Postmodernism in The Simpsons: How an animated sitcom displays intertextuality and hyperreality

The Simpsons is an animated sitcom that has ran continuously since 1989, and quickly became a cultural phenomona in the 90’s, with its first eight seasons often cited as some of the finest works of television ever. Created by Matt Groening, a comics writer then chiefly known as the creator of the alternative comic strip “Life in Hell”, the show depicts the titular Simpsons clan, a family living in the town of Springfield. The show was seen as an attempt to portray the modern reality of America and satirise previous depictions of “family comedies” on television. Taking advantage of the new format of prime-time animation, the show-runners chose to subvert post-war American sitcom tropes, characterising traditional figures of authority as foolish and self-serving. The show’s subversive and cynical elements mean it can be characterised as a brand of postmodern entertainment; postmodernism being a movement that promotes scepticism towards grand narratives and an ironic disdain for sincerity. Two key concepts involved are hyper-reality and intertextuality. Hyper-reality is the “heightened form of realism” (P288, Marc Steinberg) seen in postmodern societies saturated in media, and intertextuality refers to texts making references to either other works through pastiche and parody or alternatively making reflexive references towards the work itself. Although The Simpsons can be viewed as a surface level comedic sitcom, it is laced with postmodern elements that mark it within the context of its day; which explains its massive popularity to the contemporary audience.

The Simpsons was developed in a transitionary period for the United States and its media market. The end of the Cold War, a period characterised by Francis Fukuyama as “the end of history”, led to the death of the need of overly sanitised portrayals of the American Dream or deferential attitudes towards the values of America. The medium of television especially was historically extremely regimented and free from potentially subversive elements, especially in the glut of lightweight eighties sitcoms The Simpsons directly parodied. Network executives tightly controlled what was shown on television and advertisers dictated the limits of programming to ensure their products would not be associated with “controversial” topics. This began to change with the explosion of cable television, like the FOX Network, which opened the market for more potentially challenging topics and for a wider, more demanding audience with less explicit interference from executives. This challenging nature was not unnoticed at the time. The conservative President of the United States George HW Bush made a pointed jab at The Simpsons, contrasting the central family’s dysfunctional relationship negatively next to the Walton’s, a sacharine and idealised portrayal of Americans in the Depression era. To a certain extent, the breakdown to televisual norms was allowing television to be more “real” than ever before. Today, as a result of shows like The Simpsons, American television is considered to be in a Golden Age, consistently producing challenging and socially relevant work that was once the domain of film.

The audience for The Simpsons was varied and extremely broad in its peak years. To a certain extent the popularity was a result of the novelty that resulted  when “overcoming the stigmas of animation’s childish audience” (Sienkiewicz, Marx, 2014). Animation in the United States has since the days of Walt Disney and Hanna Barbara been associated with entertainment for children, with “adult” animation being a niche interest. The Simpsons, however, was watched by adults and children alike, with the Fox Network targeting the  demographics of “25-to-54” heavily. Although future animated shows  (Family Guy, South Park) doubled down on the transgressive nature of adult themes in cartoons, The Simpsons were more interested in broad appeal, emotional weight and transgressive pastiche. Intertextual references are created using “remixing and mashups” and “reuses older materials and provides cultural contextualisation”  (Navas & Gallagher & Burrough, 2016).  Typically intertextual references were varied, referencing high- and lowbrow content from across many decades, from contemporary references to then popular celebrities to references to classic literature. This approach leads to references to Edgar Allen Poe finding itself nestled next to jokes about reality television. This mosaic approach to intertextuality, especially the conflation of highbrow with lowbrow art, is in keeping with postmodern approaches to art; and also maintained an appeal to a broad a section of the audience as possible. The Simpson’s relies heavily on intertextuality by referencing societal, cultural, popular and historical cultures. This means the audience member is a more active participant than passive consumer.  Intertextuality allows the discerning audience member to feel intelligent in their observation skills, and linked it with the burgeoning era of internet fandom. Before the web,  there was no need for interactivity whereas now producers need interactivity to “reassure the brand is on track” (Jenkins, 2007). The show has a notably “active” online participation culture from fans, with large user-boards dedicated to cataloging every reference in the show. For instance, the behind the scenes episode is a form of “hyper self-consciousness about its own textuality” (Richmond & Coffman, 1997). The show uses “quotation marks” to bond with their audience. The episode mocks other anniversary shows. The show’s fans tendencies to collect every intertextual reference in online collections of trivia were pastiched even within the show itself by the Comic Book Guy, who epitomises some of the worst elements of fandom in his nitpicks and denunciations of the writers of his favourite works. The audience of The Simpsons therefore is multifaceted: not only is it accessible to a casual watcher, given its episodic nature and easily grasped plot-lines but it is richly rewarding to the attentive or “nerdy” viewer, who themselves were rewarded with a portrayal of themselves on the show itself.

The postmodernist sceptical attitude towards meta-narratives is the most recognisable form of ideology of the Simpsons, although this is never cast as caustic cynicism. A typical attitude is the show’s relationship religion.  The Church is normally depicted, not with reverence but with cynicism. Postmodern thought emerged from a secularising culture, where the meta-narrative around Christianity were increasingly left attack. The Simpsons’ clergyman Reverend Lovejoy, is a humourless and corrupt individual, unable to even comprehend his own religion at times. However, the show is not an explicitly anti-religious tract. Homer’s defection from the Church in “Homer the Heretic” for example, is treated as a self-serving act; while the family’s pious neighbour Ned Flanders is seen as the archetypical perfect man that Homer bitterly envies. The episode where Flanders is a devil is ironic as normally he is characterised as happy loving person who is definitely going to heaven. Simply being opposed to religion would itself be an ideology, and the show is unwilling  to fully commit to such a simple statement. It can be said therefore that the if there is an ideology of the show, it is a distrust of hierarchy and authority. The character of Lisa Simpson embodies the shows’ ideology, with her views often framed as “correct”, although her status as one of the youngest characters means she is often ignored. Much like the writers of the show, Lisa is clearly on the Left – favouring environmental causes and feminism – but has little in connection with the institutional Left like trade unions or the Democratic Party. Indeed the Kennedy family, one of the most important forces in the latter organisation, are ruthlessly skewered by another takedown of authority, the ultra-corrupt and womanising mayor of Springfield Joe Quimby.  The philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard once stated that a key part of the postmodern condition is realisation that the hierarchy of knowledge promoted by those in authority should be discarded in favour of a “flat network of areas of inquiry” (Cillers, P., 1998) , which would allow contributions from figures of a relatively lowly background (like Lisa) rather than those enforced by the authorities. Therefore, the Simpsons plays with the hyperreal concept of “anti-authorisation”. And instead what martin states we that society should stick together and not let authority win us over.

The show’s indictment of consumer culture is another postmodern interpretation of the world. In fact, this often comes with a meta reference towards the show itself. FOX quickly realised the lucrative nature of the designs of the characterisers, heavily using its Intellectual Property for merchandising and with the show’s breakout star Bart Simpson becoming the face of Butterfinger chocolate bars. The show led to a franchise that  launched a tv series into a movie, computer games, board games, merchandise and, ultimately, billions of dollars for the rights holders . All this branding makes The Simpsons even more popular and spreads competition through other brands. This is postmodern due to technological advances allowing this to occur. Within the show itself, the entertainer Krusty and his IP not only satirises classic American brands of consumption like McDonalds and Disney, but the show itself. Krusty has used his brand to amass a huge wealth with endless bizarre products with his name and face stamped upon them: from Home Pregnancy Tests to Handguns. In this way the show not only describes the hyperreality of modern life and its commercialisation, but the commercialisation of The Simpsons itself. The hyperreality is demonstrated by openly contrasting the crass nature of marketing with its statements taken at face value by the public at large. For example, a retailer’s desire to boost its profit margins leads a CEO to berate his team to find a new holiday “something like Love Day, although not as lame”. Immediately the show cuts to Marge Simpsons enthusiastically saying “Happy Love Day!”, revealing that the family has immediately and enthusiastically fallen for the trick of commercialisation. The show seems to stress that the modern economy is dependent on the whims of powerful and faceless corporations whose only loyalty is to the profits. In this sense the “hyperreality” is that observed by Jean Baudrillard: that of “fake” simulations of reality usurping that of actual reality.

The Simpsons blurs the lines between reality and hyperreality by creating a complete new universe yet still having elements of realism by acknowledging that the show is a cartoon. Postmodernism encourages individuals to “think outside of the box” (Zompetti & Moffitt, 2008) by experimenting with form and structure. The Simpsons does this by creating new ways to manipulate the structure of television, often experimenting with story structure. Plotlines often meander or have widely different second acts, subverting the audience’s expectations by introducing tonal shifts, most dramatically in the case of “22 Short Stories”, which is a completely fragmented episode of short  vignettes from the perspective of various minor characters in the show’s universe. Postmodernists also explore the nature of the medium a show is used. At times, characters seem to be vaguely aware of their nature as a “cartoon”, and the show pokes fun at the audience expectations from animation. Homer states that “cartoons are just stupid drawings that give you a cheap laugh” before getting up and accidentally displaying his backside to the camera. Roger Meyers Sr, a surly cartoonist, explains his cost-cutting approach as “sometimes the same background [can be] used more than ones to make the production cheaper”, as the same background is used three times in quick succession in a tracking shot. The most dramatic example is the Halloween segment Homer. In this episode Homer enters the third dimension, allowing him and other characters to marvel at the potential for depth. This episode is more than an experiment in the then cutting-edge CGI technology; but a way to break the immersive hyperreality the show’s audience is reliant on by recognising the “fakeness” of a world entirely in two dimensions. A later Halloween segment had Bart and Lisa pulled into their favourite cartoon, Itchy and Scratchy. They remark how humiliating it is to be a cartoon, a wink to the audience and have various grotesque injuries inflicted on them by the fiercely violent Itchy and Scratchy characters. This is used to the unique nature of animation. It would not be funny to see children or animals in a live action television show being inflicted with acts of violence, but the “fakeness” of a cartoon means we can laugh off characters having their limbs sliced off or (as in the case of Itchy and Scratchy) disembowelled. The use of animation as a medium means that characters are not “subject to physical laws of the real world” (wells, 1999) but yet the show still asks us at times to empathise with them, despite the fact they are not physical beings. Baudrillard argues this surreal simulacra of society “using high-tech media, alienates audience” convincing realism (Zompetti & Moffitt, 2008). By doing this it also uses intertextuality where the show is using referencing by mocking itself, the network, the institution of television and taking advantage of the medium of animation to constantly pastiche other shows.—

In The Simpsons, the characters are constantly trying to identify and attach themselves to popular norms to maintain a balance which is acceptable within their society.  This is done my reflecting “pluralism of postmodern society in a parodying yet symbolic manner” (Erlingur & Björnsson, 2006). The symbolic manner is when ideologies and social structure is expressed though human cultures. The diversity of culture within the characters means the show remains objective has have variety of personality and opinions. For instance, The Simpsons reflects a typical nuclear family with Homer being the breadwinner, Marge the homemaker and their three children. In the show the use of having static characters who do not age means they can represent everyone and everything at anytime; this probably is best illustrated in the refusal to give Springfield a specific location, and indeed making its geography impossible (e.g. the movie noting that the town lies on the intersection of four states that do not border one another, and).   As well as blurring the lines between reality and Hyperreality, The Simpsons manages to imitate society making the animated cartoon seem more real therefore its the perfect model of simulacra. This is done using the “reflective approach” of “mirroring society’s norms” (Hall, 2013). Bauillard argues that television is reflecting society creating a hyperreality creating an “ever-changing image, value and version of truth” (Baurillard, 2001). This is due by simulating parody through real life situation. For instance, season 16 episode 3 talks about issues surrounding an ideal size for beauty for girls. Lisa gets bullied about her big bum so works her hardest to loose the pounds. Theres a hidden message in the storyline where at the end she realises she is stupid to be following these expectations in society.  As its a unrealistic cartoon Gray argues the characters are represented as “hyper -stereotypes” (Rhodes, C., 2001) as the yellow characters with goggly eyes are “representing the human form in exaggerated ways”. Its hyper-real as it still reflects a common citizens in society.  The Simpson’s also stimulate a wide range of family structures like lone parent families and broken families. For instance, Nelson the school bully has a lone mum and it shows his sympathetic upbringing. The diversity in character is a reflection of postmodern society with many subcultures rather then just one shared culture. As well as simulating culture it simulates classes with the protagonist family being represented as “working class so allows identification of characters as seems more real and can resembles the viewers” (Henry, P87, Postmodernism and the Simpsons). This is due to the Simpsons referencing financial troubles continually. Furthermore, as it’s an animated tv programme audience find it hard to identify but the characters and objects are “subject to physical laws of the real world” (wells, 1999).

However, the Simpsons also uses a “constructionist approach” where “meaning is being constructed through language, images and signs” (Hall, 2013). This means the television isn’t reflecting and representing reality of the public but instead producing it, therefore creating new ideologies and concepts that audience can identify with. For instance, The Simpsons uses futuristic elements like horo-scoping into characters future or predicting technologically advanced systems like the google home speaker and Alexa where you can speak to your speaker on what you want done. However, this Simpsons take it to a heightened version where it makes food. For example, The Simpson’s is the perfect model of simulacra as plays with illusions of future world and historical/ social events.  This imaginary world ‘Springfield’ attracts viewers to the social microcosm, religious and miniaturised pleasure of America.

To conclude, The Simpsons is a show that is still very much ongoing in production and consumption. During the years of production the Simpsons did not span across multiple platform as they didn’t exist, it was just a television tv series. The transition to a brand was when merchandise was being created then the transition to community is when web 2.0 emerged. The viewers have now become users where they can interact with the Simpson’s storylines, narrative and also cross platform apps likes games, social media. Postmodernism is contently at work as shows a more global perspective of addressing historical and social issues diversity such as themes of beauty, race, religion, sexuality, gender equality which rejects stereotypes. This is done using postmodern features like self consciousness, fragmentation, parody, pastiche, intertextuality, hyperrealism, irony and a strong opposition to hierarchy and authority. Creating a ‘fake world’ has meant the animated show can pass on ideologies to all audiences and represent everyone at every time as has a very relatable static family.

Since studying the understanding media unit, I have engaged in cross platform media and learnt how all the platforms converge which is due to change in production which has altered the way its being consumed. My thoughts and feelings relating to consumption and production of cross platform media is is production of tv series have changed to more match societies expectations and norms or to actually joke about issues wrong with these expectations. This is done using inteextual references to link texts together hyperreality by making the show feel more real then it is making it easier for fanbase to evolve. By making the production of the show similar to society it makes it more relatable as its representing peoples lives. In addition the consumerism has changed over the years by The Simpson’s  regulating reality and covering absence of meaning in real. This is done by creating cross platform texts so fanbase can talk about this made up world which imitates society. Through reading a large scope of key readings, debates and independent research I’ve changed my ideas as at first i thought how can an animated tv programme be relatable and feel more real then society by using postmodern beliefs of fragmentation and parody. Also through researching the demographics, i used to watch this programme has a child (around ages of 8-11) however it was intended for a much older audiences depending on the company and time it was broadcasted on. However, when i got into the show as a user myself it was in the era of web 2.0 so there was a lot of cross platform texts already which was aimed at children. For instance, at universal they have a Simpsons world and kids rides. Furthermore, social medias like the Twitter and Facebook allows interactions and keeps fanbases warned when new seasons will come out. The Simpsons games like monopoly or games online allow another from of entertainment and interactivity. The impact this has on future media consumptions and production it will lead to a transition period that will affect all aspects of life which will push for cultural diversity. This sort of convergence allows marginalised groups to be heard as all characters are simulated in the tv programme.

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