Popular Culture Review Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2002 | Page 36
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Popular Culture Review
lifestyle and contesting how this is generally (mis)understood in American culture.
I concede that in the process of establishing a gay sensibility, The Simpsons relies
upon stereotypes that have often been exploited in television. However, I believe
that such representation is not at the expense of the gay community, but in support
of it. Notably, the most gratuitous stereotypes are never utilized for Smithers; more
importantly, I think, the wide range of images displayed on the show reflects the
very real diversity of the gay community as it exists in American culture. I believe
that The Simpsons ultimately wants to both acknowledge gay lives and support
them by maintaining a gay character in a major recurring role and overtly politicizing
his sexual identity. The show allows Smithers, who is an integral part of the show,
to be both openly gay and the focal point for its critique of the oppression of sexual
“m inorities'’ in American culture. As I hope to have shown. The Simpsons
continually seeks to expose cultural homophobia, to criticize the institutional
apparatuses that maintain it, and to deplore the attendant exclusionary prac tices
based on sexual orientation.
Richland College
Matthew Henry
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