Ideological Crystal Lattice or Machine Gun Critique?: The Simpsons' Itchy and Scratchy Land

This analysis explores the fourth episode in The Simpsons’ highly regarded sixth season. “Itchy and Scratchy Land” originally aired on October 2, 1994, and was released on DVD more than a decade later in 2005. Treating The Simpsons as a text, highlighting both its contextual nature and potential to be reread over time and in conversation with other texts, three literary tools in The Simpsons’ critical toolbox: satire, hyperbole, and cultural literacy are identified. While it has been widely acknowledged that The Simpsons uses a combination of literary devices in order to execute its social critiques, how these devices are used and why they are effective has rarely been explored.