Object Details
- Associated Name
- Cartwright, Nancy
- Groening, Matt
- Brooks, James L.
- Simon, Sam
- Description (Brief)
- White t-shirt printed with an image of Bart Simpson, made by Changes, Inc. around 1989/1990. The shirt depicts Simpson, a yellow-skinned and spiky-haired character from the animated television series The Simpsons, aiming a slingshot. In text printed on the shirt, Bart is labeled an “Underachiever,” and he states via cartoon speech bubble “And proud of it, man!” Shirts like this were best-sellers around 1990, when The Simpsons was among the most-watched programs on American television and riding a wave of merchandise sales and cultural import. The shirts played up Bart’s rude and aggressive attitude, making him a popular anti-authoritarian figure and the shirts symbolic signifiers of cool for young people, especially once critics and politicians began to speak out against them, and they were banned in schools across the country.
- The Simpsons is an animated television sitcom that has aired on the Fox network since 1989, becoming one of the longest-running and most critically acclaimed television series of all time. The first adult animated series to air on primetime TV in 30 years (since The Flintstones in 1960-1966), The Simpsons originally generated controversy for its irreverent look at family, community, religious, and work life. It first debuted April 19, 1987 as a series of animated segments on Fox’s fledgling sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show based on characters created and designed by alternative comics artist Matt Groening. After gaining favorable reviews, the show was picked up as a 30 minute series by Fox, which brought on television veterans James L. Brooks and Sam Simon to adapt the idea for a family sitcom. Unlike the mild, saccharine family situation comedies of the era, The Simpsons broke the mold with its self-aware, cynical, and subversive sense of humor, its broad and deep cultural references, and its depiction of a somewhat dysfunctional, albeit traditional and well-meaning, American family.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- 1989
- ID Number
- 2023.0061.01
- catalog number
- 2023.0061.01
- accession number
- 2023.0061
- Object Name
- shirt
- Physical Description
- cotton (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 25 in x 19 in; 63.5 cm x 48.26 cm
- place made
- United States
- See more items in
- Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
- Popular Entertainment
- Family & Social Life
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Television
- Children
- Animation
- Record ID
- nmah_2028836
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng4210626cd-7701-47dd-8a5c-3f6932da396d
