The Simpsons

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Lemmy Caution
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Re: The Simpsons

#726 Post by Lemmy Caution » Wed Apr 11, 2018 9:52 am

That would explain the high yellow complexions...

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Lemmy Caution
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Re: The Simpsons

#727 Post by Lemmy Caution » Wed Apr 11, 2018 9:55 am

I hadn't thought of it before, but I wonder if anyone took offense at the only Indian character/couple having their own personal overpopulation problem, when they have octuplets.

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Brian C
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Re: The Simpsons

#728 Post by Brian C » Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:23 am

Lemmy Caution wrote:I hadn't thought of it before, but I wonder if anyone took offense at the only Indian character/couple having their own personal overpopulation problem, when they have octuplets.
I feel like that would require a willfully contentious reading of that plot line, since the only reason they had so many kids was because everyone else slipped them fertility drugs, and the episode then centered around a white guy exploiting the family for profit.

Still, though, I understand how Apu would annoy some Indian folks. There’s a lot to unpack there, and while I haven’t seen the documentary about it, aox’s description of the film’s ambivalence towards him actually sounds very thoughtful and fair-minded.

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aox
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Re: The Simpsons

#729 Post by aox » Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:29 am

"Ambivalence" is a good word here.

Just to be clear, I wasn't trying to disparage the documentary or Hari Kondabolu's intentions in making it. It's an interesting question, made even more complex by the fact that it is also dealing with a specific time in both mainstream and American history that were incredibly fluid (even tumultuous) when looking at racial issues. Even if you get nothing out of the documentary, it isn't a waste of time, and the case and questions it raises are worth pondering even if the documentary isn't making a hard conclusive point. Or, even if you find the documentary clumsy in either form or argument.

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aox
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Re: The Simpsons

#730 Post by aox » Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:36 am

From the Wikipedia page on the documentary:
While most reviews were positive, Justin Charity, writing for The Ringer, was left with a more mixed impression. While he agreed with the basic thesis of Apu being problematic, he found the pursuit of Hank Azaria to appear in the film "a prevailing distraction from more ambitious consideration of the ideal future of The Simpsons and the cultural shifts that have rendered Apu increasingly unpalatable." He also found the documentary lacked imagination in finding a solution to creating a more nuanced portrayal of Apu, feeling "(t)hat lapse of Kondabolu’s imagination is the documentary’s real waste."
The Simpsons episode "No Good Read Goes Unpunished", first aired in April 8, 2018, was widely received as a response to Kondabolu's film. In it, Marge finds that a book she loved as a child contains elements that would now be considered offensive, and edits the book herself to remove these elements. In doing this she finds the book loses its "emotional journey". She and Lisa then look to a picture of Apu, and Lisa comments that it is "something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive, is now politically incorrect. What can you do?" Kondabolu wrote on Twitter that he was disappointed that the message of his film had been reduced to the concept of "politically incorrect".
Agreed. This is a very complex issue, IMO.

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aox
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Re: The Simpsons

#731 Post by aox » Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:42 pm


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dx23
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Re: The Simpsons

#732 Post by dx23 » Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:00 am

Isn't this the exact same point that "The Problem with Apu" makes?

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bearcuborg
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Re: The Simpsons

#733 Post by bearcuborg » Fri Apr 13, 2018 10:34 am

Not even close, the piece aox shared is much more balanced, and less about the author (or documentarian) - the last paragraph in particular.

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Murdoch
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Re: The Simpsons

#734 Post by Murdoch » Wed Apr 25, 2018 4:06 pm


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mfunk9786
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Re: The Simpsons

#735 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Apr 25, 2018 4:47 pm

Cue everyone who hasn't watched the show in two decades pretending they care at all about the current day status of Apu

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Big Ben
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Re: The Simpsons

#736 Post by Big Ben » Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:10 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Cue everyone who hasn't watched the show in two decades pretending they care at all about the current day status of Apu
There has been outcry among conservatives about it. Saying they've always loved the show and that they shouldn't bow to political correctness. One of these statements is blatantly untrue and I'm fairly certain you can all figure out what that is.

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swo17
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Re: The Simpsons

#737 Post by swo17 » Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:20 pm

It just saddens me that now if you switch between an old and a new episode of the show, there will be a glaring difference between the two.

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Ribs
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Re: The Simpsons

#738 Post by Ribs » Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:25 pm

I mean, but that's inevitable for any other show that's been on for 28 years. Like, if you watch Gray's Anatomy now, which is wrapping up #14, it's clearly a very different show aesthetically then the show it started out on (I'd assume it's not on 35mm anymore, at the least?) I know you're speaking content wise rather than aesthetically which is so obvious, but, again, any show that's on this long evolves as the creative team shifts tremendously every few years anyway and after several cycles of that it'll inevitably begin to stop resembling the original.

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Murdoch
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Re: The Simpsons

#739 Post by Murdoch » Wed Apr 25, 2018 6:00 pm

There's already glaring differences between old and new Simpsons, as evidenced by most posts in this thread.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Simpsons

#740 Post by domino harvey » Wed Apr 25, 2018 6:09 pm

Swo is 100% joking

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swo17
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Re: The Simpsons

#741 Post by swo17 » Wed Apr 25, 2018 6:13 pm

And now I know how Al Jean must feel all the time

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Murdoch
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Re: The Simpsons

#742 Post by Murdoch » Wed Apr 25, 2018 6:31 pm

Sorry, my irony reader shit the bed early last year and I don't think it's recovering :P

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solaris72
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Re: The Simpsons

#743 Post by solaris72 » Thu Apr 26, 2018 12:39 am

Murdoch wrote:Sorry, my irony reader shit the bed early last year and I don't think it's recovering :P
I think you mean...

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domino harvey
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Re: The Simpsons

#744 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:35 pm


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Murdoch
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Re: An Internet Thread About the Internet

#745 Post by Murdoch » Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:17 am

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:57 am
@pixelatedboat is singlehandedly providing the best satire of whatever is going on, and he delivers in real time. I'm amazed no late night show has snatched him up, as he could actually show any room full of writers how to be funny and relevant
It seems he came across the same Vice article that I did: "I watched the Simpsons for the first time ever and couldn't stand it." Real hard-hitting stuff there, Vice.

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domino harvey
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Re: An Internet Thread About the Internet

#746 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jul 02, 2018 12:50 pm

It's a bit more complicated than the click bait headline, but that article is indeed a hot mess. I thought this unironic "defense" of one of the gags the Vice author liked said it all
Incredible wordplay, like “Stern Plumbing” being the name of a company but also featuring a logo of a plumber saying something stern.

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mfunk9786
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Re: An Internet Thread About the Internet

#747 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Jul 02, 2018 12:52 pm

And it's Stern Lecture Plumbing! They can't even remember the joke right, maybe because they're joylessly unfunny themselves

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domino harvey
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Re: An Internet Thread About the Internet

#748 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jul 02, 2018 12:55 pm

The author, either knowingly or on accident, misrepresents the joke about Rev Lovejoy dismissing Hinduism into something racist by misidentifying the speaker (she says it's Homer) and leaving out how Apu sticks up for himself, his religion, and his people in response, to which the Christian figurehead's reply is a patronizing "That's super." No one watching that scene could possibly side with anyone but Apu, what a horrible take!

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mfunk9786
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Re: An Internet Thread About the Internet

#749 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:08 pm

Can almost guarantee that Vice went into it in bad faith, assigning a writer to have this kind of angle on it. "I watched The Simpsons for the first time and loved it!" isn't even fit to print.

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domino harvey
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Re: An Internet Thread About the Internet

#750 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:08 pm

For contrast, National Review recently wrote a defense of the show, especially notable considering this is a series with a political bent far to the left of the NR's right wing readership and their author was still able to see the humanity and value in a work with political messages they didn't necessarily agree with (and indeed seemed willing to laugh at the portrayals of the right)

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