Welcome to the first ever Cartoon Conversation, which I plan to be a semi-regular written essay series where I break down cartoons, their influence, importance, and purpose. Why would I, a grown man, devote a not insignificant part of my time to this series even though I’m not getting paid for it? Because I truly believe cartoons and adjacent media have a larger impact on our society than we give them credit for and we can achieve a better understanding of our culture through studying them. Also because fuck you I can do what I want with my life MOM.
And for the first ever entry in this series, I’ve chosen to focus on:
That’s right. Go hard or go home, I say. Unfortunately, this selection doesn’t actually give me much of a vein to hit. There have been entire books devoted to breaking down the cultural imprint that ‘The Simpsons’ have left on western civilization, so there’s not much that I can really add to the existing academic conversation, but I can certainly add my perspective on the subject. For starters, I’m a part of one of the first generations whose introduction to ‘The Simpsons’ came after the series’ recognized golden years. As such, my personal relationship and, I suspect, the relationship of many people my age with one of the most generation-defining shows of all time is different then what might be expected.
Growing up, I was under the impression that ‘The Simpsons’ was this masterpiece of modern television, a groundbreaking development of culture and comedy. But nobody who’s watched the show since the late 1990s, could walk away with that impression. Sure, it’s had its moments in the intervening years, but with ‘Family Guy’ pushing the envelope further in terms of crude humor, ‘Bob’s Burgers’ featuring better character dynamics, and ‘American Dad’ using more relevant social commentary, ‘The Simpsons’ didn’t really seem to have a defined place anymore. And yet, it still has an enviable timeslot in Fox’s Sunday night lineup, get consistently decent ratings, and has continued into its 30th season with no indication of it ending anytime soon.
But why? Why is it still kicking after three decades? If it doesn’t serve a palpable purpose outside of reminding people that it used to be amazing, why do we tolerate such a mediocre show when newer, more passionate artists and creators could better benefit from our attention?
To answer that question, I first have to make one thing clear: in its heyday, ‘The Simpsons’ wasn’t just the funniest, most poignant thing on television, it was the funniest, most poignant thing that had ever been on television. Not only did it set a precedent as one of the first animated shows not specifically made for children, but it was one of the most successful shows since ‘All in the Family’ to address important social issues through the lens of era-inappropriate humor.
It also revolutionized the concept of the status quo. It was tradition in serialized television for everything to be set back to normal standards at the end of each episode. This was something of a bug in the decades preceding ‘The Simpsons’ as it severely limited any and all attempts at character progression. ‘The Simpsons’ turned it into a comedy weapon, using it to get away with increasingly outrageous narratives. You know the famous episode of ‘Happy Days’ where Fonzie coined the term “jumping the shark” by doing just, marking a significant tonal shift that soured the final few seasons of the show? Homer Simpson did something in the episode “Bart the Daredevil” where he fails to jump a ravine on a skateboard, Evel Knievel style. That was in the second season of the show. The most commonly considered jumping the shark moment of ‘The Simpsons,’ the episode “The Principal and the Pauper,” was still seven seasons away. All without the structural support of a laugh track.
That was just the kind of advantage ‘The Simpsons’ had over every other show that had ever used the status quo convention. And this was largely by design as ‘The Simpsons’ is and always has been first and foremost a parody of sitcoms from the mid to late 20th century, most of which used a floating timeline to establish a defined status quo. They also tended to use broad archetypes instead of characters to make up for the lack of narrative progression. And how did ‘The Simpsons’ interpret this? By making their characters as extreme and over-the-top as those archetypes would allow.
Homer Simpson isn’t just a well-meaning but clueless father figure, he’s every hapless sitcom dad rolled into one emotion-driven, child-choking, food-obsessed blob. Marge isn’t just a protective matriarch of her household, she’s the female epitome of the keeping-up-with-the-joneses, white-picket-fence Americana that sitcom housewives had been striving for since the Depression. Bart isn’t just the rambunctious boy stereotype, he’s such a destructive and unrepentant troublemaker that he embodied the very concept of “youth in rebellion” better than any fictional character since Bill Waterson retired.
Most importantly, Lisa isn’t just the eye-rolling, holier-than-thou smart one of the family, she’s every ignored and exasperated middle child stuck in the doldrums of suburbia surrounded by an infantile family that served as the straight man in just about every family comedy ever. The same kind of pretentious but witty child that could eventually grow-up, move to L.A., and get a job as a comedy writer on a show satirizing the safe, fictitious family life that pop culture had spent decades propagating.
And that is probably a good point to start talking about how ‘The Simpsons’ started to go downhill.
Ostensibly, the quality of ‘The Simpsons’ follows the same logic as the quality of science-fiction novels. Both are never as good as what came out when you were twelve. As such, the decrease of ‘The Simpsons’s popularity is largely a subjective matter. But it says a lot that a first-time viewer of ‘The Simpsons’ today is probably going to enjoy it to a similar degree that someone would enjoy it ten years ago.
On the surface, what that means is that the show’s writing hasn’t gotten worse, at least since a significant and noted dip sometime around season 9. In the modern day, ‘The Simpsons’ has a rotating writing staff that ensures that the tone never gets stale, a consistent production team to make sure that the characters and visual style remains consistent, and a combination of a continuous flow of new viewers and life-long devotees to the series who have basically guaranteed that it won’t go off the air for as long as Matt Groening wants a payday. But the problem is that the world and pop culture that ‘The Simpsons’ was designed to parody no longer exists.
It goes without saying that the world has changed somewhat from the world of the late 80s-early 90s. For one thing, you’re reading this on the internet, where any idiot with a good enough lexicon can sound smart, as opposed to a newspaper or magazine, where you actually have to have some credibility to be published. And the internet, as well as other massive cultural shifts from the late 20th century that change hos we view the world around us, is as responsible as anything for ‘The Simpsons’ falling off the pedestal that it was once placed upon.
So what does a parody do when it no long has anything to parody? Inevitably, as ‘The Simpsons’ found out, it turns the lens of satire upon itself. In the first few seasons, the show had been so popular that it had integrated into the mainstream pop culture. It had become enfranchised. Kids could buy ‘The Simpsons’ merchandise while adults could read about the impact the show was having on their culture in magazines with Bart on the cover. The characters who were once parodies of sitcom archetypes were now parodies of themselves.
For example, when was the last time you saw Bart, once the heir apparent of Dennis the Menace, do something that was edgy or boundary-pushing in any meaningful way? Lisa was originally a put-upon bookworm, informed enough to recognize the tragic nature of her position in life but too young and directionless to initiate any real change. She was a stand in for the writers who abhorred how dependent her family was on the confines of society, how divided and unequal and unjust the world seemed. On today’s ‘Simpsons,’ Lisa is a generic, left-leaning millennial who giggles like a fangirl at every needless celebrity cameo she comes across, which happens far too often.
Perhaps one of the most poignant examples, Homer was once an almost tragic figure. He wanted to do right by his family, but was thwarted at almost every turn not by higher forces outside his control, but by his own stupidity and carelessness. And he’s just smart enough to recognize that his unique take on the world is informed by his own failings, but isn’t self-aware enough to identify exactly what his failings are. But today’s version of Homer has been boiled down into exactly the stereotype he was meant to satirize. He’s just an unrepentant idiot dad who gets away with being an unrepentant idiot dad because that’s what happens to unrepentant idiot dads in sitcoms.
Take one of his most famous jokes, in which Homer rushes into a room to take a call while nearly naked.
The joke is that wearing a towel and hearing have nothing to do with each other, but to Homer’s lackadaisical mind the connection is clear and doesn’t require explanation. It’s a joke informed by character, executed with a straight tone of voice, and is made all the funnier by its speed. You’d never expect Homer to say it, but it’s absolutely something Homer would say. More importantly, it’s something only Homer would say.
Now take a joke from a more recent episode.
You might be wondering why I didn’t use a clip for this joke. That’s because the joke is just the image itself. It’s supposed to be funny because Homer, a full-grown man, is watching TV like a little kid. And he seems very comfortable and content with himself for doing so. This doesn’t really work as a joke because Homer’s childish posture mimics the tone of the show. He’s not doing something that wouldn’t be expected or would surprise anyone, even first-time viewers. It’s not entirely predictable, but it’s not as surprising as the towel joke.
More to the point, anyone could make an attempt at a joke with this posture, it’s not unique to Homer. You could put Bryan Cranston’s character from ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ in the same position and the joke would hit about the same. In fact, it could even hit harder because Hal was a much more put together dad, so seeing him reclining like a teenage girl would be a humorous contrast to his somewhat more laced-up personality.
There are hundreds of other factors at play in ‘The Simpson’s transition to mediocrity. Again, there have been entire books written about this and I've had to skip over a lot of nuance and minutia about the individual problems of various writers, producers, and even voice actors. But the long and short of it is that ‘The Simpsons’ has gone from being one of the most relevant, scathing parodies of modern society to a reasonably funny animated show still surviving by the credit it built up in the first ten years of its existence. A reserve that is beginning running dry after a few decades of inadequacy. At this point, the running joke of ‘The Simpsons’ is that ‘The Simpsons’ is just a running joke. One that’s gone on far too long.
So why is ‘The Simpsons’ still around?
For starters, there’s the matter that the show does still have a sizable audience. While they haven’t been breaking ratings records or winning awards for a while and are regularly outpaced by some other shows, ‘The Simpsons’ still does pretty good for its timeslot. And as long as Fox can sell that ad time for premium rates, they’ll keep producing it, regardless of how its quality dips.
More importantly, ‘The Simpsons’ is still on the air because there’s no immediately viable way for it to leave. Imagine for a minute that ‘The Simpsons’ were to be cancelled. How would you react? How would that make you feel? Because regardless of how you feel about it now, there was at least one point in your life where you first met Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. And whether it was the witty writing, cartoonish slapstick, or just the good-natured heart at the soul of the series that it’s had since day one, you enjoyed and connected with it on some not inconsequential level. If Fox ever cancelled it, they’d have to deal with the cultural backlash of multiple generations rediscovering just what made them fall in love with the show in the first place and getting pretty pissed that such a cultural touchstone was going away. Imagine the depression people expressed when Toys’R’Us went out of business times a thousand.
A lot of things have been said about ‘The Simpsons’ over the years, but the most telling quote from anyone in the know is a comment from former showrunner Mike Scully, who was in charge of production from season nine to season thirteen, which many consider to be the turning point where the show began to slip downhill. In a 2007 interview, Scully was asked how ‘The Simpsons’ had managed to last as long as it had. He answered, “Lower your quality standards. Once you've done that you can go on forever."
And that honestly might be the best way to enjoy ‘The Simpsons’ in this day and age. Watch it, and if you’re not entertained take a moment to remember all the great moments you’ve enjoyed from the show’s golden age. Bart just barely passing his test. Sideshow Bob and the rakes. Homer becoming a Bond villain’s lackey. Krusty’s heartfelt connection with his Rabbi father. Dozens of unique musical numbers, hundreds of celebrity cameos, and 651 unique couch gags. Accept that even when ‘The Simpsons’ does inevitably end, it’s legacy will go on forever. Then lower your quality standards and try again.
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