Book: Planet Simpson

I have just finished reading Planet Simpson by Chris Turner. It is written by an academic with a very genuine love for The Simpsons. Although at times it can be a little wordy when the author gets into full flow, it nicely illustrates how over the course of more than 13 seasons, the writers of The Simpsons have created an entire parallel universe that can be used to lampoon most elements of the very complicated and crazy world we live in.

The main chapters of the book present the reader with essays on Homer as the embodiment of modern life in America and the Baby Boomer generation, Bart is the punk icon, Lisa as the social conscience of the show and in the words of the author probably the character closest resembling the ideologies of the writers, Marge as the voice of the moral majority and C. Montgomery Burns is used to represent the real rulers of western society; Capital and Corporations.

As a huge fan of the show myself, I found the numerous references to excerpts from various episodes quite amusing. I was a little disturbed however, to find that I vividly remembered every example!!

Towards the end of the book I found it to be overly long, but I enjoyed every page. I would recommend this book for any fan of the show who understands most of the jokes!

Rating: ***