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

[jlbarnett]

Marge may have some talent but she isn't held back by Homer. She'd make her own little box to contain herself if there was nothing else to do it

[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.

[alicemacher]

Why not Marge Simpson Doujinshi or at least Marge Simpson Manga? Although the manga and anime media are of course closely related, the latter tends to involve characters, y'know, moving around on the screen.

Nerddorky nitpicking aside, I applaud the idea behind this project. Marge really does get the short end of the stick within canon in terms of focus and characterization, compared to her husband, son and daughter. Probably due to this lack of focus, the show's writers, even during the earlier, superior seasons, couldn't seem to agree on whether she was generally oblivious or insightful; content as a traditional homemaker or longing for a career outside the home; heartwarmingly accepting of her husband warts and all, tragically self-deluding about his flaws, or perpetually this close to divorcing him.

In contrast, Lisa, while somewhat of a "love her or hate her" phenomenon within the fandom, at least has had a more or less consistent characterization as an intelligent, outspoken, against-the-grain, progressive activist since at least the fifth season. And because none of her relationships, when she even has one, last more than an episode ("Milhouse doesn't count" *shared giggle between her and Marge*), she isn't primarily defined as someone's life partner, the way Marge tends to be.

[cyberghostface]

Hasn’t “Homer isn’t good enough for Marge” been a plot point that’s been addressed numerous times in the actual show?

[arilou_skiff]

Yeah, it feels a bit like kicking in an open door here, when the show itself routinely points out that Homer doesen't actually deserve Marge.

[lordultimus]

I don't know about this. I know it's unintentional, but there's a real undercurrent of "a heterosexual woman can never find fufilment with a man".

[gnarll]

Punishing people for being mediocre? Like, average? I don't think a society that punished people for being average would be a very nice one.

Statistically, most people are average or below.

My view is biased because I myself am a mediocre male* often rewarded for doing nothing, but...

[deh_tommy]

"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?"

I think the answer would probably be that Marge will thank you for the opportunity, but she rejects your reality because she doesn't want to live in a world that doesn't have Homer, as a life without him simply isn't worth living.

That's not a case of patriarchal oppression or rewarding male mediocrity because she's scared of the alternative or anything like that; she loves Homer with all her heart, and Homer loves her with all his. Of course she could still be an incredible human being without him in her life. The simple matter of fact is that she wants him; much more than that, she wants him. That's a neat enough idea, but this "liberation" doesn't really mean much (at least in my opinion) because she doesn't need to be liberated from anything. She's already where she wants to be.

I'm reminded of that one scene from Sonic Boom where Amy's told she shouldn't be cooking.

[thezmage]

So I read the supplied paragraph and maybe it’s my reading comprehension that’s lacking but all I got from it is “I know a lot of big words” and “I want to sleep with Marge Simpson,” but why are they misusing the term “anime?”

[thanekos]

Take art created to challenge a status quo, drop it into a fandom space consisting in part of pedantically defending personal status quos, and what do you get?

Several of the comments to this post.

[bravest_spinja]

I’m referring to someone who doesn’t challenge the space they exist in or who has never looked at the world critically.

Yeah that is a monkey's paw of a wish, right there.