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Regarding Venezuela's government tv network banning the Simpsons
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by Maireid Sullivan | April 8, 2008 at 03:03 pm
471 views | 10 Recommendations | 10 comments
Following up on the story reported in Fox News: –This is a fascinating story, well worth thinking about, and it is not new. I have a copy of the book "How to Read Donald Duck - Imperialist ideology in the Disney Comic" by Dorfman & Mattleart first published in Chile in 1971.
The front cover has a picture of Donald Duck shoveling gold from a wheelbarrow into a wall vault with the sign over it: NATIONAL BANK DEPOSITOS NOCTURNOS
On the back cover of the book are these questions:
Is Walt Disney that innocent?
Why are there no parents in his comic books?
How come the natives and savages always give up their rights to the duck invaders?
Why does Donald love statues and photo albums?
What are Huey, Dewey, and Louie doing in Vietnam?
It continues.
The Chilean people began to ask these and other questions in revolutionary Chile 1970.
And:
How to read Donald Duck was first published at Para Leer al Pato Donald in Chile 1971, and since the fascist coup in 1973, it has been banned and burned there with other literature.
And... the Chicago Trubune review has this to say:
"Chile has a new class of enemy –He's Donald Duck, the sadist ...Dorfman and Mattelart claim that the Disney comics are a threat to the Chilean reality as the government of President Salvadore Allende works to transform Chile into a Socialist state because they advocate such bourgeois institutions as free enterprise."
It's all a matter of perspective, – whether you are part of the dominant culture or whether your traditional home lands are being taken from you.
We are fast approaching a time when protection of habitat must come before "free enterprise".
And, re the Simpsons, well, they are not our modern-day models of thoughtful citizenship, are they?
Read the entire artlcle here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,347910,00.html
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (10)
at 15:09 on April 8th, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, I like this story. That sounds like a very interesting book!
at 15:13 on April 8th, 2008
Hi Amy, Yes, indeed it is a treasure. :)
I just finished editing the story, by the way. You were so fast off the mark, you won't have seen my conclusion. :)
at 15:18 on April 8th, 2008
Yes, I guess I was just creeping around the newsroom feed!
I completely agree that the Simpsons is supposed to represent the 'modern American family' and they do a good job of it - flaws and all!
at 15:51 on April 8th, 2008
Do they, really? i have only watched the program a few times, and I have friends who are addicted to it.
I remember when the Simpsons first came out, people were all talking about it.
The main thing noticed was that nobody on the show spoke with reverence –for anything. And, they were famous for not behaving with "traditional" respect to one another.
All the rules were thrown out.
Multi cultural societies must make new rules in order to communicate with their new neighbours. Especially in relation to "traditional" courtship rituals. (My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a great example of that. :)
And, work place rules have changed enormously too in the last 3 or 4 decades, because women have entered the work place enmasse- and they have a completely different way of relating than men do. Remember in the 90s, –all the work place sexual harassment lawsuits? There was one in N. CA, 1997 I think, where a woman sued because she SAW two colleagues hugging in the office! I think that was the peak! :) Since then people have 'evolved' new rules.
Which brings us back to why Venezuela might see the Simpsons as having a negative impact on their children. It is for Americans - and no other society in the world has the cultural "melting pot" on the scale that America was founded upon, therefore the way the Simpson's are 'changing' society is not appropriate any where else, really - well, maybe Australians can relate a bit - because we are a multi cultural society.
Social mores are all about diplomacy - showing appropriate respect for others. In that regard, I don't think the Simpsons are good Ambassadors for American culture.
Thanks for the opportunity to discuss this. :)
at 15:54 on April 8th, 2008
I think the Simpsons can have a very positive impact on a different society. It may be a depiction of a 'melting pot' of American society, and all the negatives that go along with that, but it also explores issues of acceptance, immigration, racism and respect for others.
Although they can be crass, they might have a good impact on children from a differnt country as they offer an alternative view of society. They hide nothing and in doing so, offer a straighforward view of the society we live in - and sometimes it isn't pretty!
at 15:58 on April 8th, 2008
Obviously, Amy, I should take the time to watch the Simpsons, because I agree with what you say – in fact it would be wonderful if this is the effect!
Humans are too stuck in old ways!
i want to see change, but I want it to be gentle and kind! :)
at 16:04 on April 8th, 2008
Me too, I totally agree!
at 16:12 on April 8th, 2008
Thanks for the lovely chat. :)
Hope the rest of you day is great!
at 16:17 on April 8th, 2008
You too!
at 19:20 on May 17th, 2008
Hi Amy, I finally rented the Simpsons movie DVD - and LOVED it!
Thanks for the nudge to find out more about the character representations.
I felt refreshed after viewing it. I loved the basic "equality" each character shared.
Maybe that is "the rub" in terms of "old" world mono-cultures finding it in appropriate for their traditional "rank and file" approach to social mores.