'Part I
“Roughly 75% of The Simpsons episodes are about Homer or Bart. That leaves about 25% for Marge, Lisa, Maggie, and every other character on the The Simpsons. What does that have to do with art history, and particularly the history of women artists?
Priority for men over women has been an ever-present issue in not only the American culture but also the world as well. When it was brought to my attention that during The Simpsons Homer and Bart are the focal point of seventy-five percent of the show while the other twenty-five percent is left to Marge, Lisa, Maggie and the rest of the characters on the show I could not honestly believe it. Growing up, you are exposed to situations and you never really second guess them due to the fact that they become more second nature. I would have never actually realized that Bart and Homer have far more screen time then Marge or Lisa because the writers sure do a good job giving the women in the show a just enough screen time so it isn’t all that noticeable. If you pay attention the women in the show are far more reserved then the men in the show, Bart and Homer are always shown doing outrageous things while the women are always the ones trying to fix the situations. It was like the men are there to do as they wish and the women were just there to maintain the stability without a real voice or impact. Just like in art history the women on the Simpsons are faced with gender biases that are often present in the entertainment business. Like I stated previously women were merely intended to be in the men’s shadow. Women were influenced to live by the Victorian ideal of taking care of her family, the home and taking care of all domestic necessities. Women artists in art history often had a difficult time getting recognition for their art. Like in the Simpsons episode that we recently watched in class Homer’s “outside art” becomes so respected that it is even displayed in the Louvre, this is only something Marge can dream of when they speak about her love for art at the end of the episode. The writers of the episode were even able to sneak in a comment about women artists. Homer tells Marge that he “likes her artwork because he understands it.” This is due to the fact that women artists are often generalized by the fact that they paint portraits, flowers or still frames. The whole time Homer is determined to become a great artist Marge has to take a back seat to him and just be supportive like many of the women artist we have seen before. Women artists were highly overlooked just because of their gender and I think this is highly noticeable in the Simpsons episode.
Part II
As a college student I strongly believe that we should be able to enrich our minds with knowledge about everything. Yes, people may find some of the subjects a little bit discriminatory but I believe that it is a necessity in today’s day and age. Teaching students about the role of women artists in a period of time when women were not looked at as an equivalent for a man is highly enriching for college students to learn, especially young women. I believe that the title of “gender and art” is as accurate as you can possibly get without labeling the