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Hispanidad: Simpsons includes Hispanics

By GREGORY TEJEDA, United Press International

While preparing for a night out on the town with his wife, Marge, Homer Simpson hummed a tune to himself while wiggling his rather rotund bottom around a "dance floor" that was really his bathroom.

The tune? It was "Patricia," an instrumental from 1958 that was the last U.S. No. 1 hit for Cuban bandleader Perez Prado.

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Homer's gyrations (witnessed by fans of the animated television series "The Simpsons" back in the show's first season) were actually that Spanish-influenced dance craze of the '50's -- the Mambo.

Who would have figured that Homer and his freaky family would turn out to be some of the most Hispanic-friendly characters on U.S. television?

Approaching the mark for longest-running comedy series on television (it will surpass "Ozzie & Harriet" next year), the show has included Hispanics in its humorous references almost since the day the characters first aired in 1989 as a part of the long-forgotten "Tracey Ullmann Show."

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Most "Simpsons" fans remember that early episode as the one where Homer and Marge hire the "Baby Sitter Bandit," who manages to escape with the family's valuables with Homer's unwitting assistance (d'oh!).

But I remember it because of that throwaway moment when I first realized "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening was capable of coming up with the most obscure references, even though anyone familiar with Groening's other work (I still remember a "Life in Hell" comic strip depicting the Akbar and Jeff characters running their own "Akbar and Jeff's bootleg t-shirt hut") knows the man's mind is filled with bizarre matter.

Who else would make a semi-regular character out of Bumble Bee Guy, the constantly costumed principal on-air talent at KMEX, the cartoon Springfield's Spanish-language television station?

Inspired by Roberto Gomez Bolaros, who performed in many low-grade comedies on Mexico's Televisa network under the name Chespirito, Bumble Bee Guy's over-dramatic acting and pidgin Spanish that even the whitest of Anglos can understand has often helped underscore a gag on the show.

Let's also not forget the two-part story in 1995 featuring renowned jazz musician Tito Puente, who was hired to be the music teacher at Springfield Elementary when school officials struck oil on their property. But eccentric evil millionaire Mr. Burns managed to steal the oil, causing the school to suffer financially and Puente to be forced back to life on the road as a musician.

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Puente became a suspect in the shooting of Mr. Burns but convinced police Chief Wiggum and his sidekicks, Lou and Roy, he "settled my score on the salsa floor with this excellent Latin rhythm." His song, "Senor Burns," still pops into my head from time to time.

How could anyone forget Puente singing a lyric like, "It may not surprise you/But all of us despise you/Please die, and fry, in Hell/You rotten rich old wretch. /Adios Viejo!"

Puente isn't even the only bandleader to have his moment. One time, "The Simpsons" were shopping for ice cream and noted the many Ben & Jerry's-like odd flavors in stock, including Xavier Nugat (like the Cuban bandleader Cugat, although the funniest was the flavor that disgusted Homer -- Sherbert Hoover).

Not that Groening and his crew have always been respectful to various aspects of Hispanic cultures.

I still remember the stink that arose when "The Simpsons" journeyed to Brazil to find Lisa's pen pal. He turned out to be a homeless boy who lived in poverty, which offended real Brazilians. Also, having Homer get kidnapped by local revolutionaries, only to pay them off in pink and purple money "that looks so gay" is far from being a politically correct moment.

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There also was the time when Krusty the Klown tried to make amends to children (Bart and Lisa included) who were used as slave labor at his Kamp Krusty summer camp.

How did Krusty apologize? By taking the kids to, "The Happiest Place on Earth."

Not Disneyland. Tijuana, where the episode ended with Frank Sinatra singing "South of the Border" over a fake montage of photographs of the Springfield kids wearing sombreros and getting drunk.

There also was the episode where Mr. Burns commissioned a movie about his life. But rather than pay a fully professional film crew, he chose as director Senor Spielbergo, who is described as Steven Spielberg's "non-union Mexican equivalent."

It's hard to be offended because "The Simpsons" is such a put-on of the real world. Everything is a target for insults.

This is, after all, the show that once had Homer refer to the state of Florida as "America's wang" and had Bart create a religious hymn out of the pompously-long Iron Butterfly rock song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."

One should also consider "The Simpsons'" track record with that of just about any other U.S. television show, where Hispanics either don't exist or else fill a niche as a domestic for an episode or two before disappearing.

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But with the Simpsons, Hispanics are part of the gag, just like everybody else. Just think how much less griping there'd be about programming standards and Spanish stereotyping if other television shows could do even half as well as Groening & Co.


(Hispanidad is a weekly column about the culture of Hispanics and Latinos in the United States, written by Greg Tejeda, a third-generation Mexican-American. Suggestions for topics can be made to [email protected])

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