People likely thought that Disney was going to change a lot of things when they started taking over major such as Lucasfilm and Marvel, and while it’s easy to agree to disagree that they’ve done just that, one thing that they don’t appear to have changed is the Simpsons. As Kevin Burwick of MovieWeb puts it The Simpsons aren’t always such a family-friendly show, but they’re definitely not in the same league as shows like Family Guy, American Dad!, and are miles away from Rick and Morty. So they might get a bit edgy and even cringe-worthy at times, but they’re still a fairly harmless show that doesn’t go over the top that often and more or less manage to stick to a theme that’s kind of controversial every now and then. Every now and again the show might be a little too close to the edge when it comes to one subject or the other, but otherwise The Simpsons is pretty pedestrian when compared to many other shows. The fact is that Disney really didn’t need to change it, as they would have looked like massive hypocrites if they did. All one has to do is point out the obvious movies that show controversial material, such as most bad guy death scenes and a lot of subject material that’s bound to give children nightmares, such as an evil queen asking for a young girl’s heart in a box, or even a religious figure calling for a gypsy woman to be burned at the stake.
As far as changing Star Wars goes there wasn’t much to do since George Lucas had already kind of hemmed his own project in when it came to being family-friendly versus being edgy and a bit out there. The graphic novels and the books managed to take things to a new level of intensity, but since he didn’t consider those canon most times Lucas had the chance to keep his creation more or less PG and not as terrifying. Disney’s changes actually put more edge on the classic tale but in a way that felt way too emo and not quite enough for an epic tale like Star Wars. As far as Marvel goes, Disney has changed things up in a big way since a lot of the heroes and the villains have either been seen to be de-powered in a way or given a massive amount of power that they didn’t have in the comic books. A good example, as always, is that Thanos in the comics is one of the most devious individuals around and didn’t act so noble when he wiped out half of the universe. He was seeking to appease Lady Death, plain and simple, and didn’t care about balance. Another good example is that Captain Marvel is powerful and very impressive, but she’s been punched hard enough by the Hulk to launch her into space, and she couldn’t hold a candle to Thor at the height of his powers. Since it’s become the era of the female superhero women have definitely taken on a stronger and much more commanding role recently, but at the expense of the source material.
Unfortunately one thing that’s been seen is that Disney does bow to social pressure in a big way. One would think that a corporation such as the Mouse House that has so much pull and so many fans wouldn’t bend the knee so quickly when fans make the kind of demands that pressure them into changing things so drastically, but that’s kind of what’s happened with Marvel, and with Star Wars just a bit. Amazingly though The Simpsons have escaped that kind of change and pressure since they’ve been running the same way more or less for years now and haven’t really needed that kind of attention. If anything they’ve only improved with each passing year and the need to switch anything up has come naturally and with the kind of progression that any show is bound to experience at some point. A lot of people have wondered if the kids are ever going to grow up or if Marge and Homer are going to grow old, but despite the episodes where such things have happened the favorite part of the show for many people has been watching them just as they are. The type of ageless characters that the show is populated by have entertained generations of individuals now and have become kind of a staple of comedic television since they’re so well-known around the world. Changing them up at this point feels as though it would be a huge mistake given that so many people still watch the show.
While Disney has definitely changed a lot of things around these days when it comes to the various properties it owns, it’s likely that a lot of people are glad to see that one thing has remained the same.
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