"The Office," "The Simpsons" and the Mainstreaming of MMA
October 7, 2009
On the October 1 episode of NBC’s hit television series The Office, Dwight Schrute fantasizes of putting his boss Jim in a triangle choke (earning $18,000 and a chance at the title!).
On this coming Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons (in its twentieth season on Fox), entitled “The Great Wife Hope,” MMA gains popularity in Springfield, Marge leads a protest against it and is challenged to an MMA contest herself by the local MMA promoter, who promises to end operations if Marge wins the fight.
Payout Perspective:
I don’t wish to make too much of the above, but when it comes to cultural barometers in the United States, the iconic Simpsons has for decades been right at the cutting edge, and for an actor to lend a voice to the show has even been something of a mark of Hollywood cachet (oh, you were a guest on The Simpsons?).
Basically, if The Simpsons is parodying you, you are mainstream. When an entire episode is dedicated to you — in our case, the sport of MMA — it usually indicates that you have become something of a cultural force.
Although The Office’s MMA reference was more passing, the interesting thing about it is that it was presented with no context: the show’s writers simply assume (or hope, or do not care) that the audience will be familiar with terms such as “triangle choke.” Nothing at all is explained for them.
Further, at least one of the show’s writers is something of a major fan, as the $18,000 figure Dwight gets giddy over is exactly what Brian Bowles is reported to have received for defeating Miguel Torres for WEC’s bantamweight crown.
Brock Lesnar’s post-fight antics at UFC 100 caused many in the MMA media to lament that the sport would never become mainstream. Through the first week and a half of October, though, we could all bear witness to Chuck Liddell’s improbably surviving his third week on Dancing with the Stars along with the MMA content featured on The Office and The Simpsons.
It might not be the NBA, the NFL, or even the NHL, but the sport — or at least UFC — appears to have comfortably nudged into that nebulous category of the cultural mainstream.
Long may it remain there.
2 Responses to “"The Office," "The Simpsons" and the Mainstreaming of MMA”
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cool man did not know about those 2 references.. will have to see them!!!
yeah good article good stuff on the state of mma
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