Homer Simpson Goes to Washington: American Politics through Popular Culture

Homer Simpson American Politics

by Joseph J. Foy (Editor)

The modern landscape of American entertainment is filled with commentary on the state of the union. Viewers turn to The Daily Show instead of Fox or CNN, satirical films such as Wag the Dog , cartoons like The Simpsons , or controversial action dramas similar to 24 in order to learn more about current events in the United States. Popular culture is educating America more than the nightly news, aiding viewers in their quest to understand the American political system.

In Homer Simpson Goes to American Politics through Popular Culture , Joseph J. Foy and other contributing scholars offer diverse political perspectives through the framework of popular culture. From the classic film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to the cutting-edge television program Chappelle's Show , a wide spectrum of entertainment media is used to explain the complexities of U.S. politics and how audiences engage with them. Popular culture and politics have never been so intertwined in the American consciousness as they are today. As political knowledge becomes increasingly fragmented, Homer Simpson Goes to Washington explains how popular culture can actually help connect people to their government.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Susan]

Interesting and fun to read, though dated. Despite that, some political issues of the time of publication are little different than the ones we face today, though more extreme now.

[George Siehl]

A few years back I shared with a colleague the idea that it would be fun to see a political scientist with a sense of humor do an assessment of governance as found in Terry Pratchett's Discworld. After reading this book, I shelve the idea. Humor does not emerge from this review by a number of political scientists of American popular culture: TV cartoon shows, movies, TV drama series, folk music, and the songs of the Vietnam era. Perhaps the thought was that a spoonful of sugar would make the lecture notes go down. However, little sugar and lots of lecture notes is the mixture provided in "Homer Simpson Goes to Washington." The entries are primarily blue polemics, with little effort made to provide balance. In the item on Vietnam era songs, for instance there is an extensive roll call of the anti-war songs and artists, but not even a mention of Barry Sadler's "Ballad of the Green Berets," a song supporters of America's troops listened to.

[Michael Robinson]

it was funny as i dont know what

[Kevin Christiansen]

I was disappointed by the book. It didn't seem to provide anything more than a surface level analysis of the topic.