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.
