Last week, three Florida parents complained when an art teacher showed Michelangelo’s “David” (1501-1504) – one of the most famous sculptures in art history – to their sixth-graders. One parent called the masterpiece “pornographic”, and the others were angry that they hadn’t been warned beforehand. The principal was forced to resign, and the chairman of the charter school’s board of trustees took to a podium to preach “parents’ rights,” a conservative talking point and platform of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The story turned out to be even more bizarre as it emerged that a similar incident was part of an early episode of the The Simpsonsaired over 30 years ago in 1990. In episode nine of season two, titled “Itchy & Scratchy & Margea group of parents were outraged when Michelangelo’s “David” stopped in Springfield as part of a tour of the United States.
The episode begins when Maggie, inspired by the cartoon Itching and scratching, hits his brother Bart over the head with a mallet. Their mother, Marge, becomes outraged at the show’s violence and begins a crusade against it, forming “Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding and Help” (SNUH) and organizing protests.
“I can protect my own children, but there are many others whose minds are warped every afternoon at four o’clock,” Marge says. She goes on a conservative talk show to discuss his anti-violence campaign and makes fun of him, but his plan is ultimately successful: the show stops being violent, the kids get bored, and they wake up out of their screen-induced hypnosis and begin to play. out. Later in the episode, Michelangelo’s “David” is exhibited in Springfield. The other members of Marge’s SNUH are furious, but Marge is unconvinced.
“But it’s Michelangelo’s ‘David’,” she says. “It’s a masterpiece.”
“It’s dirt,” replied a member of the SNUH. “It graphically depicts parts of the human body that, however practical, are bad.”
Parents walk to a rally where they hold protest signs reading ‘No nudes, it’s good nudes’ and ‘Get off your pedestal’.
Marge returns to the talk show, where she is now being mocked for supporting the posting of “David”.
“How can you be for one form of free speech, like our big naked friend over there, and be against another form, like Itchy and rough?” said the host.
Marge eventually concedes, stating, “I suppose one person can make a difference, but most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
The episode seems to use the “David” statue as an exaggerated example of the consequence of censorship (and as a dig at incendiary talk show hosts), but in states like Florida, the storyline has become a sad reality while conservative lawmakers banned drag shows and restricted discussions of sexuality, gender identity and race. The episode takes another dark turn when we consider other parental demands that go unheeded: lawmakers have consistently refused to tighten gun control, even in the wake of yesterday’s shooting at a elementary school in Tennessee that left three children and three staff members dead. .
