According to Gilad Padva's article "Educating The Simpsons: Teaching Queer Representations in Contemporary Visual Media" in the Journal of LGBT Youth, the hit animated TV series can be used in the classroom to open up dialogue about queer issues. Padva focuses on one famous episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer's Phobia" (Season 8, Episode 15) in which iconic filmmaker John Waters guest stars as a homosexual man who befriends the Simpson family.
In the episode, Homer acts friendly towards the character, John, until he finds out that the man is gay. Homer then begins to suspect John is "turning" Bart gay and Homer embarks on a series of silly schemes to reassert his son's masculinity. In the end, John gains Homer's respect after John saves Homer, his male friends, and Bart from a deer attack on a hunting trip gone awry. Homer shows his respect by calling John "queer" as he believes this to be the desired term.
Padva argues that this episode brings up a lot of important queer issues including homophobia, naming the Other, Gay-Straight Alliance, stereotyping, family acceptance, etc. Padva lays out exactly which parts of the episode can be useful for discussing which topics; for example, the conversation nearing the end of the episode wherein Homer and wife Marge discuss whether Bart might be gay is an example of the "coming in" process parents and families go through wherein they come in to the reality of their child's sexuality. Padva argues the friendship between John and Marge can be used to discuss Gay-Straight Alliance. Additionally, Padva believes Homer's statement that he will call John "queer" can be used to discuss the issue of who gets to name the minority or Other and refers to self-identification and authoring.
Leave me your thoughts or cartoon recommendations for animated texts you think might be similarly useful!
~Ryan
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