Simpsons Pomo
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Explaining postmodernism terms
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Simpsons Pomo
- 1. The Simpsons
- 2. The Primary Parody Traditional Family Values Homer: Marge, there's an empty spot I've always had inside me. I tried to fill it with family, religion, community service, but those were dead ends! I think this chair is the answer. Homer: Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get.
- 3. PLURALISM Lisa: It's awful being a kid. No one listens to you. Abe: It's rotten being old. No one listens to you. Homer: I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me -- no matter how dumb my suggestions are. Simpsons in Australia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= KJOdpwL6X6A
- 4. INTERTEXTUALITY Openly borrowing from the conventions, story or techniques of another work A Streetcar Named Marge: • A Streetcar Named Desire • The Birds – Hitchcock • The Great Escape • Citizen Kane • Ayn Rand Also treated satirically: • Theatre Directors, theatre generally
- 5. PASTICHE – a homage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcm M7Jh2Y3k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc Rr-Fb5xQo The criticism of postmodernism: Flat, depthless, glossy and without an understanding of history
- 6. ECLECTICISM & HyperREALITY A fusion of genres, themes, influences and techniques EXAMPLE: Treehouse of Horror Musical, Horror, Comedy, also borrows from cult classics (influences/intertextuality ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adn XGZ-IAa0 Treehouse of Horror Homer3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h0 _6SdKNh4&list=TL-iH4XYnCGr4
- 7. FRAGMENTATION Subversion of Grand Narratives Everything is Subjective: no unified world view Episodes ‘all over the place’ with tangents and digressions EXAMPLE: 22 Short Films About Springfield Review of 22 Short Films About Springfield which looks into the lives of many of the Springfield characters; key influence in ‘Pulp Fiction’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl_e5Y7z8jc
- 8. APPROPRIATION the difference between ‘appropriation’ and ‘pastiche’ or ‘homage’ is re- contextualising
- 9. IRONY vs. Sarcasm? BART: , thanks to television, I can't remember what happened eight minutes ago. [Everyone laughs uproariously except Bart] No, really, I can't! It's a serious problem. [Everyone laughs again, and Bart finally relents and laughs too] What are we all laughing about? HOMER: [joyously] Who cares? Anyways.... MARGE: It's not like you go to museums or read books or anything. HOMER: You think I don't want to? It's those TV networks, Marge: they won't let me. One quality show after another, each one fresher and more brilliant than the last. If they only stumbled once, just gave us thirty minutes to ourselves, but they won't! They won't let me live!
- 10. Metatextuality Bart: Hey, Lis, look! They're adding a new character to Itchy & Scratchy! Poochie the dog?! Lisa: Adding a new character is often a desperate attempt to boost low ratings. Roy: Yo, yo! How's it hangin', everybody! Marge: Morning, Roy! Homer: Yeah, hi, Roy.
- 11. And the point of pointlessness? Anti-authoritarian Subversive Skeptical Iconoclastic Attacks religious, political, academic or legal authority: everything is subjective Authority figures are made fun of, are incompetent or corrupt Nothing can be known for certain Established beliefs and institutions are challenged
- 12. References A Streetcar Named Marge http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/A_Streetcar_Named_ Marg retrieved 13 August 2013 Bjornsson 2006, Postmodernism and The Simpsons – Intertextuality, Hyperreality and Critique of Metanarratives
Editor's Notes
- PASTICHE: where the idea isn’t to comment on the artist whose ideas/images/techniques are being drawn upon, but to use them to create a supporting interpretation or to create a tribute to them. However, the Don Draper/Mad Men opening also shows us a postmodern view of life, such as the criticism (ON SLIDE) of Jameson on what postmodernism is: Flat, depthless, glossy and without an understanding of history. Don Draper’s character works in advertising. His job is to elide the products he is promoting with other values which may be entirely unrelated to the product but his role is to create that association. Ironically, Don draws on his own feelings to create his advertisements and they are based in the deeper responses of his own mind BUT in the opening credits, we see how they are rendered.
- In Treehouse of Horror VI – episode: Homer3, not only is intertextuality used but also the styles are blurred entirely for the cartoon genre. There is 3D imaging referencing TRON the movie, then Homer is ejected into the ‘real world’… This whole idea of ‘what is real’ and ‘what is not’ being blurred is also a postmodern feature: called Hyperreality. Homer goes into a ‘virtual matrix style world’ like in Tron. From that he is ejected into another reality which looks like the reality you and I live in. But for him this is some horrible parallel universe or a dream from which he could wake up. Of course, this is ironic. This isn’t just about the whole ‘what is a dream’ and ‘what is not’: or in this case ‘what is the “real world” and what is not. On another level, this whole ‘what’s real anyway’ is about the world being viewed subjectively – that my reality and your reality are two different realities because our subjective ‘FILTERS’ what we see. For Homer, our reality is a total fiction, a sci fi cum horror film mock up. And just like the Emperor who dreamed he was a butterfly then woke to wonder if he wasn’t just a butterfly dreaming he is a man, we are left to wonder if we are just a cartoon character dreamt up by Homer Simpson - ???