Bart Simpson "Underachiever and Proud of it, Man!" t-shirt
date: label: date made
content: 1989
name: label: Associated Name
content: Cartwright, Nancy
label: Associated Name
content: Groening, Matt
label: Associated Name
content: Brooks, James L.
label: Associated Name
content: Simon, Sam
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: Subject
content: Television
label: Subject
content: Children
label: Subject
content: Animation
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
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content: Popular Entertainment
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content: Family & Social Life
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0061.01
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0061.01
label: accession number
content: 2023.0061
objectType: label: Object Name
content: shirt
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 25 in x 19 in; 63.5 cm x 48.26 cm