Initially making their online presence more than 32 years ago, The Simpsons will be forever recognised as the ‘longest-running scripted show in television history (Fox Official Site). The show expresses the town of Springfield where the protagonist family ‘The Simpsons’ entertains the media world through crude yet witty dialect which according to the Washington Post, ‘a decent human being would have a hard time not smiling’ at.
The Simpsons family consists of ditsy yet charming father ‘Homer’, who works as a safety constructor at the local nuclear power plant, the kind hearted American housewife Marge, my favorite, the mischievous and disruptive only son of the family Bart, Lisa the highly intelligent vegetarian and Maggie, who uses her pacifier as a form of communication. I grew up learning and observing the Simpsons and through this BCM111 class, I've been invested in researching the representation of American pop culture humour and how it could be represented through cultural differences.
With its years of success, there comes no surprise that there are several translated versions created for a non-American audience. This was demonstrated in early 2005, when a satellite station located through the Middle East, MBC1, officially aired the Arabic themed screening of the Simpsons, AL Shamshoon. Unlike the westernised original, the adapted version did not resonate well with its intended audience.
In the adaptation, a range of key differences is evident, with tweaks to the show suiting the cultural context. Marge becomes Mona, Homer becomes Omar and Bart becomes Badr. Through these changes to the cartoon, the Americanised show was given cultural inflation, with the intentions of gaining an audience of equal caliber as the original Simpsons, this did not go as planned.
An article written by Shahreen Mat Nayan discusses a deep analysis of the AL Shamshoon audience response and the localisation of the Simpsons. The piece explores the potential viewings of cultural imperialism through the failed interest and airtime of AL Shamshoon exhibited.
Cultural imperiaism according to Tomlinson (2003) discusses the concern between the unequal control of cultural production and the distribution of ethnic products. This involves the translation in the media compared to the overall mass of the media, in which the manner of culture is therefore represented and reproduced, (tomlinson, 2003).
Al Shamshoom contains elements of said cultural imperialism where producers are forced to morph Americanised stereotypes that do not reflect cultural elements of the new audience. Throughout the program, many products were adapted. The infamous ‘Duff Beer’ was changed to soda, Homer does not eat bacon, and instead of donuts, Homer eats Kahk (an Arabic pastry).
In the weeks of screening Al Shamshoon on YouTube, there were 39 comments displaying ‘7 negative responses, whilst 2 were positive’ the rest were nonspecific and or islamophobia. The response towards Al Shamshoon acknowledged the Arabized version did not resonate with its intended audience as they struggled to connect to the said audience on a humorous level. This demonstrates how powerful the western world's media is compared to regional countries.
Cultural imperialism isn't the only consideration of concern with global media's possible outlook for local audiences. The evidently clear ownership and influence that the US controls over media can create a sense of cultural media dependency.
References
Ferrari, C., 2009. Dubbing The Simpsons: Or How Groundskeeper Willie Lost His Kilt in Sardinia. [online] Jstor.org. Available at: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/20688622> [Accessed 29 August 2021].
Mazzerella, S., 2007. The “Fundamental Characteristics” of Popular Communication. [online] Taylor & Francis. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15405700701294020> [Accessed 29 August 2021].
Medium. 2018. The Globalization of The Simpsons: A Study of Satire in International Media. [online] Available at: <https://medium.com/@benkurzrock/the-globalization-of-the-simpsons-a-study-of-satire-in-international-media-e0c0bf5aace1> [Accessed 29 August 2021].
ResearchGate. 2010. Converting Bart to Badr : Reviving Cultural Imperialism in The Simpsons. [online] Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303689934_Converting_Bart_to_Badr_Reviving_Cultural_Imperialism_in_The_Simpsons> [Accessed 29 August 2021].