{"id":5137,"date":"2019-12-18T12:08:46","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T12:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/?p=5137"},"modified":"2021-06-15T16:40:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T15:40:22","slug":"the-simpsons-at-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/the-simpsons-at-30\/","title":{"rendered":"The Simpsons at 30"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr Michael Goodrum looks at the cultural impact of The Simpsons and their enduring appeal.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

At 672 episodes, The Simpsons<\/em> is the longest-running\nsitcom in television history. Having completed its thirtieth season, and been\nrenewed for two more, it is worth thinking about the cultural significance of\nthis landmark series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show began as shorts on the Tracy Ullman Show<\/em> in\n1987, evolving into its present form in 1989. Commissioning a primetime cartoon\nwas a risk for Fox, as at the time there were no other such shows. However,\nspace was already being carved out for the Simpsons by shows such as Roseanne<\/em>\n(1988-1997, 2018), with its focus on working-class life and a more\ndysfunctional family than previously seen in American sitcoms. The Cosby\nShow<\/em> (1984-1992), which spent five consecutive seasons as the top-rated\nshow on US television, was a major rival, both in terms of the family dynamics\non display and its position in the ratings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Cosby was critical of The Simpsons<\/em>, almost\ncertainly arising from these same reasons; by 1992, Springfield had attracted\nso much attention that President George H. W. Bush stated that Americans should\nbe \u201cmore like the Waltons and less like The Simpsons.\u201d The response from the\nshow that they were like the Waltons, both \u201cwaiting for the depression to end,\u201d\nneatly showcases the satirical edge that The Simpsons <\/em>had in its early\niteration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audiences could laugh at Bart, the \u2018underachiever, and proud of it\u2019, while simultaneously being offered a model for emulation in Lisa. Its animated nature also meant that the show was able to tackle topics that other shows would skate around and led to it having a reputation as a bastion of liberal critique of contemporary American life.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The rise to prominence that took the show from gamble to\nworthy of comment by the sitting president is best represented through\nBartmania, a cultural phenomenon of 1990 that swept across everywhere the show\nwas in circulation \u2013 including my hometown where, as a seven year old, I was\nthe ideal target audience. This followed 1989\u2019s Summer of Batman that coincided\nwith the release of the Tim Burton film (which meant that my 1989 Batman figure\nmet my 1990 Bart figure and Prince\u2019s \u2018Batdance\u2019 was replaced by The Simpsons\nSing The Blues <\/em>by early 1991). This cultural cachet was derived partly from\nits careful balancing of envelope pushing while never going so far that it left\nthe window of cultural and political acceptability; this meant it was a show\nthat could be watched by different audiences in different ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early to mid 1990s, then, The Simpsons<\/em> was ascendant. Largely unchallenged, on top of its game, the series averaged viewer numbers over 20 million from 1989-1993, dropping into the teens from 1993-1999. There have been rallies in numbers since, but the downward trajectory continues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several reasons. First, there is just more choice now than there was in 1989: it is harder to command those kinds of viewing figures (though \u2018event\u2019 shows like Game of Thrones<\/em> can still do this). Second, the years of its highest numbers tend to be seen as the years of its best seasons, 1-10. Few people suggest the fifteenth, or thirtieth album by a band is their most vital, so this can partly be explained through tiredness, familiarity, the inability of something that began during the final days of the Cold War to respond as effectively to the new demands of 2019. This is highlighted in a third point, best summed up as the Apu controversy. In 2018, Hari Kondabolu released his documentary, The Problem With Apu<\/em>, which criticised the show for racial stereotyping and having a white voice actor provide the voice for an Asian character. The Simpsons<\/em> responded by having Lisa essentially lament how this was \u2018PC gone mad\u2019, an almost wilful misreading of the critique and the context. Where the show had been, according to some, a bastion of liberal thought, this suggested an inability to adjust to new norms. Fourth, the success of the show made space for competitors: South Park <\/em>(1997-present, currently on its 23rd<\/sup> season) and Family Guy<\/em> (1999-present, currently on its 18th<\/sup> season) in particular, by virtue of not being on a broadcast network, have been able to take the baton from The Simpsons<\/em> and go further than it could, or would, go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet The Simpsons<\/em> endures. It is now, without question, an American institution whose catchphrases and icons have entered our shared cultural consciousness (initially a little sniffy about the show, my Dad now has a Homer Simpson mug). That it is now, in places, problematic is clear; such are the problems inherent in ageing creators being outstripped by the culture to which they still contribute. Keeping the concerns in mind, it\u2019s still worth taking some time to go back to those classic episodes. Familiarity may have bred a little contempt by now, but we have to remember why the show is still going: it has scaled heights of humour like few other TV series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Michael Goodrum is Senior Lecturer in <\/em><\/strong>Modern History<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, in the <\/em><\/strong>School of Humanities<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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