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July 15, 2007
¡Ay Carumba!
As you've probably heard by now, Homer and the gang now officially live in Springfield, Vermont. In case you're wondering, Springfield, Vermont is located here:
Yes, out of the 100+ Springfields in the U.S., and thanks to the magic of movie marketing, Vermont's little town that could is now even less... real.
The roughly 10,000 residents of the town "...where the rivers flow"© managed to convince about 6,000 non-Springfielders to vote for them, based at least in part on the Simpsons tribute video the town created. You can watch all of the videos submitted by hopeful Springfields here.
I guess I'm ambivalent about this because I really don't think that the stars of TV's longest running sitcom and animated series are woodchucks.* Of course, not being a Vermonter™ myself, I can only offer an outsider's perspective, which as all Real True Vermonters will tell you, is less than worthless.
Anyway you look at it, though, Springfield, Vermont is now the home of animated characters whose relevance to current popular culture is clearly in decline. If The Simpsons were still a trenchant force for insightful cultural commentary, then I have no doubt the wave of unreality would spread. Which Vermont town is Shelbyville? Is the cleaner, nicer, more cultured, more educated, and snobbier neighboring rival city Burlington? Or might it be Manchester or Concord, across the state line in New Hampshire? I see the lack of interest in extending the metaphorization of Springfield as a clear sign that the Simpsons Movie will not be a galvanizing moment in cultural transformation.
But that doesn't mean that we can't still have fun with the movie's web site! Much like the silly web quizzes we all love, the site lets you "create your Simpsons avatar!" The customization options are surprisingly robust, which makes the whole experience, of course, a giant personality test. Here's my avatar:
So, how do you see yourself in Simpsons-ese?
* It was explained to me last summer by an n-th generation Vermonter that "woodchuck" is roughly analogous to the n-word. As my native informant explained,
woodchuck:Vermonter :: the n-word:black people.
That is, it can be used by Vermonters to describe themselves and each other, but is absolutely verboten for flatlanders.** Like me. Which probably makes my use of it above a big no-no. D'oh!
**Flatlander. n. 1) A term of disdain employed by natives of Vermont for: a) Anyone not from Vermont, i.e., from Massachussetts or Colorado; b) Anyone whose ancestry cannot be traced back at least 5 generations to Vermont, with each generation residing solely in Vermont.
Posted by reparent at July 15, 2007 12:45 PM
Comments
I am one of 200 volunteers who appeared in the winning Springfield Vermont video. After we helped our local Chamber of Commerce win the contest, they turned their backs on us. We should have been the first in town to be receive invitations to the world premiere but the elite in town were awarded our seats instead. And then not even a word of thanks or mention of us in the public ceremony outside the theater! You can read more about this and view our famous winning video and more on our new website:
http://vtvid.110mb.com
Posted by: Ed Fransen at October 4, 2007 11:35 PM