Heaneyland!

A painful admission

You know what? Maybe "The Simpsons" really is just getting worse every year.

I've been a staunch defender of the Simpsons franchise; my arguments tend to be along the lines of: oh, maybe it's not quite the same show it was in its heyday, but it's still damn funny, and it has such a rich tapestry of supporting characters that there's always some new and interesting character interaction to be had.

But...there's still this feeling that instead of deconstructing the history of cartoons (and pop culture in general) and commenting subtly on the real world, the show is now concerned mainly with deconstructing itself and using real world issues as touchstones for one-liners.

Perhaps its inevitable that the former is going to happen in a show with such a long history, especially in a show as dense as "The Simpsons". But what's the excuse for the recent episode that featured a subplot about an activist who believed that childless people shouldn't have to shoulder so much of the tax burden of people with children (by paying for public school upkeep and such). The show made her so over-the-top in her opinions -- such an obviously misguided villain -- that the issue itself was rendered practically null as a source of comedy.

I mean, it's a complex issue. Obviously everyone benefits from having children educated, so they're less likely to become miscreants and more likely to become productive members of society, but does that everyone should contribute an equal amount of money to the cause? I feel pretty sure that the Simpsons of 7 years ago, in addition to tweaking the activist for being selfish (albeit not right away, by making the activists proposals start out reasonable and become more and more ridiculous, instead of kicking in immediately with the absurdities), would have made Marge or some other parent the butt of some jokes, having them called out for assuming that they're just entitled to have other people paying for part of their kids' upkeep.

MARGE: But it benefits everyone to contribute to the schools! You don't want children to grow up to be delinquents, do you?

BART: Ix-nay on the elinquent-day, mom.

Or whatever. The point is, the episodes just aren't very deep nowadays. This is probably due to the fact that Simpsons episodes are almost never about a single thing anymore. (Although, to be fair, when they do stick to one thing -- like the Evita episode -- they usually work very well.) The one-dimensional activist character couldn't really have been any more complex because she wasn't introduced early enough.

It's true I haven't felt this pessimistic about the Simpsons for the whole season, so perhaps I've just happened to watch all the weakest episodes of the year in a row. But I think anyone would be pessimistic after seeing an episode (not the same as the one I've been harping on) which makes a running gag out of a kiss between Homer and Milhouse. [Shudder]

Posted by Francis at 02:28 AM