The animated series "The Simpsons" Halloween special satirizes NFTs, with Springfield Punks staging a one-day market
In the Halloween special of "The Simpsons," NFTs are described as speculative, low-status, and worthless "art."Compiled by: Felix, PANews
On Sunday night, NFT and blockchain made an appearance in the animated comedy "The Simpsons." (Note: The show is an adult animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the American Fox Broadcasting Company. It satirically depicts the lifestyle of the American middle class through the daily lives of the Simpson family: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, humorously mocking American culture, society, television programs, and the complexities of life.) In the Halloween special "Treehouse of Horror 34," the show repeatedly mentioned the overestimation of on-chain NFTs in the first chapter titled "Wild Barts Can't Be Token."
Critique of NFT Speculation, Related Theme NFTs Experience FOMO Market
In this episode, Maggie traverses the woods to rescue Bart, who is now a living NFT, while the mayor announces that Springfield's art gallery will be digitized. Additionally, many blue-chip NFTs appear, such as works by Beeple, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and second-tier PFPs, all of which have proven to be nearly worthless. The show also mocks the speculative nature of certain NFTs, with Homer initially shocked by Bart's digitization but later ecstatic about Bart's NFT being valued at $1.5 million.
However, this satire did not have a widespread negative impact on blue-chip NFTs. According to OpenSea data, the BAYC floor price slightly increased by 1.77% in the past 24 hours, though it still has a significant gap from its peak. The MAYC floor price rose by 1.25% in the past 24 hours. The CryptoPunks floor price dropped by 11.74% in the past 24 hours.
In contrast, the floor price of the "Springfield Punks," a Simpsons-themed NFT series released and open for free minting by "The Simpsons" creator Rino Russo, experienced a rollercoaster FOMO market. OpenSea data shows its floor price peaked at 0.45 ETH but has since fallen to 0.12 ETH, perfectly mirroring the speculative nature of NFTs portrayed in the animation.
NFT collector and advisor at the IRL NFT gallery Crypt Gallery, Noah Bolanowski, commented on the show's depiction of NFTs. "I love this episode's emphasis on art—most PFPs are positioned lowly, while art is elevated to a noble level. They even had BAYC washing someone’s feet. They categorized the NFT market into three tiers: PFPs at the bottom, followed by CryptoKitties, and finally the top digital artist Beeple's works."
"The Simpsons" Has Previously Satirized Cryptocurrency
While this episode extensively referenced last year's NFT market crash, it is not the first time the show has mentioned cryptocurrency (or NFTs). In 2020, "The Simpsons" explained how blockchain and cryptocurrency work in the episode "Frink Coin" (S31, E13). In this episode, Professor Frink introduced cryptocurrency to Lisa Simpson through "the most popular scientist on television, Mr. Jim Parsons"—the actor who played Sheldon Cooper in "The Big Bang Theory"—and included a ledger that mocked the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto.
"In order for cryptocurrency to work, we need to record every transaction that occurs. These are recorded in something called a distributed ledger. When you use this currency, the transaction is recorded in the ledger, and when one ledger is filled, we add it to a previous series of ledgers—that's blockchain."
Last year, in the episode titled "The King of Nice," there was a joke where clown Krusty was forced to use the Cameo app (Note: Users can pay influencers on social media through the Cameo app to say what they want—like birthday wishes or telling jokes) because clown Krusty had spent all his money on NFTs. The clown described it as "boring television."
This is not the first time Matt Groening, the creator of "The Simpsons," has dismissed cryptocurrency and blockchain. Earlier this year, another popular animated series produced by Matt Groening, "Futurama," mocked cryptocurrency miners in the episode titled "How the West Was Won 101001."
This episode aired on Hulu on August 7 of this year and tells the story of a professor who tells his team that he borrowed money from organized crime group robots, the Mafia, to invest in Bitcoin, which later led to the crew's bankruptcy when Bitcoin crashed. In this episode, set in the year 3023, people are still mining Bitcoin, and even in the future, Bitcoin remains unstable.
Some believe the episode was inspired by the classic Western book "How the West Was Won," which partially recounts how pioneers went west during the "Gold Rush" era to discover gold. The number 101001 (in decimal, 81) is said to refer to the 2018 Bitcoin crash when the cryptocurrency fell by 81%.
The show also humorously addressed concerns about the massive electricity consumption involved in Bitcoin mining. Additionally, there is a "crypto nation" called "Doge City," named after the popular meme token Dogecoin (DOGE).
