THE SIMPSONS’ IS
- DOH! -
■The wildly popular animated
series is the subject of college
courses and critical study **
By Mason West
for the Emerald
If there is a question in anyone’s
mind about whether “The Simp
sons” is an obsession, Knight librari
an Juanita Benedicto suggests doing
an Internet search with the title and
looking at any of the resulting fan
sites. One is the Web site www.citi
zenlunchbox.com/monkey/simp
sons.html, which lists oral and visual
references to monkeys in “Simp
sons” episodes through Season 11.
“It just kind of shows you how
obsessed people are about ‘The
Simpsons’ culture,” Benedicto
said. “These people live, eat and
breathe ‘Simpsons.’”
While senior Alex Subert hasn’t
started searching for simians, he said
not a day goes by that something
doesn’t remind him of “The Simp
sons. ” But these affiliations have got
ten Subert in hot water. Once, his
girlfriend was talking about her prob
lems — which Subert said didn’t
seem like a big deal—and...
“I made a reference to the episode
when Lisa first meets Bleeding
Gums Murphy and says she doesn’t
have any real problems,” he said.
“That didn’t go over well.”
Believe it or not, Subert is still to
gether with the same girl; she even
bought him “The Simpsons — The
Complete First Season” on DVD.
Subert said he is looking forward
to the release of future seasons on
DVD, but he already has many of the
episodes on tape. Subert’s mother for
bade him to watch the show shortly
after he first heard about it in fourth
gTade (coincidentally the same grade
Bart is eternally stuck in) but Subert’s
father would tape the episodes be
hind his mom’s back for later view
ing —and reviewing, and reviewing.
“Since I’ve been watching it since
I was so young, I didn’t get all the
jokes. But now that I’ve gotten more
educated, it just gets better,” he said.
“When there’s nothing on TV, I can
always pop in a tape.”
Carl Bybee, associate professor of
journalism, said the show’s ability to
be enjoyed on multiple levels is one
of the main reasons “The Simpsons”
is so popular. Though Bybee is a ca
sual “Simpsons” fan at best, he re
cently used the episode “Homer to
the Max” to illustrate the theory of
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postmodernism in an essay he co
wrote with graduate student Ashley
Overbeck. As a testament to the
show’s endurance, Bybee said even
after reading the script for “Homer to
the Max” 10 times, he would still
laugh out loud at the jokes.
Bybee first started thinking of
“The Simpsons” as a sophisticated
text when he noticed students fre
quently using episodes as examples
in his classes on media criticism.
“In my classes, we have students
from all over the world. The only
program that I consistently run into
that everyone has seen is The
Simpsons,’” he said.
For her part, Overbeck claims to
have seen every episode at least
once and most of the syndicated
episodes anywhere from three to 10
times each.
“I can rattle off‘Simpsons’ quotes
at will and find myself saying out
loud at least once a week, ‘This re
minds me of that “Simpsons”
episode where..she said.
After using “The Simpsons” as an
example in the paper, Overbeck
prefers to remain just a fan, but she
knows “The Simpsons” is worthy of
sthdy, she said.
Sure enough, a course (Satire in
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Fit & Fun will be the
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Don’t forget to pick up
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Oregon Daily Emerald
Film and Literature) was offered
through the English department
at the University during the 2001
summer session that used “The
Simpsons,” along with other me
dia examples, to illustrate con
temporary examples of satire.
Going one step further, Siena
Heights University in Adrian,
Mich., is currently offering a phi
losophy course solely on “The
Simpsons” called “ Animated Phi
losophy and Religion” using “The
Simpsons and Philosophy: The
D’oh! of Homer” and “The Gospel
According to The Simpsons: The
Spiritual Life of the World’s Most
Amimated Family” as texts.
Benedicto found out about
this class through an article post
ed on one of the librarian re
source Web sites she frequents,
and she subsequently ordered
“The D’oh of Homer” to have as
part of the library’s collection.
No, It hasn’t arrived yet. But stu
dents can find a copy of “The
Best of The Simpsons, Vol. 11”
on VHS in the Knight Library
video collection.
The library isn’t the Universi
ty’s only connection to “The
Simpsons.” The 2001-02 Tours
and Information Manual in
cludes the campus legend that
The Pioneer statue facing John
son Hall was the inspiration for
the statue of Jebediah Springfield.
The Oregon Blue Book Web site
(www.bluebook.state.or.us) lists
“Simpsons” creator Matt Groen
ing as a “Notable Oregonian”; the
cartoonist was bom in Portland,
Ore., and lived there until he grad
uated from high school. In the TV
Guide for Oct. 21,2001, Groening
commented on 24 of the show’s
lesser characters, revealing hid
den Oregon inspirations, such as
Krusty the Clown’s origins in a
clown named Rusty Nails who
could be found in Portland during
Groening’s youth.
Trying to pin “The Simpsons”
down to a geographical location
is a common pursuit among fans
on Web sites and message boards.
Subert has no doubts that the
Simpsons’ Springfield is located
in Oregon, though not as any one
city but a combination of ele
ments from the state. There are
many other arguments (a fairly
comprehensive collection can be
found at www.irsburger.com/
funny/location.html) but really,
it’s just another way for addicts to
feed the monkey, so to speak.
Mason West is a freelance
reporter for the Otefgon'Daily'Emerafd. ' '
Where's
the harm
in ‘vice’?
Ihave to say, I take issue with
this issue. Vice, eh? When I
think of vice, I think of police
— the vice squad, busting or
ganized crime and cracking down
on prostitution. But what is vice?
The word stems from the Latin
“vitium,” meaning “fault.” The
definition my dictionary offered is
“moral depravity or corruption.”
ofbe
corrupt or
” and
Kleckner
Diary of a
Malcontent
from
good to bad in
morals.” And
“morals” gen
erally refer to
socially sanc
tioned defini
tions ofgood
and bad.
I don’t know
about anyone
else, but this is
sounding terri
bly subjective.
Some people s sanctions are differ
ent, but my moral compass tells
me that harming others is bad.
In that way, some people might
say vice is when a CEO sells his
stock as fast as Pee-Wee Herman
memorabilia moves on eBay, while
simultaneously freezing his em
ployees’ 401k plans so they can’t
' sell theirs.
One could argue that vice is
when a president and attorney
general use the deaths of thou
sands of Americans killed by ter
rorists to advance a stale conserva
tive agenda.
But in many places, the label
“vice” is still being attached to sex,
drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Gosh, that’s
so 1985, in a Nancy-Reagan-“ Just
Say-No” kind of way.
We should ask, who is being
hurt?
If I smoke a bowl, snort a line or
pop a pill instead of marinating my
liver in fermented hops or rotting
my teeth with simple sugars, it is
n’t vice — it’s recreation, unless I
let it destroy my life.
When I willingly spend eight
hours throwing away $500 in a
loud, neon-covered casino in
Nevada, it isn’t vice — it’s enter- ‘
tainment, especially if I get a lot of
free drinks.
And were I to log on to the Inter
net and spend $29.95 per month to
view a live, digitized feed of three
19-year-old men engaged in all
sorts of consensual activities in the
confines of their home, that would
be little more than pathetic — and
certainly not vice.
The things standardly labeled as
“vice” today are nothing more
than throwbacks to biblical pre
scription on human behavior. God
ly disapproval is fine for some peo
ple, but I’m much more concerned
with the damage done to others. In
a secular society, we should be en
gaged in prevention, protection
and harm reduction.
Where are the unions for sex
workers, the needle-exchange pro
grams for drug users and the warn
ing labels saying how deadly alco
hol use is? The government should
get to it.
And in the meantime, we
should focus on eliminating the
real vice: the temptation to tell
everyone else how to live.
E-mail copy chief Michael J. Kleckner
atmikekleckner@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
rfep’resent those of the Errlefald.' ‘ * ‘ *■'*