The Simpsons: No Good Read Goes Unpunished
April 9, 2018 9:58 AM - Season 29, Episode 15 - Subscribe
Marge forces the family to hand in their electronics and head to the library in an attempt to bring the family together again. This results in Bart using a war book to control Homer, and Marge discovering that a past favorite of hers is now offensive and insensitive.
I didn't watch last nights episode, and haven't been an even occasional viewer of this show for quite some time.
from the AVClub link:
Lisa’s direct-to-camera speech solemnly explaining how changing sensibilities and the creators’ blind spots have left problematic artifacts in the form of a character whose cultural shtick has been the subject of increasingly vocal (and cinematic) opposition is another story. The Simpsons took on the issue before, in a more ambitious and extended recent storyline that, if not perfect, at least evinced a willingness to enter into the discussion in good faith. Here, Lisa’s speech ends on a closeup of a framed picture of Apu (in case anyone was still not getting it), but the boilerplate explanation and the fact that it’s wedged into a thoroughly forgettable and rushed storyline leaves sounding an awful lot like The Simpsons brushing past, asking an annoyed, “There, are you happy now?”
It seems rather relevant to explicitly say that this appears to be a really really weak sauce response to the Hari Kondabalu documentary The problem with Apu?
Much like Hank Azaria refused to participate in the film (or even engage with its creators) this response totally fails to substantively deal with most of the really valid complaints about this specific stereotype and the real damage it has likely done to many peoples perceptions of south Asians.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:14 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
from the AVClub link:
Lisa’s direct-to-camera speech solemnly explaining how changing sensibilities and the creators’ blind spots have left problematic artifacts in the form of a character whose cultural shtick has been the subject of increasingly vocal (and cinematic) opposition is another story. The Simpsons took on the issue before, in a more ambitious and extended recent storyline that, if not perfect, at least evinced a willingness to enter into the discussion in good faith. Here, Lisa’s speech ends on a closeup of a framed picture of Apu (in case anyone was still not getting it), but the boilerplate explanation and the fact that it’s wedged into a thoroughly forgettable and rushed storyline leaves sounding an awful lot like The Simpsons brushing past, asking an annoyed, “There, are you happy now?”
It seems rather relevant to explicitly say that this appears to be a really really weak sauce response to the Hari Kondabalu documentary The problem with Apu?
Much like Hank Azaria refused to participate in the film (or even engage with its creators) this response totally fails to substantively deal with most of the really valid complaints about this specific stereotype and the real damage it has likely done to many peoples perceptions of south Asians.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:14 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
I swear, it's like every detail I've heard about this episode in bits and pieces over the past 12 hours just makes it seem worse and worse.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:15 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:15 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Has Laura Ingram attacked Lisa for apologizing about racist stereotype creation yet? /fake/
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:19 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:19 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Linda Holmes, NPR Monkey See: 'The Simpsons' To 'The Problem With Apu': Drop Dead
I know: it's a cartoon. That is the easiest, silliest response to this debate. It's just a cartoon. It's just a comedy. Or, as the photo of Apu pointedly says, don't have a cow. But the show doesn't have this defense to call on, because it has accepted accolades for decades as a thoughtful, intelligent, satirical work that deserves to be taken seriously. It has accepted a Peabody Award, and a GLAAD Media Award. It has been praised and slobbered over and quoted and praised again, and to plead insignificance at this point is unavailing.posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:17 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Dealt with at a later date. If at all." In other words: we have heard how we have hurt people, and we honestly don't care.
I was just gobsmacked by how they dealt with the Apu issue. What an upsetting episode. Thanks for the Linda Holmes link.
posted by fimbulvetr at 2:08 PM on April 9, 2018
posted by fimbulvetr at 2:08 PM on April 9, 2018
Still haven't watched the episode, but in reading about it the details just keep piling up for me.
From the Holmes article: "It takes a lot of work to take the spirit and character out of a book, but now it's as inoffensive as a Sunday in Cincinnati," Marge announces.
Speaking on behalf of my adopted hometown: The 2018 Simpsons writers' room can get stuffed. Cincinnati may be an easy target for being continually behind the times and stymied in its progress by tight-fisted white conservatives in the outer suburbs, but we are not and have never been "inoffensive."
posted by Strange Interlude at 2:24 PM on April 9, 2018
From the Holmes article: "It takes a lot of work to take the spirit and character out of a book, but now it's as inoffensive as a Sunday in Cincinnati," Marge announces.
Speaking on behalf of my adopted hometown: The 2018 Simpsons writers' room can get stuffed. Cincinnati may be an easy target for being continually behind the times and stymied in its progress by tight-fisted white conservatives in the outer suburbs, but we are not and have never been "inoffensive."
posted by Strange Interlude at 2:24 PM on April 9, 2018
Case in point: chili with cinnamon.
posted by Cookiebastard at 3:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Cookiebastard at 3:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Crossing the streams: (The Problem With (The Problem With (The Problem With Apu))) on the blue.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:28 AM on April 10, 2018
posted by filthy light thief at 7:28 AM on April 10, 2018
fimbulvetr: The reason I posted this is I have to ask, is it normal for recent Simpsons to kill a main character in a non-Halloween episode?
I don't know how "recent" you mean by "recent Simpsons," but the first one to come to mind was Maude Flanders, who died (waaay! back) on "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily, the fourteenth episode of Season 11, which originally aired on February 13, 2000.
Here's a Simpsons wikia on in-show deaths.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:33 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't know how "recent" you mean by "recent Simpsons," but the first one to come to mind was Maude Flanders, who died (waaay! back) on "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily, the fourteenth episode of Season 11, which originally aired on February 13, 2000.
Here's a Simpsons wikia on in-show deaths.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:33 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh, I know about Maude Flanders, but that was very different -- Maude's death was a big deal and a permanent change to the show. Nelson was just burned up in the incinerator as a "joke" (a lame and not funny one) and I assume he will be back next episode. If you look at that list of deaths, there are no other major characters besides Maude that die in non-treehouse episodes, and almost all of those deaths are of animals or one-off characters. The way Nelson was killed seemed completely off for a Simpsons episode.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:24 AM on April 10, 2018
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:24 AM on April 10, 2018
On the other hand, I would be all behind the Simpsons killing off characters permanently every episode until Springfield is a ghost town and then shutting down the show.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:30 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:30 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
On the other hand, I would be all behind the Simpsons killing off characters permanently every episode until Springfield is a ghost town and then shutting down the show.
This is the only thing that could possibly make me want to watch The Simpsons again. In fact, "Oh, you don't like Apu? Okay, well now he's fucking dead! Happy?" would have been a better response to The Problem with Apu than this episode was.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:21 PM on April 12, 2018
This is the only thing that could possibly make me want to watch The Simpsons again. In fact, "Oh, you don't like Apu? Okay, well now he's fucking dead! Happy?" would have been a better response to The Problem with Apu than this episode was.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:21 PM on April 12, 2018
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AVClub was not too keen on this episode eihter
posted by fimbulvetr at 10:10 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]