Dr. Andrew Wood Office: HGH 210; Phone: (408) 924-5378 Email: wooda@email.sjsu.edu Web: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda

Reading: Matheson, C. (2001). The Simpsons, hyper-irony, and the meaning of life. In W. Irwin, M.T. Conard, and A. Skoble's The Simpsons and philosophy: The d'oh of Homer. Chicago: Open Court.

Note: These comments are not designed to "summarize" the reading. Rather, they are available to highlight key ideas that will emerge in our classroom discussion. As always, it's best to read the original text to gain full value from the course.

In the Matheson excerpt (pp. 115-117), the author explores contrasting theories about the "essence of painting." Is the purpose of painting to reproduce nature on canvas? To reproduce human perceptions on canvas? Or should painting produce a hybrid reality as the artist seeks to merge the perception of nature with the limitations of a two-dimensional canvas? In many ways, this question refers us back to our previous discussion of classical, modern, and postmodern knowledge once we accept that painting reflects a kind of knowledge about the world. In a classical sense, painting would attempt to reproduce true forms of nature, though it could never quite succeed. In a modern sense, painting could accurately reproduce the experience of physical reality of nature if crafted by an expert technician. A postmodern sensibility would dispense with questions of truth altogether and concentrate on the form and the medium of art.

When Matheson describes the "end of art," he illustrates this process in which creative works no longer may be seen as part of a history of truer and truer representation. Artists are left to merely play with styles, commenting ironically upon previous eras of truth. Matheson extends this discussion beyond art to consider notions of history and philosophy as gradually abandoning any claims toward truth. He cites Thomas Kuhn's proposal (in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) that the history of science may not be termed a linear narrative toward more perfect knowledge but rather a series of abrupt changes in world-views. Similarly, Matheson describes the deconstructionist theories of Jacques Derrida who eschews the possibility of coherent narratives and truths because of their contradictory nature.

Do we see a similar "crisis of authority" in The Simpsons? Matheson responds that the show provides a pop culture illustration of quotationalism as we replace unfolding narratives with references to previous narratives. Moreover, you might recall examples in The Simpsons as characters struggle with the nature of truth. Consider an episode when Marge is asked to paint Mr. Burns. Can she produce an image that reflects Burns' true nature? Should she provide a precise reproduction of his physical form, ignoring questions of truth or perception? Or shall Marge dispense with truth completely and reproduce a fantasy form of Homer's boss that will not get her husband fired? Perhaps her choice is meaningless; the value of the painting may be limited to commercial exchange or the power of her boss to display or destroy it. If this is so, The Simpsons provides an all-too-contemporary example of "truth" in contemporary life.

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