The Simpsons Is An American Television Series English Language Essay

The Simpsons is an American Television plan wrote originally by Matt Groening, it was foremost aired on 1989, but was officially realized on 1990. These show has great popularity among the United States and other states. As a consequence of this the show has HAD 24 seasons and 516 chapters, and there are still approaching realizes. One of these 516 episodes is “ Lisa the Beauty Queen ” , released in 1992 in the season? ? ? , in which Homer gets Lisa into the Little Miss Springfield pageant to hike her assurance about her expression.

The Child Beauty pageants, showed in that episode, find their beginnings in the Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey, United States in the twelvemonth 1961 ( Pageant Center ) . These competition have been trough changeless critic, but they have besides been truly supported by some people. The importance of turn outing if this episode offers a critic towards these competitions is that it is non such an explored subject and plentifulness of people might non cognize about the consequence of this competitions in childs and the show might hold been a manner of making scruples about a societal world in America. Based on this the elements from the episode “ Lisa the Beauty Queen ” could be considered as a critic towards the American Child Beauty Pageants and the construct of adult females beauty in America.

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Introduction

3.Child Beauty Pageant.

The kid beauty pageants got originated in the United States on the twentieth-century after the beauty pageants got created, some of the beauty pageant organisers started to alter the regulations for their ain pageant and some started accepting childs, and after a piece it became usual as a consequence some pageants started merely to accept childs ( Nussbaum, 2000 ) .

AS MENTIONED INaˆ¦.The significance of Child Beauty pageant “ is a beauty competition having contestants including and younger than 18 old ages of age. Divisions include endowment, interview, athletic wear, insouciant wear, swim wear, western wear, subject wear, outfit of pick, decennary wear, and flushing wear, typically have oning make-up every bit good as luxuriant hairdos. ” ( paopaonine, 2010 ) These competitions attract about 3 million kids from the age of six months to 16 old ages. The kids compete to win hard currency and Crowns, but they can besides win things such as patterning contracts and college scholarships. Normally these pageants are expensive for the contestant because the entry fee can be between $ 10- $ 200, and this is merely the entry to the pageant, childs should besides pass money in their frocks that can be $ 1,000 to $ 5,000. Another charges for Child Beauty Pageants are the costs of the manager, make-up and modeling lessons that some childs take to experience ready for these events. ( Schultz & A ; Murphy, 2011 )

The figure of Beauty pageants held in the United States has grown trough the old ages, the estimated of pageants in each twelvemonth is of 3,000 and in them there are 100,000 childs take parting. And from the greatest figure of beauty pageants, held in America, MOST OF THEM are taking topographic point in provinces such as California, Florida and New York. ( Giroux, 2006, p. 136 )

The ground WHY Child Beauty Pageants could be considered as a possible representation of the American civilization is because first they found its beginnings on America, as I had said before, and because “ Beauty pageants are one of the fastest turning industries in the United States. ” ( Nussbaum, 2000 )

4. The Simpsons & A ; Lisa.

The Simpsons, got created by Matt Groening inspired by his ain household, it was foremost aired on telecasting in 1989, and in 1990 the show was officially launched in the telecasting. As Henry Matthew says in his text “ The Simpsons and the American civilization ” , this show is a truly identifiable icon of the American civilization, largely because it incorporates a batch of civilization issues of the American society into its comedic frame by utilizing lampoon and satirical content. And due to this the show was rapidly established as a sophisticated sarcasm on American society and civilization ( Matthew, 2008 ) .

The chapter of this show “ Lisa the Beauty Queen ” , from the season 4, episode 4 from the telecasting show “ The Simpsons ” that got released in 1992. This episode starts at a Springfield Elementary School Carnival, where, in a caricature-drawing base, Lisa is acquiring a imitation of herself, but after the creative person shows Lisa her imitation, she starts believing she is ugly. In this same carnival, Homer wins the major monetary value that is the duff blimp-ride but when he realizes the manner that Lisa is experiencing about herself and he sees a commercial about the “ Small Miss Springfield Beauty Pageant ” , he decides to sell the ticket for the Duff Colonel Blimp and gets Lisa inscribed into the competition, an thought that Lisa does non wish much at first but after going the runner-up she starts wishing the thought of being a Beauty Queen.

Lisa, that is one of the chief characters in this chapter, she is normally represented as more of an rational type miss who normally gets good classs, non much of the type of misss that will acquire to beauty pageants. “ She is highly intelligent and sophisticated, and is frequently seen out-thinking those around her. ” ( Irwin, Conard, & A ; Skoble, 2001, p. 26 ) . With Lisa, Homer is another character that has a chief function in this episode because he is the 1 that gets Lisa into the pageant. In this episode Homer acts in a different manner than usual, by seeking to better Lisa ‘s assurance while he is normally the type of pa that forgets about his boies. ( Irwin, Conard, & A ; Skoble, 2001 )

Stressing in the Little Miss Springfield Beauty Pageant, I have to retrieve that Lisa did non desire to fall in the pageant until Marge convinced her by stating Lisa what Homer did merely to acquire Lisa into the competition. Another of import item before the competition is that Lisa goes trough a physical transmutation, encouraged by her female parent, Marge. The methods that they use to do Lisa looks better could be considered unsafe, because as they “ fix ” her hair with a blowlamp Lisa asks, “ is n’t this unsafe? ” ( Martin, Brooks, Simon, & A ; Groening, 1992 ) . Apart from her physical transmutation, her brother, Bart, besides teaches she how to be feminine by walking on heels and giving her different tips like utilizing crude oil jelly on the dentition, tapping her swimwear to her but and “ the ancient art of tapping ” ( Martin, Brooks, Simon, & A ; Groening, 1992 ) . This physical transmutation is got done after she meets a miss, Amber Dempsey that is a contestant on the same pageant, because after seeing her, Lisa feels like she is non beautiful plenty to win. Amber Dempsey is a truly experient pageant contestant, as the misss that are near Lisa express by stating that “ in the same hebdomad she was Pork Princess and Little MissKosher. ” ( Martin, Brooks, Simon, & A ; Groening, 1992 ) , The same misss besides say that the miss has eyelash implants and those are her “ large guns ” .

In this episode, even after the transmutation that Lisa goes trough she is still experiencing ugly as it stated when practising with Bart when she says “ those other misss are prettier than me ” ( Martin, Brooks, Simon, & A ; Groening, 1992 ) .

The Little Miss Springfield Beauty Pageant starts with a small vocal that all the contestants sing, it says “ Out on our ain, Making it work, Panting for air, Having it all! ” ( Martin, Brooks, Simon, & A ; Groening, 1992 ) . After this the contestants made a first show when they foremost tell their names and so something about them, the first one to go through is Amber Dempsey who says that when she grows up she wants to be a “ sweetie pie ” JURY AND AUDIENCE REACTIONS. The 3rd contestant to show herself is Lisa, who says that she “ wants to do the town a better topographic point ” . Then, after the presentations the misss continue WITH the vocal of the start, but now ALSO says, “ Checking it out, caring about us, Making a wish, woolgathering a dream! ” ( Martin, Brooks, Simon, & A ; Groening, 1992 ) . The misss stop singing the vocal, and the endowment show starts, when Lisa bend comes she puts crude oil jelly in her dentitions and travel into the phase to sing the American Anthem with a tap modus operandi. Afterwards the host, Krusty the Clown, says that it is clip to take the second best that turns out to be Lisa, and in that manner the victor is Amber.

Subsequently on, Lisa turns to be the beauty queen because of an accident Amber had. At first Lisa starts basking the thought of being a beauty queen and holding boys attending at school, but she realizes that there are other more of import things than beauty when she notices that all the pageant was a selling scheme for a cigar company.

In this episode it is of import to stand out that even if Homer is one of the chief characters, his phantoms are at the star of the show, but one time Lisa gets on the competition he does non look much. Neither the remainder of The Simpsons household, the show that is focused on the pageant and in how Lisa starts to alter the things of the metropolis by utilizing the power of being a beauty queen.

5. Opinions about the Child beauty pageants.

Since the beginning of the kid beauty pageants, they have been a controversial subject, some people wholly disagree on how they treat misss and others say that child beauty pageants are an astonishing experience for small misss.

As a cogent evidence of this I have researched on several sentiments towards the kid beauty pageants, one of them is from the study “ The Other Side of Beauty Pageants ” from the writer Julie Hatfield ( 1985 ) , she claims that beauty kid pageants are non healthy for kids because they are settled on who is the prettiest, and the pageants make the misss truly competitory as a consequence of working on a “ dog-eat-dog footing ” . In this text it is besides stated that some of the childs would kill merely to win a pageant and that the female parents are worse. Another sentiment about beauty pageants and beauty construct in general that says that adult females get taught to being in uncomfortableness with their organic structures ; they have to shave, diet and wear makeup, and adult females think that ‘s something incorrect with being a adult female, with her organic structure and with herself ( Christ, 1986 ) .

Added to this sentiments, there is an thought shown by Hilary Levey Friedman in her article “ The Development of American-Style Child Beauty Pageants ” That says that in these beauty pageants kids are exploited and treated like objects and that they are seen by some organisations like a distressing development of childhood. Adding to this an article by Pat Jordan ( 1994 ) shows us the experience of an 11-year-old on a pageant Contestant, in this article from the 2007, the writer shows that misss in this competition seem non to be happy because as the writer says “ The misss are non playing or tittering. They are merely standing at that place. ” ( Jordan, 1994 ) This article besides shows how misss have to pattern for a batch of hours, wear makeup, and some times even diet because their parents want them to, the article says that there one time was a miss who dieted so much that she fainted on phase ( Jordan, 1994 ) .

Other similar sentiment is that these competitions are exploitatory and that they somehow force childs to move in a “ semi-sexualized grownup idiosyncrasies ” , and because as the childs do non truly understand this they get the message that all that affairs, or at least what matters the most is the physical facet. And because of the importance of physical beauty in these competitions girls wear bogus heavy ciliums, mascara, lip-gloss, accoutrements in their hair like plumes, and they do provocative dances. ( Day, 2010 )

From these three writers, we can grounds the statements that people who are against child beauty pageants. The biggest statement is that they merely judge misss on how they look and in the same manner they get taught to experience in changeless uncomfortableness with their expressions because they could ever look better, by utilizing different methods. These methods are non obligatory for being in the pageants, because if most of misss wear make-up, the 1s that do non have on will experience like if the have fewer possibilities to win. The societal force per unit area, in the pageants, is the 1 that makes all those beauty techniques truly popular among the small misss. ( Connolly, 2011 ) .

Peoples who defend child beauty pageants say that it is merely like playing “ dress up ” like most of the childs do when they are immature. But the 1s that are against this competitions say that this is non a existent statement, because this “ game ” of dressing up be their households a batch of money ( Cartwright, 2011 ) and that this competitions can even be harmful to childs, as some experts express, because they start to set manner to much attending to their organic structures and their attraction. ( Schultz & A ; Murphy, 2011 )

Other writers are in favour of Child Beauty Pageants, and one of their statements is because they prefer misss passing clip and money on looking good, by making exercising, eating healthy and purchasing expensive frocks for their competitions, than seeing money and clip on the street ( Day, 2010 ) . Besides an ex kid beauty pageant contestant says that she got different benefits from the pageants ; she learned how to talk in a formal interview, walk decently and be more confident, and she got some friends in the pageants, but as a ex-pageant contestant she can non conceal that there is a bad side in her experience, as she says “ I met some misss who were so fierce in their chase of Crowns that they ‘d eat you alive merely to savor the rhinestone. I found false smilings and forge enthusiasm ” and, “ I encountered insecurity and misss who ‘d been making this since the age of 3, following a way set Forth by their female parents. Behind the smilings, I found some true sadness attesting itself in destructive behaviour, including eating upsets. I myself one time dieted on oranges and H2O for so many hebdomads that the interior of my oral cavity was filled with canker sores. “ ( I was a adolescent beauty queen, 2007 ) . Some experts argue that these beauty competitions for kids can act upon the self-pride of the participants when they get older because of how focused on the physical this competitions are. The experts say that, non all, but most of the childs that take portion in these competitions can stop up with feeding upsets, hunt for flawlessness and dieting when they get older. And a research made in 2005 showed that ex- Child Beauty Pageant contestants have bigger rates of organic structure dissatisfaction. ( Cartwright, 2011 )

The last text shows how the same contestants see child beauty pageants from the interior when they are older. We can lodge out how beauty pageants can do the contestants win assurance, but this same thought is refused in the text, by the fact that there is a immense force per unit area on those small misss and that they are merely being judged based on their expressions which causes immense competitions for such immature misss and, it may besides do, jobs like eating upsets.

In another text called “ Destroying the myths of child beauty pageants ” wrote by COLLETTE SMART ( 2012 ) ABC Australia, in this article they show the positive side of beauty pageants stated by parents of the contestants. They argue that the kid beauty pageants are good for increasing the assurance of the participants, and that they still teach the childs that inner beauty is more of import than the outer beauty. Other statements about the positive side of these competitions, given in the article, is that they are like any other athletics, visual aspect is already of import in the society and that childs enjoy them because they like to dress up. ( ABC Australia SMART, 2012 )

6. Beauty construct.

In the Child beauty pageants, beauty is clearly one of the most of import things and for the importance of it, it is of import to clear up this subject. First of all beauty construct, is non merely what one individual think is more of the criterions that get considered as beautiful in each civilization because what is beautiful in America, China and Russia is non the same, but with the globalisation this is altering now what is considered beautiful in a wider scope non merely in one civilization is to be tall, thin, have straight hair, and glistening dentitions ( McGregor, 2007 ) . In an article called “ Yet Again The Media Sells Us Ridiculous Standards Of Beauty ” by Jane Shure, she shows how beauty construct have changed to the point where “ The thin, athletic, sexy ideals of beauty have become the ‘new normal ‘ “ ( Shure, 2010 ) .

The fact that beauty construct is now truly similar in different parts of the universe could be related to the media with this thematic, because most of the clip media send messages about the criterions of beauty. For illustration, when magazines show articles about losing weight, this sends the message to readers that they would be better if they lose weight ; and it is non merely magazines all types of media tend to demo certain adult females as more beautiful, doing others that do non look like those theoretical accounts in advertizements try to alter merely to go like them. ( Hoffmann, 2004 ) And because of all the media demoing adult females how they should look they take portion in a day-to-day beauty pageant, because every twenty-four hours adult females get judged on how the expression. ( ymca, 2008 )

7. Comparison with my research.

In order to turn out if there is a critic towards American Style Beauty Pageants in the episode from “ The Simpsons ” called “ Lisa the Beauty Queen ” , season 4, episode 4 of this telecasting plan we have to do a comparing between the Child beauty competitions, with the critics stated towards them, and the chapter with all that this episode show to us.

First one of the easiest similarities that I found between my probe and the episode is that in both parents consider Beauty pageants as a good topographic point to raise their small miss ‘s self-esteem, in the instance of the show Homer gets Lisa into the competition because he thinks that in that manner he could turn out her that she is beautiful and WILL make Lisa acquire rid of her insecurities, WHICH WERE developed earlier in the episode. And THIS IS OBSERVED AS WELL in the Child Beauty Pageants, as is show in my AS MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY probe, one of the statements given by parents of contestants is that competitions can work a miss ‘s self-pride.

An of import character to demo the critic toward the American Society is Amber Dempsey, a light-haired white miss who has a batch of experience in Beauty Pageants and she might stand for the American construct of beauty because the dominant image of the American civilization is “ White, blond and middle-class ” ( Giroux, 2006 )

Another similarity is the beauty techniques that contestants use in these pageants, such as the fact that Amber Dempsey wears fake ciliums showed in the minute 9:00 of the episode, merely like misss in beauty pageants. Other illustration is that Lisa goes through a physical transmutation before the pageant and goes through methods that could be considered unsafe like in the minute 10:01, when the same Lisa stated that what they were making seemed unsafe ; and this related to the different patterns that female parents make their childs go through like tanning and have oning makeup which could be considered unsafe. And from that we can acquire another resemblance is that female parents are the 1s that normally get their misss to make different things to acquire them to that “ ideal beauty ” .

Other component related to the last 1 is the societal force per unit area in the Little Miss Springfield Pageant represented in the episode, because in both the episode and the American beauty pageants, this is an of import ground that encourages the contestants to travel to certain procedure, merely to look as the other misss and wear the same merchandises and to move in truly similar ways, such as when Lisa starts to pattern for being feminine.

In the show, it makes noticeable that in this contests the most of import is the physical beauty because Lisa gave more convincing replies demoing more intelligence. When the JURY askS Lisa and Amber, Amber gives a superficial reply while Lisa gives a more deep 1. Besides because Lisa feel like she did look every bit beautiful as others, chiefly as Amber Dempsey, and if the pageant were non merely about the physical she would non care every bit much as she did. This could be related to the American kid beauty pageants, because these competitions are so focussed on external beauty that most of childs that take portion in them wear different accoutrements or do certain things to look “ better ” .

In my probe I found that Child beauty pageants and beauty pageants make adult females think that there is something incorrect about them and due to that they start dieting, and have oning makeup. Similar to what happens in the episode when Lisa starts desiring to look different because of how reasonably the other misss in the competition were, but a difference that I found is that Lisa was already insecure because of the imitation and that she really regained her assurance after being a beauty queen, but it is still similar to what happens. Because Lisa gets even more insecure at the star of the pageant and she does non acquire confident until she wins, and after THIS she realizes that what its interior is more of import than the physical beauty, demoing that merely the victors gain assurance from the competitions.

8. Decisions.

In the episode “ Lisa the Beauty Queen ” there are several similarities between what is shown in the plan and the existent Child Beauty Pageants. The episode besides shows different features about the pageants some that are criticized by experts, and the 1s that got defended by the parents of the participants or by the organisers of these events. But what the plan showed the most was the portion of the pageants that was criticized, but non without sing the other sentiments.

Some of the elements represented in the chapter about the beauty pageants is for case, when the episode shows how unsafe beauty techniques could be by overstating the world and doing a simple hairdo seem more unsafe than what it is. Besides the chapter reflects the societal force per unit area imposed in the pageants by misss that use accoutrements and other beauty techniques, doing other misss do the same merely to suit and to hold more possibilities to win by making what other misss do. In the episode this appears when Lisa gets encouraged to travel trough a physical transmutation as a consequence of seeing other misss who had, such as, bogus ciliums.

It is besides demonstrated how adult females are affected by the construct of beauty, because adult females feel that something is incorrect about themselves and merely seek to look like others, similar to what happens to Lisa in this pageant.

This episode from The Simpsons besides shows such things as the thought parents have that trough beauty competitions childs can raise their assurance, in the chapter Lisa does recover her assurance back, but does non merely as a effect of the pageant, but because she realized that it was more of import what it is indoors and to contend for her rights.

From the information about the beauty pageants and the analysis of the thematic content of this episode from “ The Simpsons ” , it can be concluded I consider that the thematic content of this episode is a critic towards the American Child Beauty Pageants and the beauty construct of adult females in America, since the episode shows us different facets of this pageants every bit good as how the pageant was non the 1 that helped Lisa to recover her assurance, but that she noticed that beauty was non the most of import thing.

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