“Lisa’s Substitute” (Groening & Moore, 1991), which is the 19th episode of the second season of world famous animated sitcom “The Simpsons,” belongs to the most fascinating, touching, and edifying episodes of the series. There are numerous of topics which can be discussed based on the story represented in the episode. The issue which deserves special attention and which will be analyzed within the paper is child’s relationship with the father. One of the crucial inferences regarding the connection between father and children which can be made on the base of the episode “Lisa’s Substitute” is that for making that relationship sufficient and friendly, a continuous substantial work needs to be done by father and his offspring.
Initially, it has to be noted that the issue of relationship between the child and the father is most captivating in the episode on the example of the correlation between Homer, the father, and Lisa, middle child in Simpsons’ family. From the very beginning of the episode, it is seen that the girl does not have sufficient level of respect towards her father and does not consider him as a serious and adult person as she finds him not enough intelligent and smart as well as not adequately polite and gracious. For instance, while listening to the mother, saying that she has t warm feelings towards Homer, Lisa responds, “Mom, are we gonna talk or what?” (Groening & Moore, 1991). Even more, according to Mr. Bergstrom, Lisa “has no strong male role model” (Groening & Moore, 1991). Perhaps, to certain extant, such Lisa’s evaluation of her father can be understood as the girl, obviously, smarter and more well-mannered than Homer. However, Lisa should, as well, understand that she is supposed to love her father, to treat him respectfully, and, if necessary, to contribute to his personal improvement.
On the other hand, Homer, despite realizing that there is a substantial gap in the correlation with his daughter, at the beginning seems not to be willing to make some efforts in order to improve these relations. For instance, Homer tries to create numerous of causes helping him to omit going with his child to the museum. It is, though, essential for Homer to understand that he, as a father, in case he wants to find common ground with his daughter, needs to make specific efforts. Primarily, in order to show Lisa that he is a father deserving his daughter’s respect and friendship, Homer needs to earn those positive Lisa’s feelings towards him. In other words, he needs to become more polite, tactful, thoughtful, and supportive. Mr. Bergstrom suggests that Homer “must be a bigger man” in order to make Lisa admire the father (Groening & Moore, 1991). After Homer takes a set of measures, the relationship between him and Lisa become considerably more open, friendly, and amicable.
Although the problem of parent-child correlation is most distinctively represented on the example of Homer and Lisa, it might be also reasonable to analyze the father’s connection with his oldest son named Bart. It is noticeably that the relations between Homer and Bart differ crucially from those which can be seen between Lisa and her father at the beginning of the episode. There is always a mutual understanding and agreement between the father and his son due to belonging to the same gander, the similarities of their interests, the level of intellectual development, and some other factors. As a result, Homer manages to find appropriate words to support Bart in difficult situations, and his son happily takes that help. It is though necessary to understand that establishing such an excellent relationship between Homer and Bart becomes possible due to their common work directed on reaching an absolute comprehending between both sides; as years passes, Homer and Bart’s friendship expands.
References
Groening, M. (Writer) & Moore, R. (Director) (1991). Lisa’s substitute. [Television Series episode]. In L. Adamson (Producer),The Simpsons: Los Angeles: Fox Studios.
