The Simpsons and the Death of Parody

Special thank you to Andrés Oliva, for his help in getting a new mic.

Interviews cited:
George Meyor interview in ABC (2002), cited in Christ Turner's "Planet Simpson", Chapter 1, Sub-section "Reality TV"

[mooreanonumbers]

"By the way, I am aware of the irony of appearing on TV in order to decry it, so don't bother pointing that out" Sideshow Bob, season 7

[capoeirastronaut]

"Funny how it's always 'The Simpsons predicted the future', never 'We created ourselves a nightmare world beyond parody' "

[CypherBrood]

To quote modern philosophers, "ironic shitposting is still shitposting"

[lawnmower]

I admire your restraint, not using the term "flanderization" even once in passing throughout the entire video essay

[irrisorie]

hearing lisa call elon musk the greatest living inventor took 30 years off my life

[stardragon]

Let's not forget that the Simpsons literally created the term "Flanderization" for when characters become parodies of themselves.

[GogiRegion]

That clip with Elon Musk is just so foreign to me as someone who has really only watched the first few seasons and a few other older episodes of the Simpsons. In the older seasons, Homer would have been the one who was blindly praising Musk, and Lisa would be the one who was onto him and not trusting him like the rest of the family did.

[birdwatching_u_back]

Legend has it that “In the 80’s, with the rise of neoliberalism…” is the first phrase uttered by every video essayist after they come out of the womb

[xxcrysadxx]

Bart: Lise, everyone in town is acting like me, so why does it suck?
Lisa: It's simple Bart. You've defined yourself as a rebel and in the absence of a repressive milieu, your societal niche has become coopted.
Bart: I see...

I think that about sums it up.

[citizensguard]

There are many “why aren’t The Simpsons good anymore?” Commentary videos on YouTube, but this one distinguishes itself from the crowd, by looking at things from a fresh angle, and being extremely well presented. You execution of something other youtubers attempted, but fail short of truly hitting upon, made me watch the video all the way to the end, whereas, in most cases, this kind of thing can sometimes drag on and on and be a chore to get through by the twenty minute mark. Well done. Subscribed.

[luseajr]

theres something horribly ironic seeing "WATCH THE SIMSPONS SEASON 31" sitting under this video

[dragonskunkstudio]

I never got the full meaning of the word "Sellout" until it was identified as "The death of parody"

[matthewmcneany]

Bart: Hey Dad, how come they're taking The Cosby Show off the air?
Homer: Because Mr. Cosby wanted to stop before the quality suffered.
Bart: Quality, shmuality! If I had a TV show I'd run that sucker down to the ground!
Homer: Amen, boy. Amen.

Run at the end of an re-run of an episode after the Cosby show was taken off the air (1992).

[azaraniichan]

There is no alternative, or also, '' don't forget, you're here forever ''

[samioi]

Watching Lisa Simpson call Elon Musk "possibly the greatest living inventor" made me barf a bit...

[BingBangPoe]

It's really sad that The Simpsons became everything they fought to criticize.

[TCRYTV]

There's one bit that sums up one of my problems with Zombie Simpsons.
That sequence at 20:19 of Lady Gaga being "factory-made" could so easily have been used as a commentary on manufactured pop stars, women in music, female beauty standards, a whole host of things. But it was just squandered, rejecting the critical, cynical joke and choosing to use it as just a quirky character introduction, just another reference or code. That's what happens when culture becomes counterculture - neutralisation by assimilation

[samleheny]

In Simpsons of old, one of the other characters would have called Elon Musk "The greatest living inventor" and then Lisa, the show's voice of reason, would have challenged this with a well-written spiel about how Musk simply owns the company that employs the actual inventors.

[CrewMate-rm]

I would dispute that the decline of The Simpsons was strictly due to its profitability; it was very profitable during much of its golden age, and season 10 was distinctive in that its original writing staff had almost completely left. While it's feasible that they left because the producers became unwilling to rock the boat (perhaps fearing the loss of their successful franchise, which obviously they did not fear when it was still small), it must also be considered that maybe the original writers got bored of writing the same show for ten years, and the producers were simply unable to assemble a group of suitable replacements.

[samk]

It seems to me that Married With Children, which preceded the Simpsons by 2 years, was the first to really break the mold from "loving family" to "dysfunctional family".