Introduction to The Simpsons Universe

When exploring animation, and in this case the animated series The Simpsons, it’s worth defining what animation really is. Animation transcends from the Latin word ‘animare’ which translates to ‘give life to’. This in mind, animation is the definition of giving life to a still picture. Solis (2009) describes animation as a sequence of frames where in the objects within the frame move slightly from the previous frame. Once the frames are sped up, the objects within the frame appear to be moving. The Simpsons is the longest running American animated series. First debuting in 1989, the American sitcom has over 570 episodes, all of which mainly premiered during prime time TV. With such popularity came a franchise and the birth of a new era - The Simpsons Universe. Alongside the TV series, various video games, mobile phone applications, comics and board games support The Simpsons Universe.  Producers have even allowed The Simpsons to travel across media space and into other universes such as the Family Guy universe and the Lego Universe. The series is a comedy satire of the typical American dysfunctional family and is popular across the globe, however to what extent can The Simpsons represent reality? This blog shall explore the concept of realism and it’s portrayal in animation. Furthermore it shall look at how producers have created a ‘hyper-realistic’ Simpsons Universe through the use of transmedia storytelling, participatory culture and bricolage.

How does The Simpsons portray realism?

Realism is the representation of what is real. However, within filmmaking, realism is the representation of what is real beyond the camera. As Wells (2011, pg. 24) stated, “any definition of 'realism' as it operates within any image making practice is open to interpretation”. It could be argued that in filmmaking, producers put forward their ideas and capture a subjective reality. In other words, they capture the image they believe is best suited to that reality. However, to contradict this, certain genres such as the documentary now have certain codes and conventions to follow in order to capture realism in its purest form. When looking at animation, Wells 2011 outlined that they don't use cameras to record reality but instead, animation creates and records a reality of its own. In other words, animated films can't be complete realism since they are a remake of what a filmmaker deems as realistic.  This being said, The Simpsons is still conscious of the world it exists in. There are intertextual references to real life actors and current affairs. Gray, (2006, pg. 4) outlined the working definition of intertexuality as “the fundamental and inescapable interdependence of all textual meaning upon the structures of meaning proposed by other texts”. Simply put, intertexuality is the reference to other texts with the reliance of the audience understanding the basis of that original text. For example, in The Simpsons Movie (Silverman, 2007) Homer, the father of the Simpsons family buys a pig. In one scene, Homer addresses the pig as ‘Harry Plopper’.

Fig. 1, Harry Plopper (The Simpson Movie, 2007)

This reference to Harry Potter adds realism to The Simpsons Movie.  The producers are using Hall’s (1970) encoding and decoding model, assuming the audience will understand the reference. Hall’s model is based on the relationship between the audiences understanding of the medium. The model outlines that a text will be interpreted differently depending on the audience’s individual background and experiences. The reference to ‘Harry Plopper’ will only make sense to the audience if they know about the franchise Harry Potter. The producers of The Simpsons are reliant on their audiences to decode their intertextual reference, positioning them to take a preferred reading. By using intertexuality references, the producers of The Simpsons are indicating to parts of the real world and inserting them into the fictional Simpsons world.

Following on from this, The Simpsons often use unique ways of parodying famous celebrities and thus conforming these celebrities to their stereotypes. Take Tom Hanks for example who is ‘simpsonised’ and is voiced by himself in The Simpsons Movie. After Forest Gump, Tom Hanks is stereotypically known for playing the “good guy” in films, including The Polar Express, Saving Private Ryan and Philidelphia.  “Hanks just happens to have starred in many of the best movies of our time.” (Smith, 2012)

Fig 2. Tom Hanks (Simpsons Wiki, 2015)

Fig 3. Tom Hanks

(Anthony Mandler, 2009)

In the film the US government decides blow up Springfield and replace it with a ‘new’ Grand Canyon in which Tom Hanks advertises on TV. Tom Hanks becomes a parody of himself, “The US Government lost its credibility so it’s burrowing some of mine!” (Hanks, The Simpsons Movie, 2007). This quote reflects that the producers strategically take advantage of the trustworthy and kind stereotype behind the real life Tom Hanks and insert his character into the Simpsons world. His character is used ironically in order to sell the ‘lie’ to the audience of the advert. Gray (2006, pg.467) states “it is up to the audience to make the connection between referenced texts.” Following this, he states that “to watch and laugh at such humour, we are not only watching the Simpsons: we are watching with the Simpsons - watching the ads, Hollywood blockbusters, sitcoms, and countless other genres, and making sense of, interpreting and (re)decoding them as we view.” (2006, pg. 2) In other words, The Simpsons is a parody of every day life and producers make intertextual references to reality in order to conform to its humorous conventions. He continues his argument by addressing [parody] “constantly risks failure, miscomprehension, or simply being overlooked.” (2006, pg. 47) In response to this, it could be argued that an audience who didn’t decode the producers paradoxical message, could assume that the use of real life actors and intertexual references to the real world was in fact to create confusion between whether the Simpsons world is supposed to reflect an animated reality or a complete fictional world. The Simpsons blurs the lines between fiction and reality and we are left with ‘simulations’ of reality put forward by the producers of The Simpsons. There is no defining what is reality as producers of The Simpsons constantly mock anything and everything. This has led to predictive narrative and now, a challenge lies for audiences to decode what is parody or not within the Simpsons Universe.