Die a Hero or Live Long Enough to See Yourself Become a Traditional American Family Sitcom: Exhausting Parody and Thirty-Three Years of The Simpsons

Abstract

Through the recontextualization of John Barth’s “textual exhaustion,” this paper explores the cause of unsuccessful textual impact in the modern popular culture sphere. Using the popular American television series The Simpsons as a case study, the author attempts to track the longest-running sitcom’s success or recent lack thereof through the use of intertextuality and textual exhaustion to understand what has caused a decline in ratings, receptions, and recreations. This paper brings reference to The Simpsons’ dual existence: first as a popular television show and second as an online hydra with a separate identity and fan base from the show itself.