The Simpsons is a guilty pleasure of mine, what about you?
The Oxford Dictionary states that guilty pleasures are when someone enjoys an art piece like film, television, or music, that is not seen in high regard[i]. While The Simpsons has been on the air for decades, it still manages to receive low-brow attention from the masses. Perhaps it has something to do with the satirical nature of the show, offering sit-com like conventions in a cartoon world. But I’ll still watch it.
However, incorporating an anonymous political street artist like Banksy into the low-brow artform of The Simpsons’ iconic couch gag… it stands out.
Walter Benjamin argues an audience enjoys art for two reasons; contemplation or distraction[ii]. In the past, The Simpsons felt more like a distraction. The show has always been a commentary of the American life, with creator Matt Groening explaining the town Springfield was chosen because there were at least 33 Springfields in America at the time, allowing the writers to depict a generalised America[iii]. But it was still a distraction. That’s not to say art cannot be both a distraction and a means for contemplation (even if Benjamin describes distraction as the alternative to contemplation[iv], I believe art pieces are an odd balance of the two, especially depending on how often you revisit that work of art).
As a five-year-old, I would watch The Simpsons with my father during dinner. We’d sit in the living room with our food on the coffee table, nearly similar to some of the scenes within the show itself. He would laugh at jokes that, on my reflections now, parodied life. Those went over my head. Instead, I would laugh when Homer or Bart did something stupid that resulted in injury. My dad would sometimes fake laugh at those moments, showing I wasn’t alone.
It’s clear in this example alone, but also the classroom conversations I had with my peers growing up, that the text of The Simpsons was being enjoyed in a combination of ways. I was watching it to be distracted. My father was watching it for a combination of a distraction of our everyday life, but also in contemplation.
The issue with The Simpsons normalising the negative elements of society around us was that these elements would become what we consider normal. Warburton states that;
“… it engages us in, and reinforces, certain patterns of thought and self-understanding that harm our ability to live as truly free people.” [v]
It is in this repetition of ideas within The Simpsons, especially in the exaggerated portrayals of American people through caricatures depicting the lower-middle class and the powerful upper-class, that we begin to form certain patterns and we no longer view society differently. Or, as Adorno fears, freely or spontaneously[vi].
Therefore, when a political artist like Banksy suddenly incorporates a couch gag that isn’t the gag we’re expecting, we’re confronted.
Couch gags always appear in the opening title sequence. As an audience, we would have heard the familiar song of The Simpsons and prepared for the distraction we’re anticipating. The jarring darkness and bleakness from the clear statement within the 1-minute couch gag leaves us confused. We wanted a distraction, but we’ve been given something to contemplate. Warburton identifies that we, the audience, want to be deceived. “We recognise that it is pop culture. We know could be better, and yet we enjoy it anyway.”[vii]
We know it’s bad yet we desire it.
The Simpsons is viewed as a form of distraction in most cases. While contemplation can exist throughout the episode, television is more likely to target an audience’s need for escape than for realisation. Research has shown that a majority of viewers use television as an ultimate form of escape when compared to other mediums such as films, books, and video games[viii]. The familiarity of a Simpsons episode allows for deeper distraction, which is perhaps one of the reasons the Banksy opener was such a jarring contrast to what audiences were expecting. It offered a moment of contemplation before going back into the usual distraction that is The Simpsons.
Distraction is perhaps one of the reasons we need stories. John Green opens a conference on why we need stories with:
“I want to defend […] popular fiction, or what is often called escapist fiction […] against the criticism that there’s something wrong with escapist fiction.” [ix]
Considering there are a plethora of story structures like The Hero’s Journey and the three-act structure, it’s not that shocking to hear stories can be reduced down to seven basic plots as discussed in Christopher Booker’s work[x]. Audiences are aware of the pattern of storytelling, whether subconsciously or not. Considering the manipulation that occurs in film language, films have even stronger patterns that audiences become familiar with. Hence the idea of genres and genre conventions. Therefore, it can be argued film is made for enjoyment and distraction. It doesn’t matter if the audience is distracted through a cinema experience, television viewing or the small screen. The type of distraction may differ, but it’s still a distraction from their life.
In contrast, auteurs offer film audiences something more. While they themselves have their own set of tropes and conventions within a film project, auteurs tend to be more experimental. A viewer walking into a Wes Anderson film may not be distracted in the same way as they would a genre film, they still have a set of expectations they know Anderson will adhere to. However, his standards appear more artistic or out-of-the-normal than general genre films, giving the audience elements to contemplate on. This balance can change depending on the auteur and of course, the art form. People have grown to understand Christopher Nolan to make films that don’t make sense. The general public often comment their confusion on stories like Inception (2010) and Tenet (2020). Therefore, when they choose to walk into his movies their state of mind is preparing for a different experience than that of genre films of even Anderson films.
Am I turning on the TV to watch a thought-provoking film at the end of my workday? No, I’m turning it on for escapist short-form fiction. I know The Simpsons is bad, and yet I desire it.
[i] Guilty Pleasure | Definition of Guilty Pleasure by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Guilty Pleasure. (2020). Retrieved 22 October 2020, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/guilty_pleasure
[ii] McLaverty-Robinson, A. (2013). Walter Benjamin: Art, Aura and Authenticity. Retrieved 22 October 2020, from https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/walter-benjamin-art-aura-authenticity/
[iii] Sommerlad, J. (2018). The Simpsons: Why TV’s longest-running sitcom offers the perfect microcosm of American society. Retrieved 22 October 2020, from https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/simpsons-tv-show-episodes-cast-america-family-longest-running-apu-racial-stereotyping-a8324841.html
[iv] McLaverty-Robinson, A. (2013). Walter Benjamin: Art, Aura and Authenticity. Retrieved 22 October 2020, from https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/walter-benjamin-art-aura-authenticity/
[v] Warburton, N. (2018). Against guilty pleasures: Adorno on the crimes of pop culture — Owen Hulatt | Aeon Essays. Retrieved 22 October 2020, from https://aeon.co/essays/against-guilty-pleasures-adorno-on-the-crimes-of-pop-culture
[vi] ibid
[vii] ibid
[viii] Earl, R. Research shows TV is the ultimate form of escapism. Retrieved 22 October 2020, from https://www.recognitionpr.co.uk/clients/id/22039
[ix] NerdCon. (2015). Why Stories Matter — John Green (NerdCon: Stories 2015) [Video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/IBk0Am9vlkA
[x] Booker, C. (2005). The seven basic plots : why we tell stories (Paperback). Bloomsbury.
