Animation The Simpsons Halloween special satirizes NFT, Springfield Punks puts on a parade for a day trip

The Simpsons' Halloween Special An Animated Satire on NFTs, Springfield Punks Organize a Parade for a Memorable Day Trip

In the Halloween special of “The Simpsons”, NFTs are depicted as speculative, low-status, and worthless “art”.

Edited by: Felix

In the animated comedy “The Simpsons”, NFTs and blockchain made an appearance. (Note: This show is an adult animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for Fox Broadcasting Company. It humorously satirizes the middle-class American lifestyle, culture, society, television programs, and human behavior by depicting the daily lives of the Simpson family – Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie). In the Halloween special titled “Wild Barts Can’t Be Token”, the show repeatedly mentions the overvaluation of NFTs on the blockchain in its first chapter.

Criticizing NFT speculation, while FOMO frenzy unfolds around related NFT themes

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In this episode, Maggie ventures through the woods to rescue Bart, who has become a living NFT, and the mayor announces that Springfield’s art gallery will be digitized. Additionally, numerous blue-chip NFTs appear, such as Beeple’s artwork, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and second-tier PFPs, all of which are shown to be virtually worthless. The show also mocks the speculative nature of certain NFTs; Homer is initially shocked by Bart’s digitalization but later becomes ecstatic about Bart’s NFT being valued at $1.5 million.

However, these satirical remarks did not have a widespread negative impact on blue-chip NFTs. According to OpenSea data, BAYC floor price increased slightly by 1.77% in the past 24 hours but is still far from its peak. MAYC floor price rose by 1.25% in the past 24 hours. CryptoPunks floor price fell by 11.74% in the past 24 hours.

Ironically, “The Simpsons” author Rino Russo released and opened up free minting for the “The Simpsons” themed NFT series called Springfield Punks, which experienced a roller-coaster FOMO market. OpenSea data shows that its floor price spiked to as high as 0.45 ETH but has now dropped to 0.12 ETH. It perfectly replicates the speculative nature of NFTs depicted in the animation.

NFT collector and consultant for the IRL NFT gallery Crypt Gallery, Noah Bolanowski, commented on the portrayal of NFTs in the show. “I love the emphasis on art in this episode – most PFPs are depicted as low-status, while art is positioned at a noble level. They even have BAYC washing other people’s feet. They divide the NFT market into three categories. PFPs are in the lowest category, then Cryptokitties, and finally the top-tier digital artist Beeple’s works.”

“The Simpsons” previously mocked cryptocurrency

Although this episode extensively mentioned last year’s NFT market crash, it is not the first time the show has referenced cryptocurrency (or NFTs). In 2020, “The Simpsons” explained how blockchain and cryptocurrency work in the episode “Frinkcoin” (S31, E13). In this episode, Professor Frink introduces Lisa Simpson to cryptocurrency through “the most popular scientist on TV, Mr. Jim LianGuairsons” – the actor who plays Sheldon Cooper in “The Big Bang Theory”. They even included a ledger in the episode, poking fun at Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity.

“In order for cryptocurrency to work, we need to record every transaction that occurs. These are recorded in a so-called distributed ledger. When you use this currency, the transactions are recorded on a ledger, and when a ledger is filled, we add it to the series of previous books – that’s blockchain.”

Last year, in an episode titled “The King of Nice,” there was a joke where the clown Krusty was forced to use the Cameo app (note: users can pay social media influencers through the Cameo app to say whatever they want – like birthday wishes or jokes) because Krusty had spent all of his money on NFTs. The clown described it as “boring television.”

This is not the first time “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening has poked fun at cryptocurrency and blockchain. Earlier this year, another popular animated series created by Matt Groening called “Futurama” mocked cryptocurrency miners in an episode titled “How the West Was Bunked.”

The episode, which aired on Hulu on August 7th this year, tells the story of a professor who tells his team that he borrowed money from an organized crime group of robot mafia to invest in Bitcoin, but later the Bitcoin crashed and the crew went bankrupt. In this episode, set in the year 3023, people are still mining Bitcoin, and even in the future, Bitcoin remains unstable.

Some speculate that the episode was inspired by the Western classic “How the West Was Won,” which partially tells the story of how pioneers during the gold rush era went west to discover gold. The number 101001 (decimal 81) is said to refer to the 81% drop in cryptocurrency in 2018, which was known as the Bitcoin crash.

The show also jokingly mentioned concerns about the massive electricity consumption in the process of Bitcoin mining. Additionally, there was a “cryptocurrency country” called “Doge City,” named after the popular meme token Dogecoin (DOGE).

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