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like that episode where Bart got punished from seeing Itchy and Scratchy, yeah, Bart was being a 'bad-ass', but the episode was about Homer and his laissez-faire parenting. the LOL joke was even him saying "since you broke Grandpa's teeth, he gets to break yours".
I am glad they moved away from the catch-phrases though. I had a "cowabunga, dude" shirt as a kid
― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 September 2020 18:05 (three years ago) link
Maybe Homer has an arc. Heck, maybe Bart has an arc. Lisa kind of has an arc, Maggie almost has an arc. Marge probably has an arc.
But, dammit, integral to the design of the show was that the characters DON'T have arcs. The end of each episode is supposed to return to status quo ante. So that the next self-contained episode can wreak its own havoc, which is weathered and after which everything returns to status quo ante. They call it The Simpsons but really it's the Sisyphuses.
Does Homer leave his family? Temporarily, perhaps, but never outside the bounds of a certain episode. Does he quit working for Burns? Temporarily, perhaps (he drives a snowplow and a tow trick, for example), but never outside the bounds of a certain episode. Does Bart become a good student? Temporarily, perhaps, but never outside the bounds of a certain episode. Does Lisa ever go dark and rebellious? Temporarily, perhaps, but never outside the bounds of a certain episode.
It is not supposed to be a show about character arcs. It is supposed to be a show where - no matter how absurd it gets - at the end of each episode you're back to the yellow people in the sam house and the dumb pink car; nuclear plant; Moe's, etc.
The only character whose story transcends the bounds of a given episode is, I think, the dog.
― velcro-magnon (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 11 September 2020 22:44 (three years ago) link
three months pass...
Is this the only active Simpsons thread? Anyway, Simpson writer thread explaining jokes and references that people don't get:
So, for years, there have been Simpsons jokes/lines people misunderstood or misheard, like The Great Hank-Scorpio-"Yes Once"-Goodbye-To-A-Shoe Debate and "Carhole".
What have you misunderstood or never got?
List them in this thread & I or other Simpsons folk'll try to answer. pic.twitter.com/O7T82SsQX4— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) December 21, 2020
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 December 2020 13:48 (three years ago) link
unrelated but my son's virtual class is watching "Olive, the Other Reindeer" and I picked out a few voice actors who appeared on The Simpsons (including Dan Castellanta. apparently Groening produced this, its cute but no way are kindergarteners going to understand any of the jokes here. its pretty funny though!!!
― frogbs, Tuesday, 22 December 2020 20:19 (three years ago) link
six months pass...
something about marge being the main one because her unpaid labour quietly keeps the whole thing together so the boys can clown around up front for laughs
(it would be fantastic if she actually left him for good in the series finale- which is why it will never happen)
― Left, Tuesday, 13 July 2021 02:30 (two years ago) link
could also make an argument for lisa, as the conscience. who must always be thwarted or suppressed somehow, because you can mock the shitty 90s status quo as much as you like but you can never change it, that would undermine everything we hold dear. no wonder the show has had problems adapting to a post-clinton world
― Left, Tuesday, 13 July 2021 02:46 (two years ago) link