ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon an eclectic array of theories dealing with the concept of myth. The purpose is to show how, regardless of the approach adopted, there are useful things to be discovered about the mythical or normative family. The originality, if any, consists in the application of these frameworks to the task of thinking about the myth of the family rather than proposing a new framework about myth in general. The chapter discusses three techniques to access the mythical family: analysis of narrative and ritual in the manner of Bronislaw Malinowski; a semiological analysis of pictorial (and textual) representations of this myth; and the analysis of humour in a television sitcom (The Simpsons) inspired by a Parsonian reading of Freud. The introductory segment of The Simpsons is a dense and compressed overview of the whole show. The Simpsons scripts rely heavily on humorous transgression of normative structures.
