Pub Date : 2021-10-05DOI: 10.5117/9789462988316_ch02
M. Fink
The Simpsons emerged out of a unique moment in U.S. television history, when Fox Broadcasting began to establish itself as the fourth nationwide broadcasting network by targeting a young-adult audience with its brand of “alternative TV.” In addition to interrogating Fox’s strategy, this chapter introduces the central figures behind The Simpsons. More specifically, I analyze the role of James L. Brooks, whose name and clout as a successful writer-producer largely helped to launch the series. Furthermore, I spotlight the show’s “father,” Matt Groening, an alternative cartoonist who entered the television industry as a sort of “auteur import” from alternative comics culture, thus furnishing the program with street cred and a subcultural sensibility.
《辛普森一家》诞生于美国电视史上一个独特的时刻，当时福克斯广播公司(Fox Broadcasting)开始以“另类电视”的品牌定位年轻人，成为第四大全国性广播公司。除了质问福克斯的策略，本章还介绍了《辛普森一家》背后的核心人物。更具体地说，我分析了詹姆斯·l·布鲁克斯(James L. Brooks)的角色，作为一名成功的作家兼制片人，他的名字和影响力在很大程度上帮助了这部剧的推出。此外，我还重点介绍了该剧的“父亲”马特·格勒宁(Matt Groening)，他是一名另类漫画家，作为另类漫画文化的“导演输入”进入电视行业，从而为该剧提供了街头信誉和亚文化敏感性。
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{"title":"List of Images","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv1z9n0vc.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1z9n0vc.3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":147065,"journal":{"name":"Understanding The Simpsons","volume":"75 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125063005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-05DOI: 10.5117/9789462988316_ch04
M. Fink
An important reason for The Simpsons’ impact and longevity as a media franchise has been the show’s dedication to representing popular culture. From film and television history to sci-fi and comics culture, from rock music to street art—popular culture has provided The Simpsons with a wealth of figures, narratives, and themes to convert (sub)cultural capital into commercial entertainment. As this chapter shows, one particularly prominent domain of popular culture that The Simpsons invested in was media fandom. Positive depictions as well as mockery of media fans (including Simpsons fans) created both gestures of affiliation and discipline that have targeted the tastes of fan consumers as a valuable audience group for Fox and the Simpsons series.
{"title":"High Fives on Prime Time: Representing Popular Culture","authors":"M. Fink","doi":"10.5117/9789462988316_ch04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462988316_ch04","url":null,"abstract":"An important reason for The Simpsons’ impact and longevity as a media\u0000 franchise has been the show’s dedication to representing popular culture.\u0000 From film and television history to sci-fi and comics culture, from rock\u0000 music to street art—popular culture has provided The Simpsons with a\u0000 wealth of figures, narratives, and themes to convert (sub)cultural capital\u0000 into commercial entertainment. As this chapter shows, one particularly\u0000 prominent domain of popular culture that The Simpsons invested in\u0000 was media fandom. Positive depictions as well as mockery of media\u0000 fans (including Simpsons fans) created both gestures of affiliation and\u0000 discipline that have targeted the tastes of fan consumers as a valuable\u0000 audience group for Fox and the Simpsons series.","PeriodicalId":147065,"journal":{"name":"Understanding The Simpsons","volume":"431 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125756589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-05DOI: 10.5117/9789462988316_ch03
M. Fink
The cultural climate of the 1990s has rendered irony the dominant mode of both media consumption and production. This chapter highlights The Simpsons’ pivotal role as a TV show contributing to the cultivation of what I dub “meta-television culture” in reference to John Fiske’s key work in television studies, 1987’s Television Culture. More specifically, I argue that, by working elements of spectator culture into the parodic framework of an animated sitcom, The Simpsons has both tapped into and reinforced a cultural sensibility of meta-media humor, which characterized the zeitgeist of young adults in the 1980s and 1990s.
{"title":"More than Just a Cartoon: Meta-Television Culture and the Age of Irony","authors":"M. Fink","doi":"10.5117/9789462988316_ch03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462988316_ch03","url":null,"abstract":"The cultural climate of the 1990s has rendered irony the dominant mode\u0000 of both media consumption and production. This chapter highlights The\u0000 Simpsons’ pivotal role as a TV show contributing to the cultivation of what\u0000 I dub “meta-television culture” in reference to John Fiske’s key work in\u0000 television studies, 1987’s Television Culture. More specifically, I argue that,\u0000 by working elements of spectator culture into the parodic framework of\u0000 an animated sitcom, The Simpsons has both tapped into and reinforced\u0000 a cultural sensibility of meta-media humor, which characterized the\u0000 zeitgeist of young adults in the 1980s and 1990s.","PeriodicalId":147065,"journal":{"name":"Understanding The Simpsons","volume":"77 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127811484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-05DOI: 10.1515/9789048540334-011
M. Fink
The concluding chapter revisits the central idea behind this book—The Simpsons’ trajectory into the age of convergence culture. More specifically, the chapter discusses notions of the civic imagination and fan activism in relation to The Simpsons, as well as the contested relationship between the producers of a profitable media franchise and participatory culture. In this connection, I interrogate the idea of cultural participation going full circle and feeding back to the original text. Traditionally, the media industries have resisted interference with what they consider their intellectual property. But at the same time, they have to open up their work to popular discourse in order for a product to remain popular and thus to survive in the marketplace of convergence culture.
{"title":"Conclusion: The Simpsons, Cultural Feedback Loops, and the Case of Apu","authors":"M. Fink","doi":"10.1515/9789048540334-011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048540334-011","url":null,"abstract":"The concluding chapter revisits the central idea behind this book—The\u0000 Simpsons’ trajectory into the age of convergence culture. More specifically,\u0000 the chapter discusses notions of the civic imagination and fan activism in\u0000 relation to The Simpsons, as well as the contested relationship between\u0000 the producers of a profitable media franchise and participatory culture.\u0000 In this connection, I interrogate the idea of cultural participation going\u0000 full circle and feeding back to the original text. Traditionally, the media\u0000 industries have resisted interference with what they consider their intellectual\u0000 property. But at the same time, they have to open up their work\u0000 to popular discourse in order for a product to remain popular and thus\u0000 to survive in the marketplace of convergence culture.","PeriodicalId":147065,"journal":{"name":"Understanding The Simpsons","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125861617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-05DOI: 10.5117/9789462988316_ch01
M. Fink
This chapter traces the concept of participatory media culture as it has emerged from the field of cultural studies and evolved through the work of John Fiske and Henry Jenkins. Building on Fiske’s thinking, Jenkins’s scholarship on media fandom has fundamentally revised cultural studies’ traditional neo-Marxist perspective of (sub-)cultural resistance versus an assumed dominant ideology. In order to outline a theoretical framework for this study, the chapter reconsiders the concept of participatory culture and specifies its political as well as its poetic particularities. In addition, I discuss popular culture’s participatory character in relation to Fiske’s notion of popular cultural capital and what I call “popular semiosis.”
{"title":"Bart Talks Back: The Politics and Poetics of Participatory Culture","authors":"M. Fink","doi":"10.5117/9789462988316_ch01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462988316_ch01","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter traces the concept of participatory media culture as it has\u0000 emerged from the field of cultural studies and evolved through the work\u0000 of John Fiske and Henry Jenkins. Building on Fiske’s thinking, Jenkins’s\u0000 scholarship on media fandom has fundamentally revised cultural studies’\u0000 traditional neo-Marxist perspective of (sub-)cultural resistance versus an\u0000 assumed dominant ideology. In order to outline a theoretical framework\u0000 for this study, the chapter reconsiders the concept of participatory culture\u0000 and specifies its political as well as its poetic particularities. In addition,\u0000 I discuss popular culture’s participatory character in relation to Fiske’s\u0000 notion of popular cultural capital and what I call “popular semiosis.”","PeriodicalId":147065,"journal":{"name":"Understanding The Simpsons","volume":"57 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120999554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-05DOI: 10.5117/9789462988316_ch05
M. Fink
One of the main reasons behind The Simpsons’ success was the series’ conflation of fan sensibilities and mass appeal. This chapter traces the ways in which The Simpsons’ producers created a prime-time television franchise and merchandising empire that still managed to carry cult status for a devoted fan community. In this context, I discuss strategies of fan marketing, transmedia storytelling, audience interaction, and contested claims of intellectual property. Finally, the chapter examines instances where the interests and economies of The Simpsons’ producers and participatory culture have converged, as well those in which they have clashed.
{"title":"At the Edge of Convergence Culture: Engaging in the Simpsons Cult","authors":"M. Fink","doi":"10.5117/9789462988316_ch05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462988316_ch05","url":null,"abstract":"One of the main reasons behind The Simpsons’ success was the series’\u0000 conflation of fan sensibilities and mass appeal. This chapter traces the ways\u0000 in which The Simpsons’ producers created a prime-time television franchise\u0000 and merchandising empire that still managed to carry cult status for a\u0000 devoted fan community. In this context, I discuss strategies of fan marketing,\u0000 transmedia storytelling, audience interaction, and contested claims\u0000 of intellectual property. Finally, the chapter examines instances where\u0000 the interests and economies of The Simpsons’ producers and participatory\u0000 culture have converged, as well those in which they have clashed.","PeriodicalId":147065,"journal":{"name":"Understanding The Simpsons","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132105163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-01DOI: 10.5117/9789462988316_ch06
M. Fink
This chapter analyzes the extent to which the series has become reworked and repurposed in the realm of contemporary remix culture. Most notably, the series’ semiosis has resonated not only with an avid fan community but with participatory culture at large. In particular, “Simpsonizing”—the art of translating people’s physiognomies into Simpsons characteristics—has popularized a form of caricature and comedic representation. Besides examining Simpsons-related fan productions exhibiting nostalgic sentiments, this chapter looks into revitalizations of the show’s characters and video remixes of The Simpsons’ intro sequence. Finally, I focus on Simpsons imagery used in political contexts in Germany to provide a more profound exploration of The Simpsons’ semiosis used in participatory culture’s civic imagination.
{"title":"Echoes of Springfield: The Simpsons in Remix Culture","authors":"M. Fink","doi":"10.5117/9789462988316_ch06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462988316_ch06","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter analyzes the extent to which the series has become reworked\u0000 and repurposed in the realm of contemporary remix culture. Most notably,\u0000 the series’ semiosis has resonated not only with an avid fan community but\u0000 with participatory culture at large. In particular, “Simpsonizing”—the art\u0000 of translating people’s physiognomies into Simpsons characteristics—has\u0000 popularized a form of caricature and comedic representation. Besides\u0000 examining Simpsons-related fan productions exhibiting nostalgic sentiments,\u0000 this chapter looks into revitalizations of the show’s characters\u0000 and video remixes of The Simpsons’ intro sequence. Finally, I focus on\u0000 Simpsons imagery used in political contexts in Germany to provide a more\u0000 profound exploration of The Simpsons’ semiosis used in participatory\u0000 culture’s civic imagination.","PeriodicalId":147065,"journal":{"name":"Understanding The Simpsons","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123107625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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