New York Times, Mr. Bush explained to Mr. Wead that he told a Texas minister, James Robison: "I'm not going to kick gays, because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?"
Patty decided to wed her girlfriend, Veronica, after the town of Springfield legalized gay marriage to boost tourism and Homer Simpson became an ordained minister over the Internet to marry gay couples for cash.
The creators of "The Simpsons" had kept the identity of the gay character a secret, but the surprise was not so much who turned out to be gay (Patty's sensibilities were well established) but how the show would make fun of the issue. The writers chose to tweak every stakeholder in the debate, from evangelical preachers on the right to retailers and advertisers who champion gays as much for their "disposable income" as their civil rights.
The town even created its own theme song, sung to the tune of Harry Belafonte's "Banana Boat Song," "Gay-o, it's O.K.-o, Tie the knot and spend all your dough."
The show also lampooned lesbian stereotypes - women who love construction workers' gear and golf. In a flashback to Marge and Patty's different girlhoods, the teenage Marge pasted a poster of David Cassidy over her bed; Patty picked Miss Hathaway of "The Beverly Hillbillies."
"The Simpsons" also took a dig at its own network, Fox, by having Homer call Fox and get a recording that asks callers for reality show proposals with the motto, "Your half-baked ideas are all we've got."
The episode was not the funniest in "Simpsons" history, but it was a tonic at a moment when television seems increasingly humorless and tame - fearful of advertiser boycotts by the religious right and fines from the Federal Communications Commission.
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and...
'Simpsons' Animates Gay Nuptials, and a Debate
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By SHARON WAXMAN [/size]
OS ANGELES, Feb. 20 - In the ongoing culture wars over whether gays should have the right to marry, an animated question reared its head on Sunday prime-time television: as goes "The Simpsons," does the nation go, too?
In an episode titled "There's Something About Marrying," a longtime character on Fox's 15-year hit - it was Marge Simpson's sister Patty Bouvier, a closely held secret until the 8 p.m. broadcast - came out of the closet while Homer Simpson conducted dozens of same-sex weddings after small-town Springfield legalized the unions in a bid to increase tourism. As television's longest-running situation comedy, "The Simpsons" is no stranger to hot-button social, religious and political issues, mocking wardrobe malfunctions, Hollywood liberals and born-again Christians, among other targets.
But when a show as mainstream and popular as this takes on one of the most divisive issues in American society, it is certain to attract attention. Bookmakers in the United States and England were taking bets as to which character would be revealed as homosexual, and whether there would be a kiss - a nod, perhaps, to the popular programming gimmick of having lesbian characters lock lips during sweeps periods like the current one.
But mostly, television experts, fans and advocates for gay marriage ruminated over the larger significance of the moment.
"The issue was mainstream to some degree, but now that they've deigned it worthy of the show it is interwoven into the fabric of popular culture," said Ray Richmond, a television columnist for The Hollywood Reporter and co-editor of the anthology "The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family."
He added, " 'The Simpsons' bestows upon something a pop culture status it never had before, simply by virtue of being ripe for a joke."
(
BetUS.com posted odds on the kiss at 7 to 5, and laid odds on Patty as the favorite to come out of the closet.)
Not unexpectedly, culture warriors were swift to weigh in, both for and against the cartoon's treatment of the issue.
"It's saying to those who demonize homosexuality, or what they call the homosexual agenda, anything from 'Lighten up' to 'Get out of town,' " said Marty Kaplan, associate dean of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication and host of a media show on the talk radio network Air America. "It sounds as though they're saying that what the religious right calls 'the homosexualist agenda,' as if it were creeping Satanism, is: these people are your neighbors in the Springfield that is America."
Indeed, in some ways the Simpsons' fictional hometown, Springfield, has become a surrogate for mainstream, small-town America, with Homer its bumbling working-class hero. The closest parallel may well be the endearing though intolerant Archie Bunker, who became a symbol of working-class America in the 1970's show "All in the Family."
L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Parents Television Council, criticized "The Simpsons" for addressing the issue of gay marriage, though he cautioned that he had not seen the episode. A parental advisory preceded the broadcast.
"At a time when the public mood is overwhelmingly against gay marriage, any show that promotes gay marriage is deliberately bucking the public mood," he said.
"I'd rather them not do it at all," he added. "You've got a show watched by millions of children. Do children need to have gay marriage thrust in their faces as an issue? Why can't we just entertain them?"
The show's writers could not be reached for comment, and Fox declined to comment.
Since debuting in 1989, "The Simpsons" has commonly skewered the most sensitive topics of social, religious, political and cultural debate. The culture, in turn, has returned the favor. "The Simpsons" has been featured in at least one university philosophy course, in which Homer was used as a tool to understand Aristotle, Kant and Nietzsche, and in a mathematical course to explore topics like calculus and Riemannian geometry.
The show, now in its 16th season, still garners strong ratings, while reruns of episodes from past years are broadcast continually on Fox. It has become a billion-dollar franchise for the network, spawning lucrative DVD packages, books and consumer merchandise.
