Simpsonwave is a particular phenomenon popular on YouTube. It refers to a specific kind of fanvid involving The Simpsons.
The Sub-Genre takes Simpsons clips from the first few seasons (specifically season 1 to early season 11) and combines them with vaporwave. It began to form in the mid 2010s and has since become a signature of the vaporwave genre.
Why The Simpsons is used so frequently is unclear. Some fans theorize it's due to how nostalgic the series is for many and because it's heavily associated with The '90s, similarly to the 80's nostalgia that permeates the vaporwave scene. The mundane nature of the show's characters is also believed to lend an air of relatability to Simpsonwave.
The videos are known for their completely capitalized titles either written in full-width text or with spaces between each letter. The songs themselves are usually simplistic tunes with Looped Lyrics, also a common feature in vaporwave. Simpsonwave videos have a heavy "video era" Decade-Themed Filter and resemble highly degraded or multi-generational analog videotapes, with a lot of visual glitching, mis-saturated coloring (most often being oversaturated), and static.
This genre is also known as the "Sad Simpsons" video because Simpsonwave videos usually serve as sad deconstructions of the series; "Sad Simpsons" is also used for videos featuring sad rap songs. Most take away the comedic element and focus on the psychology of the characters. Some manipulate clips to create a new narrative separate from the cartoon itself. This makes them similar to a visual version of a Dark Fic.
This type of video appears for other cartoons as well, but The Simpsons is the most common. Despite the name, not all videos use vaporwave music.
Sub-trope to Fanvid and Vaporwave. Related to Dark Fic. See also Future Funk, another Vaporwave sub-genre on TV Tropes.
Examples:
- C R I S I S
starts with a drunken Homer cheating on his wife Marge. He regrets it and spends the rest of the video lonely, depressed, and drifting away from Marge. This all puts a strain on his relationship with his only child Lisa. The song used is "Decay" by HOME.
- D e a d B a r t is about Bart being murdered by Ned Flanders
- D E P R E S SI O N, set to "better" by eevee, is about Lisa's battle with depression. The song used is HOME's "Before The Night".
- DRUGS, set to "better" by eevee, is a Lisa video where she's put on medicine for her depression.
- F E E L I N ' F I N E starts with a drunk Homer trying to get back home, but it ends with Homer trying to murder his family. The video uses two different songs: blank banshee's "dreamcast" and $uicideboy$ "kill yourself (part iii)".
- F I N D Y O U R S E L F uses clips from The Simpsons Movie, set to music by Frank Jav Cee, tells a story of Homer's solo trip through Alaska.
- F L O O D E D uses "Flood" by HOME. The plot is left for debate, but the clips show Bart having a nightmare, taking a bath, and then Homer remembering his prom night.
- G U N S H O T S, set to "Gunshots" by Blank Banshee. It mostly consists of clips from "The Cartridge Family" featuring Homer's reckless gun use.
- Homer's Existential Heart Attack, set to "Heart Attack" by Bronson. It features multiple clips telling the story of Homer suffering a heart attack, being depressed and overworked, getting brutally shot on the news, and then jumping off a bridge to commit suicide. However, he manages to recover.
- s u i c i d a l t h o u g h t s uses Tycho's song "Daydream". The video is about Homer's hopelessness and suicidal ideation. It ends on an ambiguous Downer Ending where he's likely Driven to Suicide after Marge kicks him out.
- In "s u i c i d e", set to XXXTENTACION's "Teeth", Homer is Driven to Suicide after Bart's sudden death. Marge and Lisa must deal with the grief of losing two family members so suddenly.
- S U N D A Y S C H O O L is about Bart contemplating his life and whether it was a mistake he was born. It uses the song "Teen Pregnancy" by Blank Banshee.
- t h o u g h t s is about how Homer becomes more depressed and disappointed with life as he grows older, ending in him being Driven to Suicide. It uses altitude's song "trains".
- T H R I L L H O U S E is about Milhouse and his parents. It uses a track from the Regular Show episode "Gary's Synthesizer."
- Super Eyepatch Wolf discusses Simpsonwave in "the Bizarre Modern Reality of Simpsons", remarking that the distorted and lost aesthetic of these videos eerily reflects the actual show's state of being nowadays as it continues airing several decades after its initial context.
- ＰＡＲＥＮＴＩＮＧ ／ 薬物 is just a montage of clips from the episode "Marge Gets a Job" with occasional special effects, set to the bonus track from the album Floral Shoppe by Macintosh Plus.
- c h o i c e s is a The Amazing World of Gumball edit about Gumball's parents. It uses Dummy Feelings's song "I wish you never left" (which samples from Daughter's "Youth").
- Clarence:
- Cartoon Network's official Youtube channel has a parody vaporwave video of Clarence.
- u n d e r is a video about a depressed Clarence set to "under" by Nostradamus.
- Cartoon Network's official Youtube channel has a parody vaporwave video
- Family Guy: what would i do without you is about Brian's depression and suicidal ideation. It's set to the alex song "missing my ntpp".
- Regular Show:
- a l l g i r l s are the same is about Mordecai after his girlfriend broke up with him. It uses Juice WRLD's "All Girls Are The Same" (which isn't actually a vaporwave song).
- r e m e m b e r me uses rei brown's song "Picture Frame" to show Mordecai's melancholy after a break-up.
- a l l g i r l s are the same
- Spyro the Dragon: U s e S o m e M a g i c is a Spyrowave video set to remixed music from the third game.
- Tom and Jerry:
- b r o k e n is a Tom and Jerry edit set to Joji's "Unsaved info". It uses clips from Blue Cat Blues, a.k.a. the episode where Tom and Jerry are Spurned into Suicide.
- h e a v e n l y sets clips from "Heavenly Puss" to moow's "wake up".
- b r o k e n
