101
top 15 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] doc@kbin.social 25 points 1 year ago

Simpsons has become so... tame. Among other words that rhyme, such as dart, cart, and e-art.

[-] johnthedoe@lemmy.ml 32 points 1 year ago

Simpsons really did challenge culture and now it’s become culture.

That being said it was edgy for the reasons not because of a white man voicing Apu or Homer strangling Bart. The edginess were its ideas and satirical humour compared to anything else on TV at the time. I’m in favour of Homer not strangling Bart and retiring Apu. Keeping these things wouldn’t help anyone, or suddenly make the show great again.

[-] SilentStorms@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't think Homer strangling Bart is the same as the Apu thing.

The strangling was never depicted as acceptable behaviour. It was a cartoonish form of corporal punishment, and served to make Homer look bad tempered and not a great father. I don't think anyone, in the 90s or now, is taking parenting tips from Homer Simpson.

Its just another classic gag gone from a show that's a shell of its former self. I agree with what you said about it becoming the culture though, they really should've cancelled it 20 years ago.

[-] GiveOver@feddit.uk 18 points 1 year ago

If anything, changing it now looks like they previously thought strangling 10 year olds was acceptable

[-] kandoh@reddthat.com 7 points 1 year ago

It was based off the creator's family when he was a kid, so 1950-1960s, absolutely kids were getting their shit rocked by angry PTSD dad.

[-] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Oh yeah. Raised a generation of kids afraid to do anything without immediate, external validation.

Gotta internalize your rewards and goals.

[-] Fisk400@feddit.nu 3 points 1 year ago

Trying to be a good father is one of homers driving moral compasses. Often he does things to his kids that are bad and stupid but those are then the main story of the episode and he does his best to fix the wrongs he did, often by being genuinely empathic and understanding to his kids. The strangling is just abusive and there is never a consequence or resolution to it. That is a clear signal from the show that they think it's an ok "character flaw" to have.

[-] johnthedoe@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

In defence of the strangling, I assumed it was a 3 stooges inspired slapstick humour that didn’t have any malice intentions when writing. Def a good call to just end it

[-] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I wrote about this exactly thing in college philosophy coursework 20 years ago.

I concluded that homer had an abuser mentality, that he would have understood his abuse "as tough love." There's an episode where he strangles Bart and gets all sad about "why do you make me strangle you?" or something to that effect. And another where he starts strangling Bart but then realizes Bart actually did the right thing, and he stops strangling him and they have a nice father son moment.

My takeaway is that Homer is a complicated guy. He's both good and bad, as I suspect are we all. Also hurt people, hurt people.

[-] JustZ@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Agree with everything except last sentence.

Apparently it's still widely popular for a new generation. I haven't watched in years but used to watch every week and usually nightly reruns, as a kid.

Who cares if it's different now? People are still watching and laughing at the jokes.

[-] Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 1 year ago

See, Marge, strangling the boy has paid off," Homer quipped to his wife. "Just kidding. I don't do that anymore."

Homer then added with a smile, "Times have changed!"

I think it's a joke about liberal virtue signaling. He doesn't understand why times have changed nor does he tackle morality in his reasoning, he's just an idiot. But times have changed, so he's less abhorrent now.

[-] Yokana@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Thats nice Homer

[-] Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Just another sign the Simpsons is dead.

[-] xc2215x@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Shocking decision. I remember that gag a lot.

[-] ElBarto@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago
this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
101 points (89.8% liked)

News

23311 readers
1230 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS