All in the Family/The Simpsons

All in the Family is very different from the contemporary family oriented comedy, the Simpsons. To start off, All in the Family is not animated like the Simpsons. Both shows also display different dilemmas, for example, during the screening, All in the Family’s Archie was having trouble dealing people’s sexual identities, while in The Simpsons, you might find Homer having trouble taking care of his kids without strangling his son Bart. There are also major differences in characters. Archie Bunker is obviously more intelligent than Homer Simpson, who is extremely gullible like Archie’s wife, Edith. However, Homer’s wife, Marge, seems to always have get Homer out of trouble. The witty, cunning and sly children of Homer and Marge Simpson also contrast the ditzy daughter of Archie and Edith, Gloria, and her hippie husband, Michael.


The families in All in the Family and The Simpsons are both working and middle class. I think it’s funny how in both shows, one spouse plays the wide-eyed and naïve role and the other plays the sarcastic role. Both shows are definitely comedic and all have characters and issues we can all identify with whether they be political, cultural or social. All in the Family and the Simpsons also feed off of what issues are going on in our world and in pop culture.

I feel as if All in the Family issues revolve around Archie’s views towards other cultures, and politics. Just as discussed in the lecture, the show seems as if it is making a transition to the post-war perspectives, but Archie is stuck in the conservative, pre-war frame of mind. To make the show comedic, they stick him with his hippy son-in-law to stir him up. I noticed that All in the Family also covers more controversial issues and focuses on Archie’s political and social views, whereas The Simpsons has often bizarre and not to realistic plots, considering it is a cartoon, but still ties in with everyday life and it’s hilarious situations. However, The Simpsons deals with more contemporary issues revolving around pop culture or strange situations that don’t seem to deal with any issues similar to All in the Family.

Both are exceptionally hilarious sitcoms with similar aspects but different views and tastes.