The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer (Popular Culture and Philosophy)
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The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer (Popular Culture and Philosophy) description
No doubt Aristotle just rolled over in his grave. An essay called "Homer and Aristotle" would appear to be a treatise on two ancient Greek thinkers; in this case, it's a depiction of Homer Simpson's Aristotelian virtues. Raja Halwani's "Homeric" essay is amusing, though, and moreover, it actually ends up being enlightening, especially for those just learning Aristotle's ethics. Bart may be a Nietzschean without knowing it; Mr. Burns is a cipher for unhappiness (except when he eats "so-called iced-cream"); and Ned Flanders raises questions about neighborly love. The Simpsons and Philosophy has a lot to say about The Simpsons, and even more to say about philosophy. The book collects 18 essays into an unpretentious, tongue-in-cheek, and surprisingly intelligent look at philosophy through the lens of Matt Groening's vaunted animated series. The editors are quick to point out that they don't think The Simpsons "is the equivalent of history's best works of literature ... but it nevertheless is just deep enough, and certainly funny enough, to warrant serious attention." The writers of the book are mostly professional philosophers, and they are appropriately erudite. But what is truly astonishing, even for a confessed Simpsons addict, is their breadth of Simpsons knowledge, spanning all 12 seasons of the show's history. The Simpsons and Philosophy is obviously not intended to be a turning point in modern thought, but it is an excellent introduction to some core elements of philosophy. --Eric de Place |
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The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer (Popular Culture and Philosophy) Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Terrible ... save your money
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After all the good reviews, including from Publisher's Weekly, I was expecting a thought-provoking and interesting read. Instead, "The Simpsons and Philosophy" is an uneven, but mostly poor, collection of essays that do not do the television show or the Popular Culture and Philosophy book series justice. Some of the more bizarre entries:
In the essay "Thus Spake Bart: On Nietzsche and the Virtues of Being Bad," the author spends many pages describing the Nietzchean hero only to conclude at the end that Bart does NOT represent the Nietzchean ideal since he is merely defined in opposition to authority. For a book about the Simpsons, it would have made more sense to spend a couple of pages explaining what Bart is not, and the majority of the essay explaining what he philosophically DOES represent.
The essays on allusions and parodies are what one would expect to find in a basic literary commentary, not a philosophy book.
"Simpsonian Sexual Politics" makes several claims that I, as a feminist, found astonishingly off-base. The authors' believe that Marge is merely the descendant of many domesticated sitcom mothers, completely missing how that representation is used to undercut and subvert that traditional image. Among their claims is that the Simpson home is a bastion of "moral serenity" except when challenged by the public moral decay of Springfield -- to anyone familiar with the character of Homer Simpson and his antics (lying, cheating, hypocrisy, etc.) that claim is utterly laughable. The authors also describe Marge as "asexual" though they admit she has a "satisfying sex life" -- one can only assume that since Homer's and Marge's active and imaginative sex life is one of the shows' ongoing jokes, that the authors describe her as asexual because her sexual assets are not on display for general consumption. A curious contradiction in a feminist essay.
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the Buffy The Vampire Slayer book in the same series, I expected the same caliber of analysis for The Simpsons but was sadly disappointed. Ironically, one of the essays in this book refers to Buffy with the shockingly false claim (typical of this book in general) that BTVS is "strongly committed to a black and white distinction between right and wrong as only teenagers can be." In fact that show is well-known for dealing with moral ambiguity -- and the far superior Buffy and Philosophy book has the insightful and edifying essays that this book fails to provide. In the future, I'll be far more cautious about spending money on books in this series! |
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