I really can't say that this is my favorite episode, but I wanted to choose one that was still fresh in my mind. The opening scene had several references to the movie, with the chalkboard "I wont wait 20 years to make my next movie," the large breasted eskimo lady and Spiderpig on the couch. In "He Loves to Fly," Homer, after thoughtful consideration, decides to pull Mr. Burns out of the fountain that he fell into while trying to take a penny. Mr. Burns is basically an example of parody in himself, the "typical" penny pinching billionaire. It may even be a bit of cosmic irony that Mr. Burns almost dies trying to grab more money, the very thing he lives for.
Soon enough, Homer is on Mr. Burns' private jet as thanks for the rescuing. They flip on the TV to find Itchy & Scratchy, dark comedy because the focus is blood, guts and death, situational irony because it is portrayed as a children's show, but obviously is not. At the same time, The Simpsons looks like a children's show, but truly is not.
Next, Lionel Ritchie is on the private jet to serenade Homer, who requests that the lyrics be changed to be about beer. This plays into the masculine, lower middle class father that makes Homer a walking parody.
They refer to Chicago as the Miami of Canada. Then when they are leaving, a man yells,"While you were here, we felt like New York!" This pokes fun at Chicago, like it's the big city that's trying too hard.
Another great line is when Marge asks if Homer flew commercial and his response is that only losers and terrorists flew commercial. This makes fun of the "common" folk and the airlines too.
After Homer becomes depressed with the knowledge that he will never fly on a private jet again, Marge hires a life coach hired by Stephen Colbert. Homer insists he will not speak to any shrink, therapist or doctor, but upon hearing the label "life coach", Homer replies, "Oh-Tell me more." I think this is a commentary on the use of labels in our society and society's reaction to those labels.
After Homer falls down the stairs trying to put on a sock, Colbert pulls out a marker and tells Homer to remember NDC (while writing it on the wall) for Never Dont Concentrate. This makes fun of a great deal of self-help programs, books and coachs (Satire!). They often have little acronyms or abreviations that stand for something moronic and overly simplistic. Many people treat these simple statements like a great new revelation and actually try to put them to use.
Next Colbert uses a series of puns, "shoe attitude" and "bowling people over." These are not really within any of the types of comedies that we study, but I think that puns should be. They aren't funny on their own, but with the knowledge that it is supposed to be funny, it's funny that someone is trying to pass off a pun as funny. I suppose this could be a stretch, but maybe we could consider it dramatic irony, because the audience knows that it's an old man joke, but finds it funny precisely because of that.
When Homer comes home from the job interview, we hear the whole family exclaiming that they knew he could do it, they knew he'd get the job, but we see bart edge to the side and thrown away the cake that says, "At Least You Tried." This is dramatic irony because we know that they did not believe in Homer, but they act as if they did. Then we go to another scene of dramatic irony, when Homer spends his days at a fast food place while the family thinks he is working hard at his new job.
Bart catches Homer and explains that Homer has to tell Marge. She's been buying brand-name groceries, like rich-people brand name: Campbells, Pepsident. This is one of many Brand Name, Social Class commentaries that we have discussed for class.
Homer then pulls some strings, by claiming to be a Marine, to rent a private jet for himself and Marge to break the news. When the pilot mentions the Marines again, Homer says, "Semper Fudge" and gives a salute. Then once in the air, the pilot passes out after a hard day of heroin use. This pokes fun at pilots, the airlines and the not so enforced regulations of the FAA.
As the plane is going down, Marge calls the life coach to talk Homer through it. We see the life coach sitting in a gross apartment on a gross couch in his underwear eating a TV dinner. As a life coach, you'd expect to have a good handle on your own life, but we see the opposite is true in this case. (Situational Irony)
This episode wraps up with one last bit of dramatic irony when Homer "quits" his new job (which he never got) to go back to the powerplant. We know the truth when Marge does not.
I also want to add something to the New Simpsons vs. Old Simpsons debate. I don't like the really old ones (where the animation is totally different). I also think that the New episodes are not the best. I want to add a category of the Early Years of the New Simpsons. Somewhere around the middle was really the highpoint for me, but that was about the time I was in middle school, so maybe the classmates who say we're too old to really appreciate it are right.
Soon enough, Homer is on Mr. Burns' private jet as thanks for the rescuing. They flip on the TV to find Itchy & Scratchy, dark comedy because the focus is blood, guts and death, situational irony because it is portrayed as a children's show, but obviously is not. At the same time, The Simpsons looks like a children's show, but truly is not.
Next, Lionel Ritchie is on the private jet to serenade Homer, who requests that the lyrics be changed to be about beer. This plays into the masculine, lower middle class father that makes Homer a walking parody.
They refer to Chicago as the Miami of Canada. Then when they are leaving, a man yells,"While you were here, we felt like New York!" This pokes fun at Chicago, like it's the big city that's trying too hard.
Another great line is when Marge asks if Homer flew commercial and his response is that only losers and terrorists flew commercial. This makes fun of the "common" folk and the airlines too.
After Homer becomes depressed with the knowledge that he will never fly on a private jet again, Marge hires a life coach hired by Stephen Colbert. Homer insists he will not speak to any shrink, therapist or doctor, but upon hearing the label "life coach", Homer replies, "Oh-Tell me more." I think this is a commentary on the use of labels in our society and society's reaction to those labels.
After Homer falls down the stairs trying to put on a sock, Colbert pulls out a marker and tells Homer to remember NDC (while writing it on the wall) for Never Dont Concentrate. This makes fun of a great deal of self-help programs, books and coachs (Satire!). They often have little acronyms or abreviations that stand for something moronic and overly simplistic. Many people treat these simple statements like a great new revelation and actually try to put them to use.
Next Colbert uses a series of puns, "shoe attitude" and "bowling people over." These are not really within any of the types of comedies that we study, but I think that puns should be. They aren't funny on their own, but with the knowledge that it is supposed to be funny, it's funny that someone is trying to pass off a pun as funny. I suppose this could be a stretch, but maybe we could consider it dramatic irony, because the audience knows that it's an old man joke, but finds it funny precisely because of that.
When Homer comes home from the job interview, we hear the whole family exclaiming that they knew he could do it, they knew he'd get the job, but we see bart edge to the side and thrown away the cake that says, "At Least You Tried." This is dramatic irony because we know that they did not believe in Homer, but they act as if they did. Then we go to another scene of dramatic irony, when Homer spends his days at a fast food place while the family thinks he is working hard at his new job.
Bart catches Homer and explains that Homer has to tell Marge. She's been buying brand-name groceries, like rich-people brand name: Campbells, Pepsident. This is one of many Brand Name, Social Class commentaries that we have discussed for class.
Homer then pulls some strings, by claiming to be a Marine, to rent a private jet for himself and Marge to break the news. When the pilot mentions the Marines again, Homer says, "Semper Fudge" and gives a salute. Then once in the air, the pilot passes out after a hard day of heroin use. This pokes fun at pilots, the airlines and the not so enforced regulations of the FAA.
As the plane is going down, Marge calls the life coach to talk Homer through it. We see the life coach sitting in a gross apartment on a gross couch in his underwear eating a TV dinner. As a life coach, you'd expect to have a good handle on your own life, but we see the opposite is true in this case. (Situational Irony)
This episode wraps up with one last bit of dramatic irony when Homer "quits" his new job (which he never got) to go back to the powerplant. We know the truth when Marge does not.
I also want to add something to the New Simpsons vs. Old Simpsons debate. I don't like the really old ones (where the animation is totally different). I also think that the New episodes are not the best. I want to add a category of the Early Years of the New Simpsons. Somewhere around the middle was really the highpoint for me, but that was about the time I was in middle school, so maybe the classmates who say we're too old to really appreciate it are right.
No comments:
Post a Comment