Your favourite yellow cartoon people
Posted by Kate
I just finished Planet Simpson, by Chris Turner. Yes, I have read 450 pages about the Simpsons, and it has been quite an education. The author gives a history of the Simpsons, discusses why it’s funny, talks about the connections between the Simpsons, the internet and Hollywood. Then he uses each chapter to explain how one character is used to represent and critique the major ills of American society.
You might think that a book about a cartoon show would be light reading, but it wasn’t. There were lots of quotes from various episodes so it could be quite fun, but at times it read like a sociology text, or worse, the ramblings of someone who just likes to use a lot of jargon. I have never seen someone write with so many ten-dollar words. For example: "As a demonstration of the West’s social fragmentation and its self-absorption, as a symbol of the gnawing decay that betrays the grandiosity of its idealistic rhetoric, there are few things to match the west’s treatment of its elderly." Relax a little, guy, and put away your thesaurus.
I have probably not done a very good summary here, as it has taken me 2 ½ months to read the book and I have forgotten a lot. I am also not any kind of Simpsons fan, so I did not read it as gospel, as many people probably will. Anyway, if I had done a better analysis, then I would be guilty of the same Simpson obsession as the author. The man had nothing bad to say about the Simpsons except that it contained many stereotypes of other cultures. But then he even turned that around and said that it was a brilliant way to show how Americans are ignorant of other cultures!
I wonder if the author realizes what it says about our society that someone has the time to write a 400+ page book on a tv show? |
I just finished Planet Simpson, by Chris Turner. Yes, I have read 450 pages about the Simpsons, and it has been quite an education. The author gives a history of the Simpsons, discusses why it’s funny, talks about the connections between the Simpsons, the internet and Hollywood. Then he uses each chapter to explain how one character is used to represent and critique the major ills of American society.
You might think that a book about a cartoon show would be light reading, but it wasn’t. There were lots of quotes from various episodes so it could be quite fun, but at times it read like a sociology text, or worse, the ramblings of someone who just likes to use a lot of jargon. I have never seen someone write with so many ten-dollar words. For example: "As a demonstration of the West’s social fragmentation and its self-absorption, as a symbol of the gnawing decay that betrays the grandiosity of its idealistic rhetoric, there are few things to match the west’s treatment of its elderly." Relax a little, guy, and put away your thesaurus.
I have probably not done a very good summary here, as it has taken me 2 ½ months to read the book and I have forgotten a lot. I am also not any kind of Simpsons fan, so I did not read it as gospel, as many people probably will. Anyway, if I had done a better analysis, then I would be guilty of the same Simpson obsession as the author. The man had nothing bad to say about the Simpsons except that it contained many stereotypes of other cultures. But then he even turned that around and said that it was a brilliant way to show how Americans are ignorant of other cultures!
I wonder if the author realizes what it says about our society that someone has the time to write a 400+ page book on a tv show? |
