Splitsider

 
Clearing Things Up
2

TMZ Breaks a Twenty-Year-Old Simpsons "Bombshell"

by | June 29th, 2011

What is it with The Simpsons and Internet stupidity? It never ends. In February, Twitter assigned Bart Simpson a birthday. The show has been scolded for not teaching enough about climate change (because all TV comedies are supposed to do that, right?). Some have said that it’s “too adult.” (The show has never been for kids). Twitter users by the hundreds retweet a @BestFilmQuotes line from Comic Book Guy (that, of course, they have wrong).

The latest in the long list of gear-grinding silliness has to do with TMZ’s chat on Saturday, June 25 with Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson) outside a restaurant. She tweeted about the encounter, so I wondered if something was coming, perhaps some buzz about her shoe line. Actually, something quite different popped up on TMZ Monday morning. Because Saturday was the two-year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death, the interviewer asked, “Was that really his voice when he did the Lisa?” She explained something most fans of The Simpsons have known for years — that Michael Jackson was in the episode but didn't actually sing happy birthday to Lisa (they were talking, of course, about the Season Three episode of The Simpsons, "Stark Raving Dad") and that it was a soundalike. TMZ put it on their site with the words "bombshell" and "exclusive." READ MORE

The Simpsons
11

The Simpsons: Not a Kids' Show Since 1989

by | April 1st, 2011

I started teaching The Simpsons at the college level in 2000, and in the years since, I've encountered many students who had not been allowed to watch The Simpsons as children. I felt disappointment on behalf of those students, but not judgment against their parents; The Simpsons, after all, is not a kids' show. I couldn't begin to suggest a right age to allow children to watch the show; it really depends on the individual child. However, smart, layered television like The Simpsons makes its viewers smarter (if you don't believe me, see Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You), so I generally believe that good parenting involves watching the show with kids, pausing to explain the allusions, cultural references, and elements of satire. This is how I've watched The Simpsons with my boyfriend's son for the past five years (he's almost 15 now) and this is how my best friend and writing partner, Karma, raised her son, whose robotics team just won their regional competition (yes, I see a correletion, maybe even a causation).

Karma recently told me about how she finally got a joke on The Simpsons years after the episode first aired (and then she had to explain it to me); in "Kamp Krusty," Marge reminds the children, "Leaves of three, let it be," to which Homer adds, "Leaves of four, eat some more!" Karma originally watched "Kamp Krusty" with her step-father, who opted not to explain it to her. (If he had, though, I doubt she would have been damaged). In fact, the only reason she even knew that the line was a joke and not just the end of an obscure proverb was because of the bales of laughter from the adult in the room. The Simpsons pitches jokes to all levels — you'll only see the pitch if it's meant for you. Jokes like Homer's glory hole reference in "Night of the Dolphin" will probably fly over a kid's head and won't corrupt him or her, similar to the "leaves of four" joke. (And if your young kid understands the glory hole joke, hey, as a parent, that' s on you, and you can't blame The Simpsons for that). READ MORE

The Simpsons
10

The Day Twitter Gave Birth to Bart Simpson

by | February 28th, 2011

What do the Chicago Tribune, Netflix, and Rolling Stone have in common? They all used the event of Bart Simpson's birthday last week to promote themselves. Normally, I have no problem with Simpsons-related tweets, even for selfish reasons (I've posted almost 3,000 of them myself), but the thing is, Bart's birthday wasn't last week. All three of the above tweeted a Bart birthday post, and in doing so, they helped propagate a lie.

Maybe "lie" is too harsh a word, as it implies intent or even malice. The word "misinformation" is more apt. On Wednesday, the Twitter collective somewhat randomly decided that it was Bart Simpon's 32nd birthday. The Chicago Tribune and Rolling Stone, along with Netflix, Columbia College Chicago and thousands of other Twitter users, went along with the hype.

Of course, any Simpsonologist can tell you that February 23 is not Bart's birthday, and I'm here to tell you how I know and share what happened. This is a welcome variation for me; I'm usually telling people that Springfield is located in no specific state, that Springfield is a symbolic microcosm of the United States. Some Simpsons viewers have a hard time accepting the way that The Simpsons has created its own set of rules: because it's a cartoon and doesn't have to worry about its actors aging, the show follows sitcom conventions only when it feels like it. Springfield isn't limited by geography, climate, weather, gravity, or the aging process. This system allows a character to have mulitple birthdays or no birthday at all. It also allows Homer to bounce down a cliff and walk it off. READ MORE

Older posts »