By Sarah Rotman
The Simpsons Archive (snpp.com) is a fan site of mind-boggling
proportions. There are no film or sound clips, as the authors desire
to steer clear of Fox's intellectual property attorneys, but there
is text and more text-anything and everything you could ever think
to ask about the Simpsons and more. Answers to frequently asked
questions, explanations of every pop culture reference ever made on
the show, character profiles, lists of every categorizable event from
Bart's prank calls to flashes of nudity, a comprehensive guide to
every episode, an archive of articles and academic papers written
about the Simpsons, and original fan-produced content are only a fraction
of what this site offers. The site is maintained and updated entirely
by volunteer fans, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the site
(provided contributors adhere to certain programming guidelines).
The site is extraordinarily well organized. It makes a great use
of links, you can search by season, episode, reference, character,
etc., and everything is cross-referenced. The sheer volume of information
offered, and the fact that it is so accessible, makes it difficult
to find anything "wrong" with the site. To the extent that
the law allows, the site takes advantage of the encyclopedic nature
of digital media (thank you, Janet Murray), without which the compilation
and distribution of this kind of archive would have been on an entirely
different scale. I can't imagine that the producers of the Simpsons
could resent the fan community that built this site, because it does
more to promote the show than a commercial ever could. The site is
also built with a sense of humor and self-awareness (as evident through
the fond treatment of The Comic Book Guy, the character on the Simpsons
who represents the snide fan, referring to episodes by number, pointing
out inconsistencies, collecting memorabilia, etc.). All in all, this
is a treat for Simpsons fans, and a lesson for everyone else
in the intelligence, creativity, and dedication of the fan community
towards the content they lo