The Simpsons: A Postmodernist Masterpiece
For over 20 years since its debut on December 17, 1989, The Simpsons have captivated audiences and have inspired countless other shows. The brainchild of the American cartoonist, Matt Groening, the show holds several American television longevity records. It is the longest-running prime-time animated series and longest-running sitcom in the United States. Single episodes have won dozens of awards; 31 Emmys, 30 Annie Awards, and a Peabody Award (Ortved 287). With over 600 episodes to date, the show has paved the way for “ adult humor” animation as we know it today. A television goliath, The Simpsons is a well-known staple of western media. To many fans, the show is a medium that connects them. Due to its prevalence in media, the show has provoked academics and fans alike. When held against the lens of critique and intellectual seriousness once traditionally reserved for things like Shakespeare, it’s easy to see why.
The show is wild, absurd and eccentric.
Classical definitions of a medium as it relates to art may not define The Simpsons as a great work.
Many might argue that The Simpsons serves no purpose beyond its entertainment value and that a television program cannot be art.
Based on pre postmodernist ideals many believed art as something focused on a narrow, elite audience. TV, on the other hand, is designed for the mass market (Henry 85).
Despite reasonable refutation of the show that doesn’t mean it’s unworthy of study. The Simpsons fits comfortably into accepted definitions in our contemporary art world. Since our arrival into the 20th century and movement into the postmodern art world, the definition of Art itself has been a controversial subject of debate in academia (Henry 85). But for some time now the 20th century has defined and redefined art into such an expansive definition due to the emergence of a variety of mediums. Movies and television, also known as visual media, is included in this variety. I’d like to reaffirm visual media as an art form by analyzing The Simpsons through the ideas of postmodernism and express how the show can be seen as a shining example of postmodern art itself. Given that art of the 20th century has redefined visual art form The Simpsons is postmodern art because it rejected the traditional values and politically conservative assumptions of its predecessors and utilizes postmodernist techniques such as intertextuality and metafiction.
The aftermath of World War II had a major impact on the cultural landscape of most of the world. The horrors of War and events like the Holocaust left the American culture in a frenzy for easier media. As a result TV of the 50’s to the 70’s presented society with a more digestible form of media. That form took the shape of family sitcoms. In 1972 three of the top ten most watched shows were sitcoms (Henry 86/7). During that time sitcoms were a different story. Up until the introduction of The Simpsons in the late 80’s sitcoms provided the public with hokey family shows that “ showed that all problems could be resolved quickly with wit and abit of humor ” (Henry 88). Sitcom tradition from 1950 to the late 80’s was primarily defined by shows like The honeymooners 1950 and Rosanne 1990. This style of the family sitcom was defined by the nuclear middle-class lifestyle, a result of culture preceding WWII (Bustch 392). The conservative tradition offered viewers with a wholesome family, “ the fundamental unit of organization in urban industrial America (Friend 112). These shows provided unrealistic forms of conflict, and that no matter the situation or hijinks, after resolution the family would go back to normal, happy and unaffected. A stark contrast to the real world horrors of WWII.
That changed with the introduction of shows like The Simpsons at peak of 80’s. The Simpsons introduced real-world problems into their stories. They presented a conflict with the traditionally closed nature of previous sitcoms. The Simpsons themselves utilized the very structure of the nuclear family sitcoms to , “critique and skew its conventions” (Ortved 289). They were real and they exposed the falseness of a traditional tension-free relationship. Homer himself an angry father, and Bart a foul-mouthed miscreant. Matthew Henry sums it up nicely in his study of Popular culture in saying, “ the patriarchy is shattered, the universal authority and correctness of the mother and father is undermined, and the dominant values systems are rigorously questioned” (Henry 90/1). He goes further in explaining and breaking down more specific traditional sitcom characteristics like the “warm moment.” In traditional family sitcoms this is where everyone embraces, the problems are resolved and everyone learns a valuable moral lesson (Henry 94). Most notably in The Simpsons this happens at the end of the episode titled “Blood Feud.” With the conflicts of the episode resolved the family is sits at the dinner table. The episode , “ denies us closure and any sense of a lesson by self consciously ending with a debate on the moral of the show (Henry 94). Famously Homer ends by saying, “Exactly, it’s just a bunch of stuff that happened.” Instead of the traditional sitcom wrap up, the audience is met with an uneventful realist point of view. Whatever difficulties the characters in the show faced, the conflict they faced during the plot of the episode doesn’t end when they all sit at the dinner table. It becomes a part of their existence and isn’t over analysed by the characters themselves. Much like the real world, the problems and events happened. No clean wrap up, and no moral lesson to be learned besides the unpredictability and randomness of life. The Simpsons is a satire of the traditional nuclear family. It’s refutation of these values gave society a more pragmatic and realistic approach to family life that hit closer to home. It let us know that most parents aren’t perfect and that we can’t all easily solve our problems. The Simpsons being a form of visual art served as a rejection of the more conservative sitcoms. When comparing visual art forms one can see the postmodernist ideal of challenging traditional values.
The Simpsons is a critique of American Society and its satire on traditional sitcoms from classic family TV. This is largely due in part to its use of key postmodernist techniques such as intertextuality and metafiction. As previously noted, family life had changed in the late 80’s and people no longer related to the traditional nuclear family image. This left room for The Simpsons to step into the picture and use what people were used to and turn it on its head. Intertextuality and metafiction are core distinctions of postmodernist art (Bertens 239). Patrica Waugh, the literary critic noted that many postmodern works, “flaunt their implication and complicity with late capitalism by deliberately incorporating aspects of mass culture (191).
This is something The Simpsons has done and continues to do on a regular basis. The Show is a prime example of a modern, intertextual television series. It relies on references to other works in the creation of its humor, characters, and plotlines. Even in the names of episodes, this is apparent. Early on in the series Episode 3 is titled “Homer’s Odyssey”. This is both a reference to the character Homer’s name and to the Greek poet Homer, who is often attributed to the epic poem the Odyssey (Ortved 292).
A lot of the humor in the show is created through its use of intertextuality. The creators parody, pastiche, and use blatant self-reflexivity. Not only used for comedic effect, these references act as a tool for the creators. It allows them to satirize and criticise American society and culture (Von der Goltz 64). More importantly, intertextuality allows The Simpsons to invoke depths of meaning in characters and scenes. The character Mr. Burns full name is Charles Montgomery Burns, a direct parody of Charles Foster Kane, the main character in the American film Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles. Though he is only a secondary figure like all the characters on the show Mr. Burns is full of reference material. In the episode titled Rosebud, Mr. Burns’ manor where he lies dying with a snowball in his hand is a parody of the opening scenes of Citizen Kane. The flashback where Mr. Burns leaves his teddy bear behind to go along with a rich millionaire and leave his parents can be stacked against a similar scene where Charles Foster Kane is told to leave his parents for a richer life. Kane then leaves his sled behind. This reference runs deeper than a nominal allusion, and throughout the series, there are many references made to the movie. This results in Mr. Burns being a three-dimensional, rounded character (Ortved 98). Parodying something like movies allows the creators to build a story without having to spend extensive amounts of time explaining a situation. Better yet it helps in providing backstories, and, “ can also be interpreted as a game that keeps the audience alert and eager to identify as many references as possible” (Von der Goltz 103/4). This depth isn’t uncommon in the shows vast cast and shows the depth of thought put into each individual character.
The show uses a great deal of metafiction to invoke its postmodernist intertextuality. The shows use of meta-reflexivity and self-reflexivity is an important mode in allowing these intertextual references in The Simpsons. I can go on and on with examples of the shows self and meta reflexivity because there are just so many. The show is built on referring to itself, acknowledging itself as cartoon series. Matt Groening frequently appears in cameo roles in the show. The opening sequence of the show is self-consciously altered each week (Henry 95). For example, Bart’s iconic scene when he is shown writing on the chalkboard always begins with, “ I will not…” but is edited for each episode to accommodate for Barts current misdeed. In addition to the show’s use of self-reflexivity, as previously noted The Simpsons assumes a meta-reflexive outlook on the animation and sitcom genre, as well as television in general. Aside from its satire on “warm moments” is the shows use of Itchy and Scratchy. Itchy and Scratchy is an old-timey style, “Tom and Jerryesque” cartoon that is often played within the show. It’s a TV series that the characters watch. Notably it is a cartoon that is violent and crass, a mirror to the classic cartoons of earlier days. To The Simpsons, who are also notably crass and unhinged Itchy and Scratchy goes deeper into violence. So much so that Marge and Homer, the parents, who are often just as wild question the cartoons morality. This show within the show is used to emphasize the tropes of the cartoon genre (such as classic gloves, eyes popping out, and the occasional axe to the head ) as well as to distinguish Springfield as a ‘realistic’ television setting (Von der Goltz 86). The shows self consciousness is abundant. When viewed through a postmodernist scope The Simpsons is certainly an easter egg hunt where nothing is really hidden. A large determinant in postmodernism is a shattering of fictional illusion (Alexander 4). The Simpsons certainly does not shy away from that.
Postmodern art is known for its break down of distinctions between what has been termed high and low art forms, through the use of popular culture. The terms high and low themselves serve as markers for defining the idealism of postmodernism as art moved from a more modernist thinking. The high art being categorized as art for the cultured and the low art for the masses (Henry 86). In our contemporary art world, we have become more attuned to the distinctions of low art. Since the 90’s many found that the art of mass culture had a greater significance in that it questioned the “need for critical distance” (Henry 86). A standing idea of postmodern art is that it is art that allows people to feel more connected to society. This rejection of traditional values is what defines a core movement in postmodern art. It’s a rejection that saw all visual culture as not only equally valid but something to be, “appreciated and enjoyed despite aesthetic training” (Bertens 103). That said visual media that can equally reject more conservative assumptions like those of high art can be viewed in the same light. The Simpsons themselves have had a history of both critiquing American culture and redefining it. The show inspired a movement in television sitcoms. It’s use of postmodernist techniques such as intertextuality, self-reflexivity, and meta-reflexivity has allowed the show to continually entertain, expose and bring people together through a shared understanding of our world. Postmodernism redefined art and prized art of mass culture, the movement inspired works that made people feel more connected to society. For over 20 years, through visual media, The Simpsons has brought people together, fostered dialogue and connected us and will hopefully continue to do so as a great work of postmodernist art.