The Simpsons cartoon show is a great show, I like it. Well, truth be told I enjoy it so much I quote from it constantly. But that got me thinking, and that made me scratch my head and write this article.
The Simpsons is a good thing because it is all things pop culture. It is us so it can be a good medium for poking mankind in the eye with a light-hearted jest and still make us laugh and cry about the whole situation. It speaks to people and situations because it addresses ideas and feelings that are universal.
How it got that way is simple, it assimilated everything in mankind - even going so far as to try and skirt copyrights by making things like "Blocko" blocks instead of Lego ( We all know its lego they are refering to). "In Flanders Field" is a famous WWI poem, "When Flanders Failed" is an episode. Clancy Wiggum is the actor Edward G. Robinson in a poorly fitting uniform.
The Simpsons is a bad thing because in some ways it is the most devoid of original content platform out there. People know who Chief Wiggum is when they should know the crafty character and influential artist Edward G. Robinson was. And the biggest irony is that The Simpsons copyright material is guarded by the same copyright law they skirt when they need to. How much of the content is foreground intellectual property when it is so derivative of all of pop culture? Am I going to get sued simply by stating the name?
In this reality lies the paradox, make it universal to all but at the same time decrease its internal value to an asymptotic value of zero? Will people watch it, of course they will. Will they continue to "borrow" from everything else, of course they will until we stop asking for more episodes.
And the big question is not what is The Simpsons, but is it a force for good in society? I believe that The Simpsons meets the human need; it is entertaining. I think the Simpsons creators have spent a lot of time and effort trying to talk about things we all see everyday and maybe make us change our thinking. So if the greater good is served we can all sit down and laugh at the next eye-poke and smile. But we should also remember where it all came from. If mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, then The Simpsons remembers where the inspiration came from.
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