High Fives on Prime Time: Representing Popular Culture

Abstract

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.