Essays on Irreverence

In Douglas Rushkoff’s article “Bart Simpson: Prince of Irreverence,” he refers to the FOX sitcom The Simpsons as “the closest thing in America to a national media literacy program.” (Graff et al, p. 241) Within this program, the Simpson family deconstructs memes and cultural landmarks of television at a breakneck pace, holding a lantern up to the way that media works and displaying it for all to see. The Simpsons educates its viewers to view media with a more critical eye due to its irreverence and ability to recognize and lampoon the structure and politics of the media industry. This is accomplished ...

In Douglas Rushkoff’s article “Bart Simpson: Prince of Irreverence,” he refers to the FOX sitcom The Simpsons as “the closest thing in America to a national media literacy program.” (Graff et al, p. 241) Within this program, the Simpson family deconstructs memes and cultural landmarks of television at a breakneck pace, holding a lantern up to the way that media works and displaying it for all to see. The Simpsons educates its viewers to view media with a more critical eye due to its irreverence and ability to recognize and lampoon the structure and politics of the media industry. In this paper, ...

In Douglas Rushkoff’s article “Bart Simpson: Prince of Irreverence,” he refers to the FOX sitcom The Simpsons as “the closest thing in America to a national media literacy program.” (Graff et al, p. 241) Within this program, the Simpson family deconstructs memes and cultural landmarks of television at a breakneck pace, holding a lantern up to the way that media works and displaying it for all to see. Due to its irreverence and ability to recognize and lampoon the structure and politics of the media industry, The Simpsons educates its viewers to view media with a more critical eye. In this paper, ...