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The Simpsons and postmodernism
The Simpsons (Matt Groening, 1989)
The Simpsons is an American sitcom and is the longest running animated series since being released in late 1989. It is set in the fictional town of Springfield, and is based around the Simpsons, who are a parody of the average dysfunctional American family.
I believe that The Simpsons is a perfect example of a post modern TV series as its episodes use intertextuality, hyperreality, identity crisis and pastiche which are all typical features of post modernity. I feel my chosen episode of ‘Bart To The Future’ from series 11 is appropriate for showing these features and theories that the show often portrays.
Episode 17, series 11: Bart To The Future (2000)
Intertextuality is where media texts show references to other well known scenes or images, and is often used in The Simpsons; many episodes contain intertextual references from classic scenes in well known movies. In ‘Bart To The Future’, the name itself is a play on words from the hit 80s film ‘Back To The Future’ which is immediately recognised by the audience and throughout the episode there are images and object taken from that particular film. For example various gadgets such as the flying car, and hover crafts are often cited as iconic objects from the back to the future trilogy.
Following on from intertextuality, pastiche is used throughout The Simpsons, as not only does it show intertextual references it often imitates a well known scene putting a humorous spin on it. In this episode rather than imitating a whole scene, it simply abstracts iconic elements from it; for example in Back To The Future Marty was considered a washed up rock star as he could no longer play in his band due to injury, in Bart To The Future, Bart was also considered a washed up rock star. Both characters saw their future to be a somewhat failure, for during the scenes they re-lived, Bart got evicted and Marty was fired.
One of Baudrillard’s most well known theory’s of hyperreality is also used by Groening. The Simpsons follows a non-linear narrative whereby there is confusion between time and space; the series has been shown over a 22 year period and none of the characters have aged, nor do any new characters that appear last more than one episode. Also, although the show is based on real life events that could potentially happen to real people, occasionally the laws of nature are opposed by some of the episodes containing aliens or other religious or mythical creatures. This particular episode of the series shows hyperreality as Bart is able to take a look into his future, and throughout the scene frequently switches back to the ‘present’ so the audience are able to see Bart reflect on the state of his future self.
Lastly, episodes usually contain some kind of identity crisis within them, and this is usually to do with Homer becoming uncertain and confused about his sense of identity and he becomes insecure due to this. The episode then often revolves around him trying to change, or discover who he really is, but due to the hyperreal nature of the series, the new equilibrium of the episode usually ends as it began. However, in my chosen episode the identity crisis lies within Bart, for his present self becomes insecure and uncertain of how he has seen he will turn out in the future. This causes him to question his ways and makes him consider changing to avoid this morbid outcome in life.
To conclude, I feel that The Simpsons is a post modern TV series as it constantly uses intertextuality and pastiche to parody iconic scenes and images. Also, Groening created The Simpsons in a hyperreal world that the audience are able to use as an escape, as well as being able to relate to it with its frequent usage of an identity crisis.