Christian Schlegel

Futurama: Looking Backward at Present Day America Christian Schlegel

Matt Groening developed together with his friend and colleague David X. Cohen the TV-Show Futurama, set in New York in the year 3000. Groening describes his 'vision of the future' in Futurama as corporate, commercial and confusing which is not what he expects it to be, and it is not necessarily valuing this world as good or bad. Thus, the assumption of this study is that Futurama presents a stereotyped science fiction-world that deals with themes and problems of our present time. This becomes clear when looking at the excessive use of allusions and references to political and historical events as well as to popular and classical culture. The creators comment that way on topics that concern us - or at least should concern us - today. The task of this study is to identify these topics and references (focusing on America as a political entity), and thereby discuss the points of criticism Futurama raises.