The Satire Relevance of “The Simpsons” and Politics

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Political Satire and the Simpsons Show
Simpsons and the Current Political Issues
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The Simpsons is an American comedy program that Matt Groening created. It debuted on December 17, 1989, and since then, the show has been a permanent fixture in the American entertainment industry for over three decades (Ortved, 2010). The Fox animated cartoon comedy production has become a fixture of pop culture and expanded beyond comedy to using satire to comment on current issues, including guns, immigration, business, religion, and pollution. The paper covers the discussion about political satire relating to the Simpsons show and its relevance in the current political issues. In particular, the show has employed political satire to invite public discussion across varied governance issues that touch on current topics.

Political Satire and the Simpsons Show

The Simpsons show derives its roots from American history and its cultural traditions. It has deployed satire and political cartooning to drive government speech and acts of insurgency against supremacy ultimately. The first use of a political cartoon can be traced back to “Join or Die” by Benjamin Franklin (‌Boukes, 2018). It led to the trend of using political cartoons, which empowered the Simpsons show to focus on politics albeit in a thoughtful, nuanced, and curiously proactive fashion. A classic example is in Season 11’s episode “Bart to The Future” (Ortved, 2010). Just as the title suggests, Bart describes his vision for the future when Lisa would become the nation’s first female president. Curiously, Bart indicates that she would inherit a burden in the form of a budget crunch from President Trump. The comedy was released before Trump became the president of the United States.

Simpsons and the Current Political Issues

The Simpsons show is mainly involved in current political affairs, especially in highlighting the political differences between the Republican and Democratic parties. It has repeatedly featured mockeries of real-life politicians from both parties. Using satire, the actors have mocked and made fun of the parties’ ideological and policy position differences. At one time, the Democratic president, George H.W. Bush, openly denounced the show referring to its failure to help promote family values (Hayder & Al-Ebadi, 2021). However, the contrast and complexity of the political parties have caused each party to claim that the Simpsons show captures their values and thoughts. Democrats have constantly considered that the reference to Lisa’s right-on vibes is crucial in promoting the party’s ideals (Lichtenstein & Nitsch, 2022). Similarly, Republicans pick the example of Springfield’s “Spend-o-crat” Mayor Quimby’s multiple misdemeanors to suggest that the show supports their not-so-secret hatred for liberal politics (Ortved, 2010). The comedy depictions continue to elicit different political opinions among supporters of the political parties.

Conclusion

The Simpsons show has become a permanent fixture in American popular culture. It has promoted political exchange across different platforms. It has encouraged people to openly discuss different political developments by criticizing or supporting varied views of contemporary issues. It has promoted the ideals of each of the two dominant political parties in the country that encourage public discussion on current political events in the country.

References

‌Becker, A. B., & Bode, L. (2018). Satire as a source for learning? The differential impact of news versus satire exposure on net neutrality knowledge gain. Information, Communication & Society, 21(4), 612–625. Web.

‌Boukes, M. (2018). Agenda-setting with satire: How political satire increased TTIP’s saliency on the public, media, and political agenda. Political Communication, 36(3), 1–26. Web.

Burgers, C., & Brugman, B. C. (2021). How satirical news impacts affective responses, learning, and persuasion: A three-level random-effects meta-analysis. Communication Research, 49 (7). Web.

Hayder, M., & Al-Ebadi, H. K. (2021). Techniques of satire in political speeches. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt / Egyptology, 18(10), 2865–2876. Web.

Lichtenstein, D., & Nitsch, C. (2022). Content analysis in the research field of satire. Standardized Content Analysis in Communication Research, 277–286. Web.

Ortved, J. (2010). The Simpsons: An uncensored, unauthorized history. Faber And Faber.

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The Satire Relevance of “The Simpsons” and Politics

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