A Russian Orthodox priest has praised the long-running American animated sitcom “The Simpsons” for promoting traditional family values, while criticizing Russia’s film and television industry for failing to portray similarly strong nuclear families.
“For 40 years, 36 seasons and 790 episodes, the American sitcom ‘The Simpsons’ has been showing a loving, strong family with three children,” Father Yevgeny, head of the Yekaterinburg diocese, was quoted as saying by local media.
“Russia, which is dying out, has not created anything similar,” he said Friday during a women’s forum in the city of Yekaterinburg.
Father Yevgeny’s remarks were a rare instance of public praise for a Western cultural export in an increasingly isolationist and socially conservative Russia, which frequently accuses the U.S. and its allies of promoting “destructive neoliberal ideology.”
He contrasted characters from “The Simpsons” — the longest-running scripted primetime series in U.S. television history — with those found in Russian children’s cartoons like “Smeshariki” and “Masha and the Bear.”
“They’re alone and happy, but that’s not how it works in life,” he said, referring to Russian animated characters. “Our cartoons, for all their advantages and instructiveness, haven’t created an appealing image of a mature and happy family.”
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