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Homer Simpson would have felt right at
ome at the Comix Revolution store in
vanston, Ill., recently.
He could have spent the afternoon devouring
he Krispy Kremes and Dunkin’ Donuts piled
top the table in front of the cash register.
But he wouldn’t have known what to make of
ie highbrow discussion going on between a
Jorthwestern University professor and 40 peo-
ile about censorship, satire and the arts.
It was probably just as well. They were talk-
ng about Homer and his family, and we all
now how insecure he can get.
Northwestern’s Bill Savage, a lecturer in the
nglish department and an administrator in the
lean’s office, is one of the contributors to the
lew book “Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons
wilh the Possibility of Oppositional Culture”
Wayne State University Press, $21.95).
The book takes a scholarly yet humorous
ook at how “The Simpsons” can remain so pop-
ilarand yet be countercultural at the same time.
Or, as Savage told his guests: “Can you have
omething made by an evil multinational con-
jomerate - not to put it politely - and at the
ame time say something serious about multina-
ional conglomerates and how they’ve affected
)ur world?”
Savage says “The Simpsons’” frequent digs
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Aggielife
The Battalion
Page 3 • Monday, April 5, 2004
Cowabunga, dudes
Northwestern lecturer ties ‘Simpsons’ to cultural lessons
By Patrick Kampert
KRT CAMPUS
jient help it sidestep its status as a Hollywood
leavyweight.
But despite its success as the :
ongest-running sitcom on TV, he
ontends that animation still gets
® bad rap in the United States as
ichildish art form.
“This is really an American
itltural bias that doesn't apply in
ier countries,” he said.
Savage and many scholars
Tj ncreasingly see “The Simpsons”
^satop-notch social and political
atire. No one is exempt from its
ingers, whether it’s environmen-
alists or religious conservatives.
1^5 \\. He says its up-to-the-minute
Weisls ailtural allusions, from
Anthony Robert LaPenna • KRT CAMPUS
‘Survivor” to medicinal marijua-
andLim ia, make it just as effective in
vorking on multiple levels as the
ass Co* lassie novel “Gulliver’s Travels”
vas almost three centuries ago.
“Jonathan Swift wrote that as
iabsolutely vicious satire of the
ritish culture of his day,”
lavage pointed out. “But you
an also read it as a story about
In the
culture today,
you don't
need
footnotes;
you just need
to be hip to
what ( The
Simpsons')
are doing.
— Ben Savage
lecturer at Northwestern
University
guy with the giant and the little people. If you
ead Swift’s book with annotations, then you can
;o, ‘Ah, I see.’ In the culture today, you don’t
iced footnotes; you just need to be hip to what
The Simpsons’) are doing.”
Amid the pretzels and boxes of Munchkins,
lavage treated the guests to a viewing of the
pisode “Itchy, Scratchy and Marge.”
The episode features matriarch Marge
impson’s successful campaign to tone down
artoon violence.
Marge became appalled when baby Maggie
ashed Homer in the head with a hammer after
vatching cartoon characters use mallets on each
D
ther. But when Springfield residents ask Marge
o lead another censorship battle to protest
dichelangelo’s naked sculpture of David arriv-
ng on tour in the town, she doesn’t see what the
concuss is about.
Afterward, audience members questioned
Savage about censorship.
One guest complained that the
federal government recently cut
closed-captioning funding for
dozens of TV shows, including
“The Simpsons.”
Another noted the parallels
between this episode, which was
from the show's second season, and
current events as the Federal
Communications Commission and
radio companies try to crack down on
shock jocks such as Howard Stern.
Savage said he hates Stern’s
show but finds Rush Limbaugh
equally offensive.
“If I was in charge, I know
whose show I would take off the
air,” he said. “Neither of them.”
The majority of the crowd at
Comix Revolution was about as old
as grade schoolers Bart or Lisa
Simpson when the show arrived on
the scene, first as part of “The
Tracey Ullman Show” in 1987, and
then when it became a stand-alone
series in 1989.
Jennifer Johannesen, a Nothwestem University
graduate student, said it took time for the show to
grow on her.
“In the beginning, it was all about ‘Do the
Bartman’ or about the T-shirts that said ‘Eat my
shorts,”’ she said. “When I got into high school
and college, the subtlety of it was more apparent
to me and that’s when I started enjoying it.”
Dave Weigel, a senior at Northwestern, didn’t
need to warm up to the show. He said he remem
bers watching “Ullman” with his parents and
eagerly anticipating the debut of “The
Simpsons” as a series.
“I’ve been watching it ever since then. If I
miss an episode, it’s because I have a medical
emergency,” he joked.
He spent some time in the store examining a
plush toy of Shake, one of the fast-food heroes
of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” from Cartoon
Network’s “Adult Swim.”
Weigel said that the ironic and self-referential
Anthony Robert LaPenna • KRT CAMPUS
Top: Bill Savage, a Northwestern University lecturer, introduces the book “Leaving Springfield” to the
audience.
Bottom: Amy Danzer watches an episode of “The Simpsons” prior to the discussion at Comix Revolutions
store in Evanston, III.
humor of the “Adult Swim” shows owes a big
debt to Homer and family. He says he’s confi
dent “The Simpsons” will get its due when his
tory weighs in on the matter.
“The only thing that’s keeping them from
being a piece of art like 'Don Quixote’ or 'A
Midsummer Night’s Dream' is a couple hundred
years,” he said.
Actually, the wait may not be that long.
Savage, for example, may be teaching a class on
pop culture - including “The Simpsons” - start
ing next year.
Show your graduate and professional students that they are
WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD!
Graduate and Professional
Student Appreciation Week
ryh_oth
As part of GPS A Week,
graduate and professional
students are invited to attend
the Volleyball Bash Mix n Mingle
Wed., April 7th 5:30-7:30 pm
Rec Center Backyard. STUDENT
Life
CM*** »!*«***
Do you want to be a Physician Assistant?
Physician Assistant’s
Basics Workshop Dates
Seminar Dates
Mar. 8 @ 10:00 a.m.
Mar. 25 @ 10:00 a.m.
April 13 @ 2:00 p.m.
April 21 @ 2:00p.m.
May 11 @ 3:00p.m.
June 17 @ 11:00 a.m.
July 21 @ 2:00 p.m.
If you are interested in applying to P.A. school for entrance in 2005, then please
contact the Office of Professional School Advising at 847-8938 or come by room
205 of the Academic Building to register. The workshop location will be given
to you at the time of registration.