The Simpsons Alignments

[NotASpiderSwarm]

My read:

Lisa: NG. She's motivated mostly by what's best for everyone, doesn't want to break the rules, but won't abide by them if the rules are wrong.
Bart: CN. Hates authority, doesn't really work to help or hurt people except for authority figures.
Homer: NE. Motivated purely by selfishness.
Marge: LN. Cares little for good or evil, just about reducing conflict, everyone getting along, etc. It doesn't matter if the status quo is bad, it matters that changing the status quo might cause an argument.
Maggie: TN(baby). An alternate case could be made for CG, given her predilection for shooting mobsters and exploitative bosses, but the majority of episodes she has animal alignment.

So, thoughts? I know with 30 seasons there's plenty of evidence for anything, but that's my general impression of the family, and a good summary of why it's so easy for the family's conflicts to play out so messily.

[Bartmanhomer]

My read:

Lisa: NG. She's motivated mostly by what's best for everyone, doesn't want to break the rules, but won't abide by them if the rules are wrong.
Bart: CN. Hates authority, doesn't really work to help or hurt people except for authority figures.
Homer: NE. Motivated purely by selfishness.
Marge: LN. Cares little for good or evil, just about reducing conflict, everyone getting along, etc. It doesn't matter if the status quo is bad, it matters that changing the status quo might cause an argument.
Maggie: TN(baby). An alternate case could be made for CG, given her predilection for shooting mobsters and exploitative bosses, but the majority of episodes she has animal alignment.

So, thoughts? I know with 30 seasons there's plenty of evidence for anything, but that's my general impression of the family, and a good summary of why it's so easy for the family's conflicts to play out so messily.

There was a Simpson alignment thread a long time ago. This is my take on the Simpson Alignment:

Homer: Chaotic Netural
Marge: Neutral Good
Bart: Chaotic Netural
Lisa: Neutral Good
Maggie: True Neutral

[Precure]

Lisa: CG.
Bart: CN.
Homer: CN.
Marge: NG.
Maggie: TN.

[Bohandas]

Grandpa Simpson: N
Flanders: LG
Mona Simpson: CG
Mr.Burns: NE
Smithers: LE(LN) (He's fine with assisting any of Mr.Burns' evil plans as long as they're only "everyday villainy" and not "cartoonish supervillainy)
Krusty: CN
Sideshow Bob: LE

[Bartmanhomer]

Milhouse: Netural Good
Nelson Muntz: Chaotic Evil
Martin Prince: Neutral Good
Patti & Selma: Lawful Evil
Chief Wiggum: Chaotic Neutral
Ralph Wiggum: Neutral Good
Barney: Chaotic Netural
Moe: True Neutral
Apu: Neutral Good

[brionl]

Mostly Chaotic Stupid, with a few Lawful KnowItAlls mixed in.

[dps]

There was a Simpson alignment thread a long time ago. This is my take on the Simpson Alignment:

Homer: Chaotic Netural
Marge: Neutral Good
Bart: Chaotic Netural
Lisa: Neutral Good
Maggie: True Neutral

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[No brains]

I think over 30 seasons, the characters are good cases for how alignment doesn't fit the nuances of real people. Lisa has had plenty of moments of selfishness and cruelty while Bart and Homer have also streaks of altruism.

That and the changing of producers and writers on a comedy series makes characters really inconsistent for what's apparently one year in their lives.

[Aedilred]

My read:

Lisa: NG. She's motivated mostly by what's best for everyone, doesn't want to break the rules, but won't abide by them if the rules are wrong.
Bart: CN. Hates authority, doesn't really work to help or hurt people except for authority figures.
Homer: NE. Motivated purely by selfishness.
Marge: LN. Cares little for good or evil, just about reducing conflict, everyone getting along, etc. It doesn't matter if the status quo is bad, it matters that changing the status quo might cause an argument.
Maggie: TN(baby). An alternate case could be made for CG, given her predilection for shooting mobsters and exploitative bosses, but the majority of episodes she has animal alignment.

So, thoughts? I know with 30 seasons there's plenty of evidence for anything, but that's my general impression of the family, and a good summary of why it's so easy for the family's conflicts to play out so messily.

I think most of this is ok apart from Homer. At least in early seasons, while Homer isn't motivated by any real sense of greater good, he does have a selfless streak and will make sacrifices for family, friends or sometimes even complete strangers. Of course he does then go through his "jerkass" phase, so it really depends which season, indeed which episode, you're talking about. But I think overall it's enough to make him neutral rather than evil. As for the Law-Chaos axis, well he's less explicitly anarchic than Bart, but except on very rare occasions he has no real regard for rules, regulations or authority - and Bart certainly didn't get it from Marge. So I'd say he's Chaotic on that line.

If I wanted to be really controversial I'd peg Bart as Lawful. Not because he has any real respect for authority figures, but because he craves a formulaic structure to his life. The occasional daydream aside, he doesn't really want to overthrow the system because he defines himself by his part in it. Whenever Skinner is removed as principal, it's Bart who goes out of the way to get him reinstated, because he can't cope with the change. When there's outright anarchy - either under an ineffective principal or during a teacher's strike - he doesn't know what to do with himself.

And on the one occasion when he gets given responsibility in an authority system (Separate Vocations), he takes to it like a duck to water, and only gives it up to protect Lisa.

Plus, of course, I don't think you can really get to be a chief justice of the Supreme Court without being at least a bit Lawful...

Krusty: CN
Sideshow Bob: LE

Honestly Krusty is such a monster that I'd almost be inclined to peg him as Evil, although really it's more of an extreme selfishness than an active desire to cause others harm.

Sideshow Bob... well, again it varies by appearance. The Bob of Cape Feare or Black Widower, certainly. In many of his other appearances though, other than the petty revenge he takes/plots on Bart and Krusty, he seems to have some idea of a greater good that underpins his actions (and in the episode with Cecil the title of which I forget, he's outright Good). In the twisted world of the Simpsons, it makes him a villain, but in a less cynical universe one could see him as a misunderstood antihero a lot of the time.

[JadedDM]

I think over 30 seasons, the characters are good cases for how alignment doesn't fit the nuances of real people. Lisa has had plenty of moments of selfishness and cruelty while Bart and Homer have also streaks of altruism.

Which is how it works with real people, too. Being Lawful Good doesn't mean you are always Lawful Good, 100% of the time. Alignment is a label to cover the majority of a person's behavior. Lisa is Good overall, but she does have small bouts of selfishness, just like everyone. It's only if she consistently started acting selfish would her alignment change.

That's why, back in the day, paladins were so hard to play. They had to be LG 100% of the time, every day, all day, which is incredibly difficult to do.