Skip to main content

Do ‘The Simpsons’ Distort People’s Perceptions of Nuclear Power?

I’ve watched ‘The Simpsons’ cartoon since their inception and have never been fazed about their misleading depictions of nuclear power. Interestingly enough, others may have. Here’s what a philosophy professor says about the show:

Dr. Bill Irwin, a philosophy professor at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., says Homer - the bumbling main character in The Simpsons who works at a nuclear power plant - has perhaps helped to put a negative spin on nuclear power by doing such things on the show as trying to stop a meltdown by randomly pressing buttons on a console.

He also points out that the owner of the nuclear power plant in The Simpsons, Mr. Burns, is portrayed as a cold-hearted, greedy industrialist. But the show's most intelligent character, Homer's daughter, Lisa, is portrayed as a staunch environmental advocate.

"She's very eco-friendly and very much against nuclear power and the nuclear power plant run by Mr. Burns," Irwin said during a recent interview on a Saskatchewan radio talk show.

Probably the reason why I’m not fazed about The Simpson's depictions is because I’ve seen them put a negative spin on other technologies such as wind. This episode between Itchy and Scratchy comes to mind.

It’s tough for me to say if they’ve negatively impacted perceptions of nuclear power. I would have to say no but check out the survey at the top right to tell us your answer.

Comments

Joffan said…
The Simpsons do affect perceptions of nuclear power negatively to some extent but only among those who know almost nothing about the subject. Unfortunately this is a rather large number of people, some of whom are rather more confident in voicing their opinion than seems reasonable.

There was an episode of the Simpsons where the whole town was cut off in a bubble of some sort, I seem to remember. Good job they had nuclear power on that occasion. :-)
Anonymous said…
In raging against nuclear misinformation in local newspaper blogs, I have sometimes given in to the temptation to cite The Simpsons as a symptom of public ignorance (e.g., the belief that spent nuclear fuel is a glowing green liquid stored in 55-gallon drums).

That said, the Rabelaisian funhouse world created in that cartoon may have done a lot to blunt irrational fear of nuclear power. After all, other than three-eyed fish that appear pretty content, there are never any serious consequences to the various nuclear "accidents" in The Simpsons. In fact, for better or worse, the attitude of the characters toward nuclear power is pretty blase (Lisa being the exception, perhaps).

I suppose one could plausibly suggest that the show actually pokes fun at nuclear hysteria, but we are in the realm of symbolism and irony here, both of which depend heavily on public perception for their basis in "consensus interpretation," so I probably wouldn't attempt such an argument myself.
Anonymous said…
Hmmmm, well my wife does her shoe shopping online these days and did watch Al Bundy do his thing for years on-end. Similar connection???

Joffan,

The bubble is from the Simpsons Movie.

The show was in its initial season when I graduated from college and began working at the Savannah River Site (I've since moved on). Those were the days of the Bart Simpson T-shirts, etc. Remember those?

I've had no problem embracing Homer as a comedic icon, a sort of mascot of our industry.

I now have two sons (young teen and pre-teen) who love the Simpsons and know the value of nuclear power. I'm not saying everyone is as perceptive as these boys, but that this is one of those issues likely to generate a lot more heat and noise than light and forward motion.
gman said…
I was going to try and say something that follows Anon's post (No. 2) - but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if it is another case of seeing what I want to see. I have worked in nuclear power for 30 years and I think the Simpsons is funny. Maybe my anti-nuke counterpart views the same episodes and sees them as supporting his beliefs. If so, this really just demonstrates how good the show is - everyone likes it...
GRLCowan said…
A little-known part of the nuclear story in America is the vital role of an earlier cartoon in the Manhattan Project. Nazi Germany had carbon bricks, but they weren't sufficiently boron-free. America had Ignatz and Krazy Kat, and after 1931, every brick Ignatz threw ended up at Stagg Field.

I don't see why "The Simpsons" has never been able to show hippies waving antinuke placards for TV cameras, the cameras being turned off, and the "hippies" then pulling off their hippie masks and revealing themselves to be J.R. Ewing; black limousines turning up to collect them.

(How fire can be domesticated)
Jason Ribeiro said…
Other industries would have sued the Simpsons show for slander and libel for far less disparaging messages about their industry.

For example, the beef and cattle industry sued Oprah Winfrey for her statements that she would not eat another hamburger. Though I believe the beef industry was in the wrong, nonetheless it shows a certain tenacity to protect their industry.

Rather than going after the Simpsons show like the beef industry went after Oprah, why not attempt to recruit them for a pro-nuclear energy spot? No doubt that would be a long-shot, but it would probably make a very memorable tv commercial.

Popular posts from this blog

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap

An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear Plants

Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin