Marge Simpson Anime: The Liberation of Marjorie Bouvier

[history79]

"I wanted to distance Homer Simpson as far away as possible from Marge. I wanted her to be Marjorie Bouvier – I wanted it to be a story about her coming home to herself. It’s called the Marge Simpson anime because it’s a play on what anime means to our current culture, and who consumes anime the most in Western culture. The title refers to Marge Simpson because of how we identify with her, but the subtitle is ‘The Liberation of Marjorie Bouvier’ because that’s the end goal."

"There’s nothing in place to stop male mediocrity from being as successful as it is. Everything we’ve constructed in our society to this very moment – that hot combination of compulsory heterosexuality, patriarchy and capitalism – refuses to provide any punishment for being a mediocre man. And when I speak of male mediocrity, I’m not referring to someone who isn’t as intelligent as an astrophysicist or as attractive as a hot actor. When I speak of male mediocrity, I’m referring to someone who doesn’t challenge the space they exist in or who has never looked at the world critically. There’s no punishment for that."

"My art project was me asking the question, ‘What if I told you Homer Simpson wasn’t good enough? What if I could tell you that I could give Marge a better reality than the one she’s been offered? What if I told you that she could still be an incredible human being if Homer wasn’t in her life?’"

- Soolagna Majumdar

Source: http://www.uwastudentguild.com/damsel-marge-simpson-anime-and-the-liberation-of-women-words-with-soolagna-majumdar/



Source: https://margesimpsonanime.tumblr.com/

episode 12: Bouvier Uprising pt. 4



episode 16: gal pals



episode 26: all about my children



episode 27: the soft exultation of Marjorie Jacqueline Bouvier

Comments

[janegray]

I understand and support the general sentiment, but I think that she phrased it in the worst possible way.

It's true that male mediocrity is commonly rewarded. As the saying goes, "you have to work twice as hard to get half of what they have."

But there is a huge difference between "stop rewarding someone that didn't earn it" and "punish someone for not earning something."

The idea that not challenging the space you exist in should be, in and of itself, reason to punish out, as opposed to simply withhold a reward you didn't earn, really rubs me off the wrong way. It sounds too much like the "punish people for being lazy!!!111" right wing rhetoric. I'm pretty sure that's not what she means, but that's how she comes across.

[tianyulong]

You said what I felt about that quote better then I ever could. Thank you. The only thing I'd like to add, is that this bothers me especially because Homer has been implied to have brain damage in multiple episodes. Please note I'm not trying to imply Homer is entitled to Marge, nobody is entitled to the love of anyone else. But saying Homer should be punished for not looking at the world critically, it strikes me as... I'm not sure if I'm using the term correct exactly... but vaguely ableist. Homer is about as far from a role model as you can get, but he genuinely loves his family. Punishing him for not doing something that is probably beyond his ability to fully understand, feels cruel to me.