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For my own purposes (as well as others) here are the comments I've made on other blogs!

On Natalie’s: The Squirt and the Whale

This episode definitely did have a green theme to it - it was just in time for Earth Day! I've found that the show has improved on their method of commenting on our society - they have been using events that are either happening (the Olympics) or are about to happen (Earth Day).

Do you think that this episode actually impacted people enough to notice what time of year it was? I do think so, especially with the "every animal is worth saving" bit. I think that people will realize exactly what we do to our oceans and what we are doing to the world.

Do you think that Bluella was a symbol for anything else? I feel that she was, but I just can't put my finger on it. I want to say something about a phase of culture that has just passed...I also think that the baby whales might be symbols for this nation's youth and how (tied into the green theme) they might just be sitting ducks for the condition the world is in when it's their turn to be adults.

Great review Natalie! :D

On Kevin’s: Treehouse of Horror VII

I really like how you divided this up into the parts of the show. It makes it so much easier to comment on! xD

I have always thought that the first part is just a play on “everyone has their bad side.” Given, Bart is the worst out of everyone, so it had to be his character to get it. Society always wants people to lock up their bad sides, which is exactly what the Simpsons do for Bart…*cough* Hugo.

The tooth people have always been really strange to me. I can never figure out exactly who Groening is trying to comment on with them, or even if he is at all. What do you think?

The Bob Dole impersonation line with the abortions and mini flags made me laugh really hard. I completely forgot about that part – and it’s so dead on! (What makes it even better for me is that a Kodo in World of Warcraft is a really dumb rhino-like creature. Homer would vote for a Kodo. :D)

On Lisa’s: American History X-Cellent

This episode lagged more than a bit...it lagged a ton. But it did show another side to Smithers and Burns and the show's view on business folk. I think it showed that it isn't the people who are bad, it's the business that does it to them. After Burns sees (excuse the pun) the light, he knows that it was his position that made him the way he was. Smithers, on the other hand, was just getting into it and would do anything it took to advance his position.

It seems that everyone really enjoyed the sibling interaction and relationship. I have to admit that there are a lot of episodes that focus on that bond, but this is a good example.

On Renn’s: Thursdays With Abie

"Not only are they struggling with aging and adjusting...but as a society we push them off into nursing homes...we end the value of their lives before they even go." Wow, Renn. I really like what you got from this episode. I wish I could say that I took that away, but your analysis helped me see that. And now that I'm thinking about it, I think you're completely right.

That got me thinking that if the man had succeeded in killing Grandpa, it would just be so symbolic of all our elderly that never does get heard out and whose stories never get the attention they deserve. Jeez, now I'm kinda sad. But you have an excellent point! Great analysis, Renn!

On Stephanie’s: Lisa the Vegetarian

Have you ever noticed that Lisa is always the one making the 'green' or 'different' choices? She it the only one in the Simpsons family that would be able to pull off being a vegetarian. She is also the only one that would be able to withstand the teasing and still hold true to what she wants. (Makes me think of Marge telling her that "you're a woman, you can hold onto it for the rest of your life" from the Simpsons Movie!)

Since you are a vegetarian, do you think this episode helped raise any eyebrows or change any eating habits? I definitely understand where the principles come from, but unfortunately I just have to eat my mom's cooking.

Oh, and I think Paul's appearance was just epic!

On Freddy’s: Postcards from the Wedge

I think that Marge and Homer always have different views on parenting because they are the tools through which parenting customs are displayed for the show. If they always agreed on everything there would be no plot advancement or any comical jokes toward the other!

I agree with you when you say that mixed signals are bad for not just a young boy, but anyone. I really don't know of anything useful that's come out of mixed signals. Talking with each other tends to clear up the confusion though, good job pointing that out.

Bart Gets an F

“Fellow students, prepare to be dazzled! [walks to the front of the room]

Well, as Mrs. Krabappel already mentioned, the name of the book that I

read was . It's about these... [describing the book jacket]

pirates. Pirates... with patches over their eyes... and... shiny gold

teeth... and green birds on their shoulders... [pause]

Did I mention this book was written by a guy named Robert Lewis Stevenson?

And published by the good people at McGraw Hill. So, in conclusion,

on the Simpson scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, one being

the lowest, and five being average, I give this book... a nine.

Any questions? [hands go up] Nope? Then I'll just sit down.”

Bart faked a last minute book report which just gets him a threat from his teacher. Apparently his grades had gone down from the beginning of the year. He tried to study that night, but fell asleep on his books. He gets false information from Sherri and Terri on the bus, which Martin points out to him. Thinking he won’t do well, he fakes a collapse outside the room and sees the nurse who sends him home with a case of “amoria phlebitis.” When he does take the test he did so bad Mrs. Krabappel meets with the psychiatrist, Homer, and Marge. “I recommend Bart retake the fourth grade,” the psychiatrist said. Bart takes this as a challenge and turns to Martin for help. In exchange for studying, Bart helps Martin become more popular. Martin develops his affinity for bad behavior and doesn’t care about an upcoming test, even though Bart asks him to study with him. The next day (test day) is a snow day, which Bart spends inside studying and concentrating…for the most part. He pictures himself as someone in the First Continental Congress in 1776 and sees the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He takes the test the next day and Mrs. Krabappel grades it immediately. He got a 59% and laments, saying that he knew how George Washington felt when he surrendered For Necessity to the French in 1754. The teacher is surprised and gives him an extra point, making it a D-. He’s so happy that he gives her a kiss on the cheek and gets it hung up on the fridge at home. His final exclamation: “Part of this D- belongs to God!”

Behind the Laughter

The last episode of season eleven, Behind the Laughter is done in a unique style: VH1 Behind the Music. The episode goes into the Simpsons family history and how they got into the business of show business. Joking called a ‘mockumentary,’ it shows the problems that come with their fame. Referencing Bart’s accident from Bart the Daredevil and various injuries from Homer’s past, Homer becomes addicted to prescribed painkillers. Not only is he having problems, but Bart goes into rehab and Marge makes a bad financial decision. The IRS comes in and takes away the house, which was nicknamed “Homertime” after MC Hammer. After getting to the Iowa State Fair the Simpsons family gets into an argument and splits up, forcing Fox to put the show on break. The family goes off in different directions: Homer to theater, Bart to Renegade, Marge to a nightclub, Lisa to writing. Of course who other than Willie Nelson reconciles the family who puts everything behind them at the reunion. The ending of the episode leaves a bit of a cliffhanger. It hints toward the show having many more seasons, but leaves off with an argument. Obviously the show continued, though, to become one of the longest running primetimes shows ever.

Dead Putting Society

This episode is the sixth in the second season of the Simpsons, and is the first where the Flanders family plays a predominant role. But the episode doesn’t just follow Ned and Homer, but also their influences on their sons Todd and Bart in a mini-golf competition.

The episode begins with Homer mowing his lawn and flapping his gums. His loud complaining attracts Ned’s attention, who invites him over for some “ice cold suds in the rumpus room.” Ned, up until this point, has always been Homer’s annoying neighbor who knows too much and always points things out (like crab grass). Finally, after eight years of being neighbors, Homer goes to Ned’s house for the first time. After seeing the kids and interacting with Maude and seeing Ned’s house – Homer explodes. “Your family is better than my family! Your wife’s butt is hotter than my wife’s butt! You make me sick!” Homer yells until Ned has to, rather politely, kick him out. This shows that Homer is upset about how Ned is different and has the life that he wishes he could have. What makes things worse is that Marge says “I’ve never seen him be anything but the perfect neighbor.” Homer gets incredibly upset that she used the word perfect to describe Ned, even if she didn’t mean it in the way he took it.

That night, Homer tosses in bed because of how upset he is about Ned. Similarly, Ned is tossing, too. He feels bad that he threw his own neighbor out of his house, feelings like he “violated Matthew 19:19.” He calls the reverend in the middle of the night for guidance, quoting Matthew to him. The Reverend tells him to try to apologize, possibly through a letter.

Ned indeed writes a letter. He leaves it for Homer who then reads it in front of his family. Ned calls Homer his “brother” and says that he loves him. He writes “I feel a great sadness in my bosom,” which then shows the main difference between the Flanders and Simpsons. The Flanders take that as a sincere statement, completely serious; the Simpsons burst out laughing at it, thinking it silly. All except for Marge, who yells “I wish this family was as close as the Flanders!” Just one more reason for Homer to be jealous.

Flanders kids, Rod and Todd, are just like him, pointing things out to Homer – even telling him how to putt correctly. Homer and Ned agree to have Todd and Bart compete in a mini-golf competition where the loser’s dad has to mow the lawn in his wife’s best dress. Well, I shouldn’t say loser. Ned asks: “Loser is such a harsh word, couldn’t we just say ‘the boy who doesn’t win?’”

The competition ensues, with Ned being his always nice self at the beginning, saying “Well, sir, may the best man win.” The two sons compete with their fathers influences, Homer being the more oppressive of the two, of course. They learn their lesson and teach it to their fathers – both of them decide to call the match a draw. Thus, both fathers have to wear the dresses to mow the lawn. But unlike Homer, Ned finds the best in anything and finds a way to have fun.

Homer Loves Flanders

Homer becomes a neighborly nightmare to Ned Flanders in this episode, making it highly comical and very worthwhile to watch. Even though I watched this while doing some research for my group presentation, I found it to be a generally interesting episode that also explained some things that I hadn’t questioned before. (Aka: newer references to Homer and Ned being best friends in the past.)

Simpson tries to win tickets for the big football game in town, but fails. He hears over the radio that Ned won them and his hatred for Ned just grows. In fact, it grows to the point that Homer plans to go hit Ned with a pipe and steal the tickets, but Ned just brings him along. He doesn’t even ask Homer to pay for anything; free tickets, ride, snacks, and merchandise for Homer! He’s so happy with Ned by the end of the game that he kisses him at the stadium.

Homer gets even happier when he finds out that Ned is friends with Stan Taylor, the famous football star that Homer adores. Apparently Ned and his Christian ways saved Stan from a life of drinking and women and he feels he owes Ned a lot. Stan gives Ned the game ball who, in turn, gives it to Homer as a gift. “Wow, Flanders. This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” That’s the defining moment in this episode: not only does Homer learn to appreciate what Ned did, but he changes his attitude, as well. While they’re leaving, Homer hangs out the car window and shouts “I want everyone to know this is Ned Flanders and he is my friend!”

He begins to hang around with the Flanders family, being around constantly to the point where he never leaves them alone. The kids call him Uncle Homer and he feels accepted. But he begins to drive Ned completely crazy. Ned even prays about him: “Oh Lord, please give me the strength to endure Homer Simpson’s friendship.” Eventually Homer shows up to play some golf and the Flanders family gets in the car and drives away. While Ned speeds away from Homer, he gets caught by Officer Wiggum and has to take a sobriety test. He fails – not because he was inebriated, but because a bus full of townspeople drive by and he falls over in embarrassment.

Ned is so infuriated with Homer that at the next church gathering he yells at him in front of everyone. He calls Homer annoying and fake. After Homer sets the record straight with the congregation, everyone forgives Ned and everything goes back to normal.

The Color Yellow

This episode of the Simpsons is a bit of a celebration of Black History Month. Lisa discovers things about the family’s history while attempting to do a project for school.

The opening segment that changes with every episode scared me. Instead of everyone coming to the couch like normal, Homer drowns. I have a feeling that it is some sort of strange Olympics parody, but it still unnerved me.

Coming from Lyman Hall High School in Wallingford, CT, I know all about bomb scares at school. (My high school would have a bomb threat about once a month. Whenever the said ‘mini-terrorist’ had a test, I guess.) Bart has plans to blow up the school, which made me laugh because his ideas never work; the school is completely safe. But then Willy, the Scottish custodian, decides to help. That worries me. And freaks me out. I’m not sure what Groening is trying to say about municipal workers, but it must be interesting. A great moment is when something lands on Principal Skinner’s car. Bart calls it, saying: “Here comes the ‘mykia.’” It lands and Principal Skinner looks out the window yelling “MY KIAAAA.” It was hilarious. Just going to show how much Americans love their overstated Kia vehicles.

Until recently I planned to be a teacher, which helped me to enjoy and understand that parody of the teacher. She looks at her planner when asked what they’ll be doing. What does it say? “Who knows, who cares, beats me, sick day, film strip.” Teachers seem to be portrayed like this pretty often. Why? I think I know why: children will always come home complaining about how bad school is, how they do nothing, learn nothing, etc. I vaguely remember some psychological term about it; people always tend to focus on the negative things in their lives. No one ever wants to complain about how great their life is going. (It reminds me of how there are always only depressing things on the news.) Teachers don’t deserve this view about them, because I’m sure that only a certain percent are as useless as this one.

She looks out the window and decides the children should make family trees – which gets Lisa on her mission. She goes home to encounter discouragement from her father and grandfather, who warn her against proceeding. Marge, on the other hand, encourages her, and helps her along the way with her project. Together, they discover that the Simpson family was a bunch of terrible people. Or were they?

Lisa ventures into the attic (with a little aid from Bart) and encounters a few interesting things. None are really highlighted, but I noticed them and found them interesting. There was an astronaut suit, a large stone face, pictures, a shirt that says “I didn’t do it,” skulls, old advertisements, and rainbows. I wish my attic was that cool.

Lisa had to blow on the book five times for all the dust to come off…Go figure, it was from 1860. She brings it down to the living room and begins to read it. They find out that the Simpsons were kicked out of Australia. Since Australia was practically a giant British prison, the question arises: How bad WERE they?!

Eliza Simpson, the writer of the diary, was a daughter of a slave owner. The modern-day Simpsons show shock when they find out they are descendents of slave owners, when in actuality, many people around the world are and show no sympathy whatsoever. I find this to be an interesting reaction for them to have. Perhaps Groening is showing how he feels all descendents show feel?

The story follows Eliza as she attempts to help a slave, Virgil, run away through the Underground Railroad. They get chased (by men on horses that run across logs like Simba) and end up at the home of the Simpsons. Homer agrees to hide Virgil only because he knows how to make doughnuts, but later on gives him up to Colonel Burns, who then gets scared away by Marge with a rifle. The diary ends there because Santa’s Little Helper sneezes on it and it turns to dust and scraps. Lisa continues with her mission at the library and discovers a bit more about the story.

It comes down to Grandpa to finish the story. Homer has to threaten him by turning down the thermostat to tell the story, but he eventually tells the rest: Marge and Virgil run off to Canada together, meet Abe Lincoln along the way, and get married. Lisa: “We’re 1/64^th black!” Bart: “That’s why I’m so cool!” Lisa: “That’s why my jazz is so smooth!” Homer: “And that’s why I make less than my white coworkers!” The family is now generalizing and stereotyping themselves differently because they found out that they were partially black. Another interesting part to notice is that Groening pokes fun at Grandpa and his generation. Grandpa admits that his generation is racist, which is something that almost everyone I know acknowledges about their elderly family members.

Oh, one last special note: For the black history month presentations half the kids were mini-Obama characters.

2.14.10

The Valentine's Day episode of the Simpsons mixed romance with...curling. I have to say that it was one of the funniest episodes that I've seen in a long time, purely because of the way it mocked the Olympics. (And Canada.)

"Date night: The embalming fluid that keeps the mummy of a marriage fresh after the heart and brain have been pulled out through the nose." Lenny Leonard says this while Homer is preparing for his date with Marge. I agree with it completely, though I doubt I would ever come up with that metaphor on my own. At the beginning of a relationship everything is fresh and spontaneous, with both people excited and willing to show off. By the time a marriage gets as deep in as Homer's and Marge's it has lost some of its luster and those nights of spontaneity and wonder have to be planned ahead of time. Their children and jobs get in the way in ways that they didn't when the relationship began.

There's also a cute part where Marge has Bart tell her that she doesn't look fat. Home then parodies that (unknowingly) and has Carl Carlson tell him he doesn't look fat. I lol'd.

At the movie theater they go to for their date, Homer and Marge encounter something I always run into and despise: Noise in the theater. Spouses bickering, people coughing, phones ringing...why can't people ever just enjoy a movie without letting their lives get in the way? Can't people just put their lives aside for two hours so they can enjoy something? The noise finally got to them and they left, spurred by the fact that Ben Affleck was in the movie.

Curling. It really isn't as popular as people would think it is, and they mock it so much during this episode. Of course Homer and Marge make the U.S. Olympic team just in time to go to Vancouver and compete. "It's perfect for us!" Homer says. "It's got bowling for me and sweeping for you!" Oh, gender roles, how we can never escape you. Marge, of course, will be doing the sweeping because she's an at-home mom and does that often. Homer, on the other hand, has to do the bowling, because he's a man and goes out to practice. To mix it up a bit, they decide to teach each other some things while curling. She teaches him how to sweep and he teaches her how to drink beer.

Oh, and it just happens to be hilarious that they wear full body spandex suits. I mean really?! Why do you need it? It's not like luge where you need aerodynamics. They just look ridiculous and funny.

Everyone makes fun of Canada, saying that they never really do anything other than play hockey. Well, Matt Groening agrees with that opinion and shows it. An announcer says that each country to host the Olympics puts their own spin on the introductions of the countries, and wonders how Canada will do it. I'll admit that I spit out my soda when I heard: "WHO YA GONNA CALL? ALBANIA!" Yes! The creator of Ghostbusters is Canadian! Then they released a bunch of beavers in the stadium, most of which began to gnaw on the Olympic torch, causing it to fall over. I can only take that as a reference to the flame failing for the first time in the history of...well, ever.

"I'll admit it, we're vampires who suck on shattered dreams." Finally an announcer admits it! Olympic announcers, just like golf and tennis announcers, always sound so bored and speak so quietly about boring things...until someone gets hurt. Marge gets hurt and can't play, so the announcer gets excited and admits that he's a vampire. I always knew it. (Want to know who else is emotionless? Apparently the Swedish curling team.)

An issue that was parodied was girls and their money-spending ways. Lisa gets addicted to buying cute pins and loses all her money. She even trades her special pearl necklace away to get a rare one. The man that sells the pins has boxes behind him labeled girl's jewelery, birthday checks, and beloved pets. This parody shows the extent of female obsession with cute things and overall addiction. It's the sub-story for the episode, but to me it hit home more than the curling team's moral.

On a side note, once they were in Canada a few interesting things happened. They run into the Indian lady from the Simpson's Movie. Homer says she's his therapist and they share a trippy moment of therapy where everything blurs, colors sharpen, and geometrically shaped birds fly by in patterns. It was just hilarious and you realize he still hasn't paid her yet. (She definitely seems like someone I would pay quickly...)

Bart introduces Lisa to his new friend Milhoose, a Canadian version of Milhouse right down to his crush on Lisa. Groening pokes fun at the typical Canadian accent by having a clone of the bully Nelson. Usually Nelson says "HehHeh" obnoxiously, but the Canadian version says "HooHoo." I lol'd. There was also a reference to a one dollar coin. Oh, Canada.

Overall, it was an excellent episode with excellent ties to current events.

Epic Quotes:

"I'm not a dude...I'm a hottie!" - Marge

"There's a winter Olympics?" - Homer

"Pack your winter coat, we're going to Canada's warmest city!" - Homer

"Without Homer, I'm a broom without a stone." - Marge

"I love learning about Lisa!" - Tom Brokaw

"They shouldn't be playing Quidditch at all while 4 of 7 horcruxes still have to be found!" - Moe