The+Simpsons

The Simpsons and Culture
toc Animated television narratives function as indexical signs; however, their representations are extensively mediated and fully conventionalized. A sign system, like a cartoon, cannot function without some direction toward the appearance of being real. //The Simpsons//, being a narrative cartoon, functions with the conflict between our recognition of the signifiers as being unrealistic and extensively mediated (Irwin 2001, 259).

A drawing of a Simpsons character, like Lisa for instance, displays some degree of conventionalization, therefore, we must understand a fair amount of cultural knowledge for the show to make sense. //The Simpsons// help us understand how these signifiers are supposed to function in American society (Irwin 2001, 262). //The Simpsons// is a narrative text, filled with connotations depicting ideological assumptions about American society. =Semiotics=

Semiotics is the relationship of signs with respect to the objects or ideas they represent. The signifier makes a statement or delivers the message, whereas the signified is the content or idea delivered. Together, the signifier and the signified are experienced simultaneously as a whole, also known as a sign. The combination of signs into systems, are known as codes, and it is our familiarity with these codes that allows the sign to have meaning. However, in order to understand a sign, one must also understand its codes, which are the culturally specific aspect of sign systems. Here, within these codes lie the connotative meaning; a culturally specific message that is superimposed on the sign’s denotative meaning (Irwin 2001, 254-256).



The allusions in //The Simpsons// appear very “American”, promoting an ideological assumption of America being a fast food, television mediated and “don’t like to think too much” society. (Irwin 2001, 91). Each episode of //The Simpsons// begins with the Simpson family rushing into the family room to begin the evening ritual of TV watching. Soon after this, the final frame of opening credits appears framed by a TV set, with a VCR and a rabbit ear antenna. This gives the impression that the audience and the Simpson family are watching the same TV, indicating that the Simpson family is probably more similar to us than we think. This “couch gag” serves as an index, reminding us that the show is primarily concerned with television as the mass medium in American culture (Irwin 2001, 265).

In one episode (“The Front”), Bart and Lisa include an Elvis impersonator in their “Itchy and Scratchy” script (unsatisfied with the current “Itchy and Scratchy” episodes they decide to write a better plot). The presence of this Elvis impersonator can be depicted as a signifier of American society’s willingness to commodify and commercialize personality, displaying the potential of mass-produced star power to sell products across various forms of media (Irwin 2001, 266). Here, we see the obsession surrounding this icon of American popular culture, since Elvis Presley brought the genre of rock n’ roll to the nation’s attention in the 1950s. (Irwin 2001, 266). Evidently, //The Simpsons// reflect assumptions about careless and misguided parenting, a casual educational system, a large-scaled environment of consumerism and commodification and television in America; hence American society (Irwin 2001, 266). One of the specific signifieds of “The Front” is the search for quality television and the response to low-grade TV; if you do not like what you see you can either shoot the TV (like the Elvis impersonator in the “Itchy and Scratchy episode in “The Front”), or write something better. The purpose of the Elvis narrative is for the audience to consider the cultural act of creating televisual texts; writing being a social activity is a way of having a voice (Irwin 2001, 266). Does this mean that Matt Groening started writing //The Simpsons// because he wanted to say something about American society? //The Simpsons// effects social satire by foregrounding its signifiers and dislocating them from predictable signifieds (Irwin 2001, 268).

//The Simpsons// are merely drawings, a suggestion of the human form. These characters are recognized as representations of a particular division of American society. For instance, Homer’s weight problem and beer consumption along with Bart’s spiky bad-boy haircut and skateboard are all recognizable aspects of the late twentieth century.

=Lisa= Lisa is the geeky academic star of Springfield Elementary School who is destined to become its only graduate ever to have read at an adult level, (Turner 2004, 195). In Lisa, we see a bit of anti-corporate, egalitarian ethos that would inspire an activist movement against marketing, overzealous privatization and unchecked global liberalization late in the decade (Turner 2004, 196). Her intellectual side serves as a sharp reproach to the distaste for book-learning in contemporary culture and the alleged illiteracy of TV itself (Turner 2004, 198). On the other hand, Lisa is also a typical American girl who loves ponies, Malibu Stacy dolls and sleepovers. She is obsessed with pop culture just like any other eight-year-old. She loves Krusty the Clown, “Itchy and Scratchy” and finds cartoon violence rather funny. Her clothing and tone are eight-year-old like and regardless of her smarts; she still manages to keep an aura of child-like innocence (Turner 2004, 204). Her dissatisfaction with modern life is simply a product of Western society in the late twentieth century. She expresses herself through two of the most important pop-cultural manifestations: free form poetry and jazz music (Turner 2004, 205).

Lisa is the embodiment of Generation X and has strong commitment to tolerance and cultural relativism. “Generation X may be shallow,” Lisa says, “but at least they have the tolerance and respect for all people.” (Turner 2004, 222). Here, we see her speak truthfully about her generation but at the same time, she also defends it. In another episode, Bart tells Homer, “Nothing you say can upset us. We’re the MTV generation,” Lisa adds, “We feel neither highs nor lows.” Homer responds “Really, what’s that like?” Lisa in a “perfect semiotic reduction of the default defensive posture of her age” shrugs “Enh.” (Turner 2004, 207-208).

The sigh and the shrug; two powerful signposts of youth culture in the 1990s. The sigh; signifying a youth life under too much information, too many truths revealed and too much innocence lost too soon (Turner 2004, 208). Then the shrug; symbolizing that caring and passion are linked to betrayal and loss (Turner 2004, 208). Along with youth of the 1990s, comes “cool”. The concept of cool originates with Lisa’s jazz musicians, who brought their music as well as their lifestyle to the mainstream audience in the 1950s (Turner 2004, 208). Cool was a by-product of heroin use: cool was a statement of detachment from strong emotion and not caring about anything. Through rock n’ roll; cool to the emerging youth culture of the 1950s and 1960s. Around the time the Beatles and the Rolling Stones launched the British invasion, cool became the price of admission to the counterculture and the goal of Western youth (Turner 2004, 209). Codified, cool became the most resilient element of youth culture.

Cool; it is perpetual, but it is also perpetual motion. However, cool has always been much of a marketing strategy as much as a cultural force (Turner 2004, 210). The symbiotic relationship between countercultural cool and big business marketing in the 1990s was seen as a whole (Tuner 2004, 211). Pop icons and celebrities aspired to self-incorporation while advertising agencies talked about their newest ad campaigns and even sent “street teams” into neighbourhoods to unlawfully spray-paint corporate logos (Turner 2004, 211). Evidently, cool gives life to consumerism and as consumerism branches out, so will the meaning of cool. Lisa is a highly intellectual eight-year-old, who enjoys going to the library and has very little friends, in other words; uncool. Perhaps Matt Groening made Lisa the “geeky” type so that her character does not fall under the spell of advertising and consumerism, for that would defeat the whole purpose of her character. Through Lisa’s character we see the connotations depicting ideological assumptions about American society.

=Apu=

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon’s story, like many immigrants’ stories, begins with alienation, indifference and bigotry (Turner 2004, 340). He is portrayed as an Indian stereotype living in America. Apu’s ethnicity was chosen simply due to the fact that many convenience store clerks in America are South Asian. Apu is a typical store clerk who knows procedures like how to behave during a robbery and how to overcharge for groceries (Turner 2004, 304). He is also a dedicated Hindu in the sense that he has his shrine full of God idols like Ganesh. With every Simpsons episode, Apu becomes a much more prominent and respected member of the Springfield community. In episode 1F10 (“Homer and Apu”), Apu becomes the main character since he loses his job at the Kwik-E-Mart and moves in with the Simpsons temporarily. In this episode, there is a brief exchange on Hindu philosophy. “I am selling only the concept of karmic realignment,” Apu tells Homer on his front step to work off his spiritual debt. “You can’t sell that!” Homer responds. “Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos.” Here, we see Apu’s character with real emotional depth and the show’s perspective on Indian culture in America has grown more sensitive and knowledgeable.

In another episode 3F31 (“//The Simpsons// 138th Episode Spectacular”), Apu introduces the Simpsons to Bollywood cinema. There is accurate detail depicting syrupy love songs, gaudy costumes with over-the-top melodrama and dancing (Turner 2004, 340). Apu’s job, his Indian heritage and his Hindu faith have all become details of his character. We can say that Apu has achieved the ultimate goal of the immigrant; he has been integrated into his adopted society; America. He does not want to become American badly enough if it means that he has to surrender his cultural roots. Choosing to be an American is clearly not the same as surrendering to American superiority on all fronts. There seems to be totalitarianism implanted in American assumptions that the world yearns to be American (Turner 2004, 342). //The Simpsons// clarifies what it takes to be American. Being American does not mean losing touch with your cultural roots and conforming to the “typical American” ideal. The Simpsons portrays a very multicultural community and it is through Apu’s character we see the connotations depicting ideological assumptions about immigrants in particular, in American society. We have seen how //The Simpsons// as a whole functions as a sign system for American society. Who knew that //The Simpsons// would be so rich in semiotics. The main reason why //The Simpsons// is so popular is because it is a post-modern, narrative cartoon, which uses irony as a social satire that allows the audience to look at American society as a big picture. Matt Groening claimed that the TV’s ultimate message is “Nothing matters.” In the introduction of the 1986 essay collection, “Watching Television”, Todd Gitlin wrote: For the most part, television lets us see only close up: shows us only what the nation already presumes, focuses on what the culture already knows-or more precisely, enables us to gaze upon something the appointed seers think we need or want to know. Television may do private service as a time killer or baby-sitter; but for the society as a whole, it is the principal circulator of the cultural mainstream. (Turner 2004, 446) If //The// //Simpsons// is a reflection of the cultural mainstream, then it suggests that its audience is deeply dissatisfied with the status quo. It also suggests that there is a large section of Western society whose priorities and values contrast with the “mainstream”. //The Simpsons// is a brilliant masterpiece that shows us that there is more to television that meets the eye. Every television show functions as an index, a sign system and that what really matters are the codes and connotations that are buried within the signifiers and signifieds.

Bibliography

IRWIN, Mark and CONRAD, Mark and SKOBLE, Aeon (2001). //The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer//. United States of America: Carus Publishing Company. TURNER, Chris (2004). //Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation//. Canada: Random House Canada.

Images courtesy of: http://www.simpsonsland.net/multimedia/images/famille/family054.gif http://www.phillydance.com/~nationalcontra/Gifs/simpsons.GIF http://uloc.nerdtank.org/media/simpsons_bei_hss.jpg http://philenain.free.fr/gifs/simpsons/lisa_cool.gif http://www.usatoday.com/life/gallery/simpsons/apu.jpg