Anyone who watched ”The Simpsons” last week got a hilarious view of the cultural facility development process, featuring the voice of architect Frank Gehry. Summarized on this Simpsons web site:
While in Shelbyville, the Simpsons watch a musical about the town, which includes a character from Springfield who isn’t particularly bright. Marge suggests to the Springfield Cultural Activities Board to have a concert hall, built by Frank Gehry (voicing himself); however, when it becomes clear that nobody in Springfield likes classical music, the building is sold to Mr. Burns, who turns it into a prison.
At the town meeting to unveil the design (a riff on Walt Disney Hall in LA) the town leader calls for the vote this way: ”All in favor of a $30-million ‘screw you’ to Shelbyville?”
Clearly, Matt Groening and his team have a particular perspective about why communities build cultural icons, and how engaged those buildings are with the world. Painful, but very, very funny.
The Simpsons take on nearly everything is dead on. In this case I would guess that if more cultural buildings were built to take into consideration the finances and tastes of working-class people (even if you have a bachelor’s degree that has become pretty much working class if you think about it), they might be more successful. They can always sneak in a little art here and there. Often people who think they don’t understand art find they like it.
I don’t recall the exact quote, but I loved the moment when Marge tried to stop the stampeding masses from leaving the hall by enticing them with the music of Philip Glass. It’s classic Simpsons humor — not everyone could laugh at it, but those who did loved it!!