Sweatshops and The Simpsons

As the year winds down and the end of the first semester lingers but a mere month and a half away, I am urgently trying to wrap up my Industrial Revolution unit. My class and I have spent the past few weeks covering the essentials: the transition from an agrarian Europe to an industrial one, the rise of new technologies and the factory system, the societal impacts of said change, and much, much more. This past week, specifically, has been dedicated to the two principal economic ideologies that emerged during the 18th and 19th centuries - socialism and capitalism. While we have touched on other philosophies (utopianism, social democracy, etc.), these two have been our primary foci. As we weigh the merits and shortcomings of each, an amazing dialogue has emerged amongst my students. One of the topics we have discussed at great length (and with much passion), has been the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries.

Last Tuesday night, as I prepared to retire, I turned on the television to find The Simpsons just about to start. As the iconic opening sequence started and the oh-so-famous theme song began, I noticed the name "Banksy" scrawled all over the scenes of Springfield. I was intrigued by seeing the artist's/hero's/villain's name scrawled on the screen. As the final moments of the sequence approached (with its ever changing finale right before cutting to the opening credits - "Created by Matt Groening") I saw something that blew me away. The screen cut away to a scene of animators drawing the cartoons in what appears to be an Asian country and working under sweatshop conditions. The clip continues with children working under dangers circumstances pushing mass produced Simpsons merchandise (shirts) out and other far-out scenes alluding to Asian and labor outsourcing stereotypes (animals being used irresponsibly and the general idea of dungeon-like work environments).

This sequence was written and designed by the street artist Banksy himself in response to reports that Fox had outsourced some of its Simpsons animation department to Korea and apparently it was quite controversial for the network and for the artist. Was it a serious political commentary or a playful jab? Or both? Regardless, watching this at 11 in the evening after our Tuesday class and while I was in the midst of teaching about socialism and capitalism was just too perfect. It was serendipitous, even. I simply had to show this to my students the next day.

As I showed this to my class, I thought about what the clip meant in terms of the great debate between philosophies and in terms of what we have been learning in class (i.e. what does it mean for a country like China to grow vs. to develop?). My students were knocked out with some defending the practices depicted (the idea of outsourcing, that is - I informed them that what they had seen was gross satire, though sweatshop conditions are alive and well and are nothing to trivialize) and others decrying it. In any case, it was the perfect opener to a great discussion and a fascinating examination of the crossroads between serious issues and pop culture.

Check it out:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/11/banksy-the-simpsons-bart