Response to The Simpsons “She used to be my girl”

Summary: The story happened in Springfield in 2004. Lots of journalists came to Springfield to report Mayor Quimby’s sex scandal, but they were placated by a puppy. However, Chloe Talbot, who was a famous and responsible reporter, continued to ask Quimby tough questions. Marge Simpson was surprised to see her high school friend Chloe on TV, so she invited Chloe for dinner. Marge envied Chloe but her daughter Lisa really admired her. In Marge’s memory, both she and Chloe had chances to become journalists while Marge chose to stay in Springfield with her sweetheart. Chloe invited Lisa to the UN women’s conference, which excited Lisa. Lisa sneaked out of home and hid in Chloe’s car to attend the conference without Marge’s permission. On the way to the conference, Chloe was told to report the active volcano in Springfield. When Chloe arrive there, the volcano was erupting. Chloe finished the report with Lisa’s help, but they were trapped. At that time, Marge rescued Lisa bravely while Chloe was saved by her high school boyfriend Barney. Finally, Marge imagined what if she became a reporter, she screamed.

Symbols:

1. The pill wrapped with cheese: The pill represents truly important matters while cheese represents something not important but attractive. People are likely to be distracted by attractive things but ignore what they should have focused on.

2. Media circus: It means a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered. Circus is for entertainment, so calling media circus is sarcasm.

3. The magazine Men’s Fatness: The magazine telling people how to be fat is ridiculous. It criticizes media spread wrong ideas.

4. Court-ordered ankle bracelet: It suggests the powerful control citizens. When citizens meet the powerful, they often have no choice.

5. The UN women’s conference: It represents feminism. It is a conference to inspire and empower women.

Interpretation:

The topics of this episode are criticizing journalism and discussing women’s roles in society. Firstly, it criticizes that journalists forget their duty is to report what should be known to the public. As a group of influential people, some of them spread bored or bad ideas, which may cause bad effects in society. Secondly, Marge and Chloe represent two kinds of women: one is working woman, the other is housewife. Both of them play successful roles in society. Therefore, it is improper to say women should stay at home or work but they have freedom to choose their life.