Bart doesn't lack intelligence, he's just not geared towards the way the American educational system teaches. He's a gifted schemer, a great detective, a talented writer, able to very quickly pick up languages and when he puts his mind to it or someone gives him necessary attention, he is able to succeed academically.
@@joshuawesteros5345 He has the Li'l Bastard Traveling Kit in Itchy and Scratchy Land and the General Mischief Kit in The Joy of Sect (which he never gets to use before the cult leaders use their Li'l Bastard Brainwashing Kit on him). That's all the instances of Li'l Bastard Kits I can think of off the top of my head. I think that's all of them.
Bart isn't a sociopath or psychopath, as Bart understands and empathises. I'd say that Bart probably just has ADHD and isn't given the attention and support he needs. They actually gave him medication for it once and he was so much better but it was a stupid anti medication story, so it went nowhere.
Also I will mention that in real life, many sociopaths recognize there is something wrong and decide to control their urges and be a good person. I'm going to make a movie about this path that they take, with a plot loosely based on the book Ulysses
I saw an episode from about season 30 recently and he was on a cocktail of meds, so I guess they eventually found a balance. Also, that anti med episode actually did end with him on Ritalin.
Mismedication(?) is rife but the problem is that people take that and get all AnTi!!!. They do nothing for the children who need it and... pppfff🤷🏾♀️... well...
Exactly. Someone with ASPD (or conduct disorder, as Bart is a minor) wouldn't give a damn about shooting a mother bird and wouldn't bother incubating her (as far as he knew) eggs in her absence. Edit: I 100% agree about the anti-medication bullshit.
I had always assumed the reason Lisa was so smart was in part because her environment forced her to mature much faster then normal, in a sense, the opposite of Bart who revels in the immature.
Also the women in her family have historically been very smart and intelligent and sometimes brilliant and the men in the family including overseas relatives have typically been doofuses and ignoramuses. There's an episode that explains that. Can't think of exactly which season. I gotta look it up.
The "do it for her" plaque makes me genuinely sob every time oh my God. Earlier in the video when you only show the original plaque, even then I got choked up. Now later in the video when you actually showed it with pictures of Maggie, I'm in the middle of doing my makeup and it's running down my face now 😭😭😭😭 Man, I just love this show so much. Well, the early seasons. I have 1-13 on DVD and I'm totally gonna start watching from the beginning now. My best friend from 6th-8th grade Josh and I used to call each other every day and talk on the phone while we watched the Simpsons 🥹 cracking up together and quoting Simpsons lines to each other was the entire basis to our friendship 🥰
I'd never heard people complain that Skinner being a street punk was a problem. The issue I've always heard was that the retcon to his backstory undermines his relationship with his mother, since the implication was always that he is the submissive, straight edged person he is because of how she raised him, and if that never happened then something substantial is lost. Either way, I never had much of a problem with the episode, I saw it as a kid and didn't realise it wasn't just a normal thing to happen on the show.
To be honest, I do know some people who in their life ONCE tried to rebel against their overbearing parents - and then never again. I could see that in Skinner too.also explains his allowed healthy libido without any concerning kinks. He must have had at least a short wild time.
Timestamps: Intro - 0:00 Discussion on the First Season - 4:37 Homer - 11:05 Bart - 20:43 Lisa - 29:49 Maggie - 38:04 Marge - 43:46 Homer & Marge's Marriage - 51:50 How The Show Changed From Seasons 2 to 4 - 57:29 Everything in Springfield is Either Broken or Rubbish - 1:02:24 Treehouse Of Horror - 1:09:39 In Defence Of The Clipshows (Sort Of) - 1:20:42 When Does The Golden Age End? - 1:23:14 In Conclusion - 1:33:19 Top 10 Episodes From The Golden Age - 1:34:19 Outro - 1:41:08
I have begrudgingly titled this "early years and golden age" cause I know people are gonna pull me up on that but I personally think 1 should be counted. Watching season 1 today is just mindblowing
This video made me go back and watch the first season of the programme, yeah it's bloody brilliant. A lot more grounded and dark in tone that the rest of it, but I like that.
Golden age refers to the run of top tier episodes. S2 is my personal fav but it's a lot different from the next few seasons that all seem to have found the formula
We actually have Paul McCartney to thank for Lisa staying a vegetarian. He agreed to appear in the episode on the condition that the change would be permanent
I think the issue isnt that homer got more stupud. I think the problem is he gets more callus and uncaring in his stupidity. Theres a genuin underlying warmth to homer in the early seasons and while it occasionally shines through later on it certainly becomes rarer
You've summed up the key problem, in the early series homer actually had some basic intelligence and some fatherly authority even it's just if he could cut corners and so something half arsed he'd take the short cut which is where the humour came from, also he had a certain lovable innocence, unfortunately the more they increased his stupidity the more of an outright arsehole he became until as you say he became downright detestable in the end because his concern for anyone other than himself over rode all his better original qualities. What's worse though is that he stopped being funny cos all the original writers like Conan O Brian left and new people who had no real understanding of what made homer likeable in the first place moved in and so the depth of character was gone to be replaced with superficial moronic frat house humour and that's where they ruined their own program.
I'll stick to what I've always said about Homer Simpson he is man's initial thoughts and the way we would like to act before societies programming kicks in
Homer's rampant alcoholism is societal programming. We've seen in flashbacks, examples of what Homer and Barney were like before they first tried beer 🍻
@@AnnoyingNewsletters Homer was directly responsible for Barney's alcoholism though. His friend was going to make something of himself but Homer's possible jealousy at this had him harassing Barney to try beer which sent him on a spiral I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong) they've ever shown Homer making himself accountable for as an adult.
im glad there was a whole section dedicated to season 1 in this. bart the genius is one of my favorites and the conversation with homer right before bart goes to his first special class where he says hes going to show him how to put on a tie but puts on a clip on and says "theres nothing wrong with a father kissing his son... i think" after kissing bart on the forehead are some of my favorite simpsons lines
"Garcon! Another bottle of your second least expensive champagne!" is an absolutely hilarious unappreciated Homer line that speaks volumes about his character. Season 1 is incredible.
I literally clicked this video at random, but I'm so glad I did. Most people making these kinds of videos only give a summary and they leave it at that. They add nothing. You're giving an in-depth, serious look at the characters. Putting actual thought and care into your endeavor. As a 28 y/o who grew up watching Simpsons on an Open Fire I appreciate your work very much so.
38:49 Maggie is one of my favorite characters in the whole show. I never forget about her. She shot Mr. Burns. She is a genius baby who can kick butt when she needs to.
The Simpsons golden age ended for many reasons. The death of Phil Hartman (the heart of the show) and the 9/11 attacks ending the 'prosperity' era of the 1990s were some of them. The rise of South Park, Family Guy, Futurama and other similar shows in the early 2000s was another reason. The Simpsons had to compete with the edginess of these shows and lost its original more subtle humor. Another reason for the decline was cable TV was just no longer special anymore. It used to be that cable TV was exciting, people would use "I have cable" as a pick up line at a bar... the Simpsons was an event that everyone had to watch. The internet and the explosion of animation in the 1990s and 2000s made the show no longer a phenomenon but just another animated show in a sea of them.
Phil Hartman was not the heart of the show at all. he was in 54 out of 206 episodes of the show up until his passing. if he was the heart, how come more episodes were produced without him than with him?
@@thebasedgodmax1163 maybe you didn't watch the show in the 90s. troy mcclure and lionel hutz were some of the funniest characters on the show. matt groening named fry from futurama after Hartman after his death. They were even talking about making a troy mcclure movie at one point.
Wowsers, what an indepth and eloquent dissection of the first few seasons of The Simpsons. You put a really impressive amount of introspective thought into The Simpsons, both recognising it's existence as a Television cartoon, as well as it's existence as a piece of art, and one with a deep and varied creative vision. This is definitely my favorite dissection of The Simpsons thusfar, and I really cannot wait to see where this goes. I'm legitimately surprised to see you aren't resting on big-name success on this site yet, and I sincerelt hope you find success in the future.
For a long time Stu just did Doctor Who reviews with the odd video of something else so it's a pretty niche audience to capture. That plus his videos always use the crude animation instead of the perhaps more popular format of talking to the camera I guess wouldn't attract as many viewers (fwiw I've always loved his little animations and they're a staple of the channel I'd never wanna see gone). Stu does deserve a much larger audience though tbf, I've always appreciated his insight and thought he's one of the best reviewers on the site even when I don't agree with him, so hopefully projects like these get him more noticed.
Marge on the lamb is one of my all time favorite episodes. I always loved the view of Springfield at night, the over night slumber party feel, and the desert parts with the cool orange sky, real nostalgic.
I think it is a testament to the show that in spite of years of repeats across various forms of media. Those clips are still funny. I still remember first hearing _"These kids have no future"_ and thinking I don't doubt a lot of teachers think that.
I did a breakdown of life on the fast lane for an essay for my master's and when you look at the structure of the plot and character, it's just a thing if pure beauty.
I never was into The Simpsons but my son loved it so I decided to buy preowned dvd box sets (the packaging alone is worth the price) and asked which ones he recommended. Series 3 to 10 he said. I bought the first ten and have started watching Series One. Didn't expect the characters to be developed from the start. Love these episodes, The Telltale Head, Life on the Fast Lane and Call of The Simpsons my favourites so far. Excellent critique. Thank you
1:06:35 you are the first person that I know of/remember to have actually acknowledged this joke. "Dig up stupid" is easily one of my all time favorite Simpsons one liners, but it never really gets mentioned often. Props dude. The video is amazing, and you earned my sub. (I rarely sub just because someone earned it through the quality of content, I usually do so for ease of access to new uploads so that is kind of a big deal from my perspective)
One addition to how People who you perceive as boring authority figures can have interesting pasts that you wouldn't expect: In one depiction of the future at the end of an episode, Bart is depicted as being a chief justice of the supreme court when he and homer are going to see the itchy and scratchy movie, which I feel also highlights a similar thing, but in the opposite direction. Perhaps one day Bart will become a boring man with a job of authority, just like how Armin Tamzarian eventually became the Seymour Skinner we know of, so its something the show had sort of done before, (admittedly in a future segment)
True. Also in separate vocations the counsellor says he had Bart pegged as a drifter when the aptitude test tells him he's going to be a cop - then he becomes a hall monitor and he's good at it
Lisa is the voice of reason and the smartest one because Lisa is a parentified child: the one that feels like she has to hold things together because the parents can’t. I feel that’s why she suffers from mental health issues the most.
lol, nice, i like the first 6 but don't count myself as a fan, but i'm always down to watch the OG trilogy and enjoy the first 6 - last 3, only saw 'force awakens' and was honestly bored by it but fan is short for fanatic, never understood the point - take it or miss it, doesn't matter much in life
Man, the subtle appreciation of the more deep and emotional character moments really did get me tearing up, how human and heartfelt these comedy chatacters were written
First off, I adore this analysis, you did a spectacular job dissecting the show and characters. I do have a nitpick though where you said that we “don’t see shows about functional families.” I’ve studied family sitcoms, and the simpsons was a pretty unique show for its time because it centered a dysfunctional family. before then, most shows featured very functional families and much less extreme personal drama in the dynamics. the simpsons popularized the dysfunctional tv family in that regard
I was born in 1964. I don't know if I caught every single Simpsons short on the Tracey Ullman show or not. But, back in 1986 to 1988 I did have the Life in Hell series of comic books by Matt Groening. (Should still have them - they're SOMEWHERE in my house.) But I absolutely know I HAVE watched EVERY SINGLE episode of The Simpsons, at least twice, since it began in 1989. I wish the show would end, not because I think it is bad, but because I wish ALL shows would end, so I would not feel compelled to watch every single episode through to the end of the series. And The Simpsons is still good, even in 2023.
I genuinely love season one. In my opinion it’s so raw and deals with scenarios that many people deal with themselves. There are so many heartwarming scenes and also scenes that hit hard. It’s why I love it (I also really like the animation I can’t lie)
I'm so burned out on video essay culture and ridiculously long, blown up videos full of nitpicking and a mirage of analysis, but this video is great! You really nailed a lot of the thoughts I had being a longtime fan of the show.
This was such a brilliant video! It was strange seeing The Simpsons talked about as a linear TV show because growing up I consumed hundreds of hours of the show when they would be rerun on Sky 1, so the episodes were always out of order and I never really watched it as a box set. But that’s what made watching this so good, I thought I couldn’t see The Simpsons in a new light but this was so interesting. It wasn’t just insightful and interesting though, it was really heartwarming when you talked about Homer and Marge’s marriage. You’ve really made me want to go back and rewatch the golden years, something I thought I would have no interest in doing anymore.
Particularly do season 1. I recommend everyone try season 1 again cause it was so far ahead of it's time. It gets modern trends in adult animation so on the money
@@Stubagful I’m very keen to watch it properly. They wouldn’t rerun season 1 as much when I was a kid so the only time I ever properly watched it was when I was staying with my cousin who had the dvd. I was really excited to see how The Simpsons began but was so confused at why it was sad and miserable and didn’t try it again for years. I’m really excited to see it after all these years, where gloomy and miserable TV has almost become the thing I enjoy most.
37:29 i remember this scene vividly as a kid. Realizing your parent isn't on your side when you thought they were can be devastating when you really care about those moral values.
"Bart Gets An F" This is my favorite episode of The Simpsons: This is such an unashamed morality play that if it were less good it might be annoying. But the moral message of the importance of studying and working hard is driven home with such a skill and thorough characterization that it remains entertaining throughout even as it delivers an insightful and poignant lesson. Bart is falling further and further behind at school and is threatened with having to repeat the fourth grade. This threat is enough to scare him into action and he enlists Martin's help in studying. Unable to concentrate on revision, Bart slaps himself around the face, muttering: "You wanna be held back a grade? Concentrate, man!" There is a sudden jump cut to the next day, as the class are handing in their completed test papers - and Bart is still slapping himself. Even in cartoon form the sight of Bart slapping himself to try and force himself to focus is a really effective character moment. He is clearly trying his hardest to succeed and when his tears of failure come they are understandable and sad. By the start of the second series, of which this was the first episode, Bart had become something of a counter-culture hero. But rather than capitalize on the character's punk reputation, the show's writers decided to show that, deep down, he was scared of failure. At every single step the writing focuses clearly and absolutely on Bart's situation and state of mind. Every avenue and possibility is explored to build up Bart's state of desperation. This was, and still is, a bold and daring moral for a cartoon show, and the emotional payoff and the relevancy of this hard lesson (Even when you try hardest, it still might not be enough-and it's okay!) are why this episode represents the very best The Simpsons has to offer. Favorite Moment: (Bart has just given a poor book report on Treasure Island.) Mrs. Krabappel: Bart, did you read the book? Bart: , I am insulted. Is this a book report or a witch hunt? Mrs. Krabappel: Then perhaps you'd like to tell us the name of the pirate. Bart's Brain: Blackbeard. Captain Nemo. Captain Hook. Long John Silver. Peg Leg Pete. Bluebeard. Bart: Bluebeard?
I just did the math and if you keep watching at that rate it'll take you until March next year to completely catch up to the current end of the series (and by then Season 35 will be halfway through airing). May God have mercy on your soul.
Season 14 was the season I gave up. I liked the treehouse and moe baby blues is great, but the other 20 odd episodes for me ranged from boredom to awful. The humour in my eyes drastically went down when al Jean returned in 2001
I like the comparison between Frank Grimes and Superintendent Chalmers. Both are canonically not from Springfield so they are presented as the straight man in this wacky town. While Chalmers adapts and even at times plays into the wackiness, even moving to the town since his daughter attends the High School in Springfield, Frank let it consume him and had a mental breakdown as a result.
Also didn't help that Grimes was also a judgemental, Randian, "bootstraps" asshole with delusions of grandeur (given his rant at Homer was just veering very close into "welfare queen" dogwhistle territory).
Ah yes, a fellow enlightened season 1 fan. When I was a kid, I'd try to watch the Simpsons whenever it was airing but often times my parents wanted to watch something else or I was too busy. We only had the season 1 DVDs when I was a kid, so I watched those 13 episodes over and over and to me, for many years until I sought out the rest online, that WAS the Simpsons. I definitely think it's an underrated season. I like Marge's actual issues! She has a drinking problem, she can't control herself and SHE embarrasses Homer! And seriously, did they EVER do a "Marge might cheat on Homer" episode again? There's plenty with Homer proving his loyalty, but Marge only gets the one and like you side it's pretty harrowing comparatively. Homer loves Marge and would never ever cheat on her in a million years, the Mindy episode proved that. The love that Homer feels for her is infinite and immovable. Marge on the other hand... Homer is certainly a less appealing partner. It'd be fun to do more stuff with that. My favorite episode of the season is "Moaning Lisa" because it really felt alien compared to most other things I had seen at that point and I think it was incredibly ahead of its time. The idea that a kid can just... be sad... isn't something that is often shown in TV shows, at least until recently. Not to mention Marge's clear trauma from her less than stellar mother. And it really still speaks to me. A quiet sadness that can't really be explained or easily fixed, but can be helped with the love of your family. The ending is just too freaking sweet, I love it man. "You wanna be sad honey, be sad! We'll ride it out with you! And when you get finished being sad, we'll still be there. From now on, I'll do the smiling for the both of us!" That right there is Marge being an awesome mother and breaking a cycle of trauma. In a cartoon from 1989. Amazing.
My take on The Principal And The Pauper is that it just further emphasized just how much of a soul crusher Agnes is, rather than thinking of it as an episode which takes something away from Seymour. Idk, at the time it might have felt like it was a shark jump, I was only 2,5 y/o when it aired, but, I think the 20 : 20 hindsight perspective is the correct one here. The rest of season 9 is still very solid and the fear of experimenting with the formula which had pervaded the writers' room after the backlash undermined the show needlessly. This crowd mentality among hardcore fans phenomenon can be unnecessarily detrimental to shows sometimes.
I still feel that Principal and the Pauper could have worked if it was from an earlier season. By season 9 we have had several spotlight episodes for him. So we know who he is and what makes him get up in the morning. I will say having the background of him being much like Bart, a rebellious angst, shines a new light on their relationship. Skinner wants Bart to do better and not to fall into the same traps as he did. It took a war for Skinner to change and clearly he does not want history repeating itself.
Ironically the backlash against change caused one of the main problems of why the simpsons fell in popularity, with now only the odd stories that actually do anything new even being talked about.
As far as Bart being accused of murder; at around about the time when this episode aired; there was a case that had happened. In Chicago, a 14-year-old girl was raped and murdered. Two 8-year-old boys were charged. There was a small media circus around this case. Pundits and editorial writers did shocked pearl clutching "think" pieces that banged around the culture. There was only one problem. It was physically impossible for the boys to commit the killing. The people in the neighborhood all knew who did it. Because of the race and class of the neighborhood and boys they were condescendingly ignored. Somehow the truth won out and the county dropped the charges. Basically, all that happened was the police and county issued a brief apology and the media had a few short retractions. Basically, they said "Whoopsy" and moved on and it was rarely mentioned again. I have no evidence that this story was an inspiration for Bart/murder episode but, that story from Chicago happened very close to the time and after this story happened in Chicago.
Huh interesting. Didn't come across that one. It's possible. I never realised back in the day that the antifreeze in the wine was an actual scandal in the mid 80s
Looking it up it seems like you're talking about the murder of Ryan Harris; it seems like that happened in 1998 though, which was after Bart the Murderer. So unfortunately that couldn't have been the inspiration.
@@TheAlexSchmidtthey said it was a 14 year old girl who was murdered. Was Ryan Harris a girl? If not then that can't be the case they were talking about.
i just started making video essays myself (on another channel) and i have a ton of respect for the quality you’ve put out. it’s a really honest take of the series. thank you for uploading
I wouldn't necessary say that Bart is not as intelligent as Lisa, just he is skilled in a different form of intelligence. And that is shown by his numerous triumphs over Sideshow Bob. Someone who is just as academically gifted as Lisa. And yet in their very first episode, Lisa could not believe that Robert framed Krusty while Bart is the one who figures it out from just a phrase. Which is also why I like Brother from Another Series. As Barts victories clouds his judgement and assumes Bob is guilty from the get go. Much like how you hear stories of police officers still treating reformed convicts or even exonerated ones with suspicion and mistrust. No doubt his victory from their second encounter was a factor to this. Where Bob pretended to have changed so he could marry and then murder Selma for money. So why should Bart believe him this time around?
I think the move to wide-screen HD and clean cut computer drawn lines have marred it really. The 'charm' was the hand drawn style from around series 5-ish and the 4.8 aspect ratio. If that returned, which is possible as the computer software could simulate that hand drawn style
The idea of Homer being not-actually stupid but rather "exactly as stupid as he thinks he is," is brilliant, especially given his backstory. I'm definitely going to be reading the character through that lens a lot of the time from now on.
I started watching this but then thought, instead I'm just going to start the Simpsons again from the beginning. I dont know if that's what you wanted me to do but im doing it.
One of the reasons I have such an attachment to these episodes, in particular, 'And Maggie Makes Three' is that I can see my own family in the Simpsons. My dad worked in a paper factory all his life, and while he never spoke about his work to me, I can only imagine the reason he was prepared to get up every morning and do a really crap job was that he was trying to keep us going as a family. He died when I was eleven on the way to that job, and while I can't ever really know what his life was like from his perspective, seeing Homer post those photos of Maggie up as a way of showing us why he sticks with it all feels like more of an insight into my father than I ever got while he was alive. I know it's a deliberate bit of emotional manipulation and it's a little schmaltzy, but it's *damn good emotional manipulation.*
Something to note that you did not mention. Starting in season 10, they changed to hand drawn, but digitally colored animation. To me there's a stark difference and it coincides with the change of tone season 10 had. Then starting in season 13 the entire show was animated digitally, again marking a tonal shift that happened to coincide with animation changes. Coincidence?
I really enjoyed this retrospective. You brought fresh perspectives to a well-tread topic - really high quality. Your defence of Principal and the Pauper particularly resonated with me - the episode is not the shark jumping moment it's made out to be. Season 9 is surely still in the golden age. I think an argument can also be made for season 10.
Super excited to see the following parts of this. Love to see people acknowledge the depth of Marge, especially when it comes to her portrayal in Life on the Fast Lane, and it's always great to see people give season one the love it deserves. Grew up on a DVD player and only the first four seasons of The Simpsons to play, so its definitely got a special spot in my heart. Great video!
I've watched a whole bunch of simpsons videos, all hours long. some going through every single episode, some talking about the golden years and the fall. so i really should be sick of it by now - but your video provides a really interesting character analysis on each of the characters, and i'm enjoying this so much that i'm compelled to write this comment. great video! relaxing, a nice even tone and nice music with some sweet and relevant clips. also, these pictures are great. subbing now, eagerly awaiting more!
in a random attempt to make this comment seem more genuine and less robotic so the compliments can really sink in: my arm is super itchy right now for no reason, but it's lucky my nails are longer than they've ever been. my sister painted them pink for when we went to the barbie movie, which i LOVED by the way. so i couldn't bite them. they're still pretty short but just that extra white sliver makes all the difference with scratching. and i'm acting like humanizing myself is a noble act to make the compliment hit deeper, but really i'm hypomanic (bipolar) and just like talking about myself. anyway, i'll watch your friends video next - that one looks like a goodie.
I didn't think it was robotic. I hearted because I thought it was lovely. Thank you :) I enjoy going deep on characters. I find trying to express the core of what makes these iconic characters function improves the writing work I do outside youtube
Do you ever watch the episodes with the commentaries? When I was collecting the box-sets as a kid I never listened to them, maybe one or two out of curiosity, but always found it a lesser experience to just watching the episode regularly, so kept away from them. Now, as an adult I find them inmensely fascinating, so much so that I find it hard not to immediately rewatch an episode with the commentary track after watching it regularly. Just to hear how the different creatives viewed their approach to the show and the characters, hearing the explanations as to why the show evolved the way it did, it's such a rewarding listen. I recently found out there was a secret easter-egg commentary from Oakley & Weinstein on Lisa the Simpson, and it felt like finding a new cheat code for a video game or something. I think it speaks to how well-crafted the show is that they could make a twenty-minute discussion for every episode - they had enough to say about every episode without it ever feeling repetitive or boring. Also it's just nice hearing people who you can tell are all friends having a laugh together. Admittedly it's a shame John Swartzwelder never joined in considering how much he did for the show (unless that really was him in The Cartridge Family commentary). But we got the New Yorker interview with him a couple of years ago which I'd say makes up for it.
The stuff with Maggie is a great example of why I think the Simpsons should’ve always aged the characters, Maggie would’ve been a toddler for a while, but the chance to do it really was gone by season 3 or 4. Honestly, I did talk like Lisa at age 8. I had a “reading age” of 14-16 and was involved in reading and discussing political things and other subjects I really probably shouldn’t have. I honestly don’t like how precocious I was, but Lisa feels like a very realistic example of that kind of kid to me. I also don’t think it’s especially contradictory to her home environment - sometimes if you’re “gifted” it’s the only escape from a crummy home, with all the extracurricular activities and so on. I never mentally filed “Simpsons Comedy Showcase” as a clip show, but I guess it is! I always thought of it more like The Day The Laughter Died or 22 Short Films as a format shift. All the other clip shows being framed around a usual Simpsons situation set them apart for me. Life on the Fast Lane is one of my favourites too. Any time Marge or Homer realise their marriage isn’t working for them, and maybe they should be friends instead, I always lap it up. Even though it’s always temporary.
I was like Lisa at that age too. I get a little annoyed when people respond to characters like her as "little kids don't talk that way". Other than that I loved this video.
I’ve honestly always been the same way. A lot of the time, with characters such as Lisa, the lack of friends and overdeveloped sense of language, reading, writing, and thinking is something that I’ve seen paralleled a lot in my own interactions and life. This is also a bit of an issue with the art that I happen to create, as usually the stylistic, conceptual and artistic choices are, from other people’s perspectives, too different or complex for them, so they don’t like it. I do want to make clear that I am not trying to boast, or boost my considerably atrophied ego. My writing thus far has only been a reflection upon my own life. However, I do wonder whether I would have been better in a gifted program, a la the “Bart the Genius” episode. I was not placed into one when younger, supposedly because I did not meet the requirements. However, considering how my life has went and the challenges I have faced, I do recognize quite a bit of these struggles in descriptions of other gifted kids. Again, please keep in mind that I do not consider myself a genius in any way, nor anything special. However, paradoxically, I do see the differences compared to my peers, much like how you saw that your reading and comprehension levels were higher than average.
@@dumbolddoor9882 tbh, one of the things Bart the Genius gets so right is that gifted programmes are just containment vehicles, only presented as a Special Treat rather than a punishment. Most of the time when people “don’t meet requirements” it is because they are judged to be too socially well-adjusted, and thus are judged to not need the true reason behind the programme. I was in some of the various forms of it, and even skipped a couple years in school, but even then the main reason given behind those decisions was an attempt to reduce bullying from my social ineptitude. A problem with those programmes is the way they separate kids creates a self-reinforcing cycle of always being separate and different from their peers. Not that that’s the only way it can happen, but it’s a pretty common one. IE it can create a lot of the bullying and behavioural problems it exists to try and address (in a very blunt way). By some very limited metrics I kind of thrived in those programmes, I did university-level stuff a few years early, but it didn’t help prepare me for life any better. And the hyper competitive atmosphere makes it very difficult if not impossible to make friends among your new peers. I tried so hard to make friends with the other bookish nerds but they were even more proud and standoffish than I was, so there was always some barrier which came up and we always hit an impasse. As we see in Bart the Genius, it’s quite a mean, two-faced, defensive environment. You have to constantly prove you really “deserve” to be there, which means the kids spend more attention on each other than the way they’re treated by the adults around them. It’s kind of a diversionary tactic, carefully outlining the societally-acceptable ways to utilise one’s smarts and demarcating the ways that are bad and will get you ostracised or kicked out back into the general stream (where you will always be marked as an outsider). The idea is to teach people how to be good at office work, whether that’s with social cohesion in the break room or being sequestered at one’s desk constantly. But it’s also completely understandable you wonder what it would’ve been like if you’d been “allowed in” by the gatekeepers, since it is sold as some amazing special reward, wow honours track, etc etc to the rest of the school populace. That’s another major dimension of how it serves to control the student population. To give just one example the smart kids who want to be let in will focus on that aspect, and will often want to avoid getting-into trouble in the hopes that lets them gain consideration into later entry. But you really honestly didn’t miss much. In a lot of ways it messed up my sense of self which took many years to begin to recover from post-education, where it was all bound-up in my academic performance and precocity. Precocity is a quickly-rotting asset, even moreso than ideas like youthful beauty. So I didn’t know what to do once that began to fade, and school certainly hadn’t prepared me to learn how to struggle in a world of equals. Adjusting to being a fairly unremarkable near-30 year-old was hard. And don’t worry, I don’t think you’re tooting your own horn. It can be hard to discuss these topics precisely because of the envy which the school systems deliberately implanted in its student body when they instituted this kind of separation. The very fact it is a system of separation, intended to be aspired to, creates an artificial hierarchy which can outlast people’s time in school. Attempting to simply discuss it factually does run the risk of someone interpreting it as a humblebrag, and missing the point in so doing, because they will often have old social wounds associated with the topic in one way or another. It’s just another reason I wish time had been allowed to exist in the Simpsons - Lisa could’ve been a vehicle to explore all these difficulties at uni and beyond, but instead she’s stuck perpetually in this kind of school limbo. Imagine how it could influence her parenting style, for good and ill! Or how Bart could come to realise the remedial and gifted wings were just two different ways to cordon off “troublemakers” and bond stronger than ever with Lisa, breaking through some of that envy. (Because let’s face it Bart is also really smart and resourceful in tons of arenas, just not ones which require the ability to quietly sit at a desk all day.) That got a bit longer than I’d intended, but I hope you can find something useful in all this.
Could you imagine if, rather than resetting every episode, every single lesson is learned and applied forevermore? By the end of the second season, the family is incredibly well-adjusted and loving. By the end of season 5, Springfield has abandoned capitalism. By the end of season 9, Springfield is a utopia, and all its citizens have developed telepathy. Somewhere in the middle of season 18, Homer learns how to sustain the human body on nothing but air. In current episodes, they would have long since abandoned their material bodies and linear existence.
40:32 I mean when my niece was 3 and I lived with her parents (my sister and brother in law) she was always really upset when "Daddy and Mommy" left her for whatever reason. It was really cute actually cause even if one of them were still here she would cry for the other one because she didnt like not seeing one of them. I remember when my sister started working my niece was devestated when she left for work and cried for about an hour. Finally she calmed down but the look on her face when she saw "Mommy" later that day at work was adorable. She ran to her cash where my sister worked as a cashier and gave her a huge leg hug even though she was tech still working.
I never thought much of the Simpsons as a kid, but I gave it a rewatch and I have to say the "golden age," if there is such a thing, is seasons 1 and 2. They're gorgeous and poignant in a way few other shows are that I've seen, and that I definitely didn't appreciate when I was too young to relate to the parents. 3 is where the guest stars become annoying and the transformation of the family from characters with feelings to noisy soulless gag machines starts to really grate, and 4 is virtually indistinguishable in tone from later seasons- by season 4 it's well and truly the show I remember not liking. Glad to hear someone sticking up for seasons 1 and 2.
33:11 - 33:53 That part made me absolutely crumble down to a mess, just hyperventilating and sobbing. I've struggled with depression for most of my late teens and all of my early 20s and even though I'm doing a lot better now that just reminded me so much of how my family treated my depression with just not understanding it properly. I don't think even I understood it properly... But that's just the most important part. People around you making sure you understand you don't have to do or be anything other than what you are is enough and so, so important. I'm still a fucking mess writing this so sorry if it doesn't make sense. I don't think I've ever had a reaction this strong to a RUclips video
It took me a long time to understand how to get people around me to understand depression too. I honestly tear up watching that clip of Marge. I hope you're okay and getting the help you need. I struggled with depression for so long but therapy has turned my life around, for me and everyone around me. It's made me much more capable of expressing what I need
Stu are you OK? You sounded really subdued there while thanking your patrons. Gotta say, damn fine retrospective. I really love hearing your very finely tuned criticism.
Simpsons video essays get better as they go on. Compare this to supereyepatchwolf’s or entertain the elk’s from years ago & this is much more nuanced & has better analysis
I can’t tell you when the show “stopped being good,” as I never watched it religiously. But I can tell you the episode that made me go “ok, I don’t need to try to keep up with the new stuff.” It was Judge Me Tender from season 21, the one with Simon Cowell as himself. Actually, while I can’t pinpoint a specific time I feel (and I emphasize this is just a feeling) like things went downhill around whenever it was that celebrities started appearing as themselves instead of as characters or even analogs.
See I thought that too but then I watched the golden age back and it's full of celebrities as themselves - Krusty gets cancelled is full of them. And they still do "we wrote a character for a guest star" in later years I've run into. I was trying to put my finger on what wasn't working about a random episode and didn't realise an incidental character was played by Reese Witherspoon. I think it's the lack of deprecation too. When George Harrison shows up, homer doesn't go "oh my god it's George Harrison" he goes "oh my god where did you get that brownie?" In the golden age no one's impressed a celebrity has shown up in Springfield. It's the opposite of the Elon musk one
53:40 Not true there are many great shows with functional families. The Addams Family, Bob's Burgers, Spy x Family, Big City Greens, Bluey, etc. One of the biggest compliments the Addams Family and Bob's Burgers frequently get from fans is "I like how the family gets along so well despite being weirdos."
@8:42 What you're saying about Homer and Marge's marriage being at stake reminds me of how I feel while watching some old Bond movies. I know 007 won't die while trying to climb to that Orthodox monastery in For Your Eyes Only, but it still manages to make me nervous. The scene succeeds to communicate me the danger faced by the best spy of the world. Die Another Day suddenly starts to stink when it forgot James Bond was convalescing from months of torture and turn him into Superman who's able to escape to Hong Kong even if he's barefoot and in pajama pants. A good tension-building in fiction doesn't depend of the actual result of a situation . Viewers know Indiana Jones won't die because after falling from a cave at the 36th minutes of the movie and they'll know Marge and Homer will still be happy together at the end of the episode. However, you still can make them feel like the threat was serious.
the simpsons was created to be a parody of the typical domestic comedy sitcoms at the point of the show was that the characters were flawed but likable. The problem is that in the later seasons the audience is meant to feel sorry for a character when they suffer the consequence of their actions, yet ignore the severity of those actions and the fact that they feel no remorse for them. At the same time the actual victims are often villianized. Either for being in the way of what the character we are supposed to sympathize with wants or for suffering from their actions which makes it harder to sweep them under the rug. Then there is the fact that the writers keep using the same plot over and over again yet pretend that it is the first time it has happened. So we are beat over the rails that when one character does something it is wrong but when this one does the same thing they are the victim. While people tend to use jerkass homer as the face of the decline I tend to use marge and bart as they are two sides of the same coin with how they are treated by the narrative.
I've seen people do character analyses on South Park characters, but not really the Simpsons. Still seems a bit weird in a show without serious multi-episode character arcs but it is nice to see the show reinterpreted this way.
Agnus: "Seymour! The house is on fire!" Seymour: "No Mother, it's just the Northern Lights." *House becomes engulfed in flames.* Agnus: "Hellllp! Hellllp!" 😅🤣
I really liked your segments on Lisa and Marge here. I won't pretend like I'm a particularly big Simpsons fan, I didnt grow up with it and only remember bits and pieces, but you always have a unique perspective on these sitcoms. The idea that Homer's idiotic and incompetance is fuelled by others perceptions of him is heartbreaking but I can totally see it being the case
I've always thought Homer was ADHD coded, but now it seems even stronger than that, the whole "feelings of inadequacy basically being a self fulfilling prophecy."
ADHD is also commonly believed to be either hereditary, or at least likely to run in a family. Bart DEFINITELY has ADHD, and it is extremely possible that Homer also does. When I got diagnosed, I dug DEEEEEEEP into it, and because it all clicked with me, but it also massively applied to my dad, I told my dad to get checked out and guess what? Lol. If the Simpsons wanted to be really relevant now, they would have Bart getting diagnosed with ADHD and either Homer gradually works out that he also has ADHD, or maybe Marge or Lisa works it out for him or something.
I absolutely love your analysis of Season 1. I'm old enough to remember watching the show as a 6 year old kid when Season 1 it first aired and the tone really stuck with me, particularly scenes like the cut from syndication part in Bart the General where Bart is lying in the coffin with the Xs over his eyes, or even the more brutal animations in the boxing videogame in Moaning Lisa. They didn't exactly give me nightmares, but they made me uncomfortable. Then there were episodes like The Telltale Head and The Crepes of Wrath which I feel sorta scared me straight into being a good kid, even though at some point my parents were convinced that Bart was a bad influence on me. Going back to it, it's not the funniest, but it's unmatched in terms of this weird, hard to describe type of atmosphere where the world, despite being a small town (or in my case, a suburb in a big city) was really expansive and kind of dangerous. I also think it's really unappreciated in terms of just how cynical and sardonic the show was even in its very first episode. It's so easy to take for granted nowadays, but it really was a pretty big tonal shift in 1989-1990. And that's not even getting into Life in the Fast Lane and having those scenes of Bart and Lisa trying to process the fact that their mom and dad are fighting burned into my memory at an early age and serving almost as a preview to my own situation with my parents just a few short years later. It absolutely did manifest in appreciating the sudden loosening of the rules and showering in gifts before realizing what's going on and then sinking into dread. Again, easy to take for granted now, but as someone growing up in the late 80s and early 90s whose earliest formative memories of TV started around the era in which this show premiered, it's hard to describe how "real" the family's portrayal felt to me and how it was so different from anything else at the time.
I'm so glad to hear I'm not alone in my love for the first glorious season of The Simpsons. I personally loved the dark tone of that series it was unlike anything I had seen at the time. I was born in 1982 so was around The Simpsons original run, the golden years. I believe the show died many years ago and I'm honestly stunned it's still being renewed. The issue with Homer for me is they just took away his soft sweet tender side and not only doubled down on the stupidity thing but also making him a jerk basically with very little regard for those around him. Homer was a loveable oaf in the golden years, he always had heart which redeemed him in my eyes. It had a unique way of handling complex issues and themes written with intelligence and now the humour is just so dumbed down it's unbearable. Thank you for this insightful video 👌
One thing that I've always found very touching about The Simpsons (especially in this era) is that they may not have the healthiest family dynamic, but you can never deny the fact that they do love each other. Bart and Lisa fight like cats and dogs, but they still look out for each other. Homer and Marge don't have the perfect relationship, but they still love and support each other. There's something kind of beautiful about that.
On the clip shows. I always loved all singing all dancing! the simpsons songs are awesome anyway, and it's great to see and hear them again, (especially in a pre-youtube era). but the framing material is some of my favourite musical humour from the show, and if you want surreal and dark stuff snakes insertions are just hilarious! "say your prayers! and then it's cablammo! Click, clikck, click click click! Oh no! I'll be back! when I get some ammo! bboyeeee!" There is no way that literally holding a gun to the heads of a family, including two children and a baby! should be that funny! and that even after such fantasticness as ""mom is right! your singing's a sin! your as les miserable! as Lee marvin!" just before another good old fatherly choking by Homer!
You done this show so much justice. The Treehouse Horrors episodes were primarily for the comics, I used to read them and I felt even back then that they had to juggle and retain the core Simpsons so its not treated as a spin-off. The clips show part, I don't think any of these writers predicted RUclips and streaming services because tbh considering I'm from the uk and used to watch Simpsons on Sky One and C4, talk shows, news and soaps was always before Simpsons so I think it was more serving the network and try to transition well to compete with the behemoths that it had to contend with. Good video
To this day, the only thing I can remember about my College Physics II course is that the teacher’s favorite Simpsons episode is “the one where Homer, for Marge’s birthday, gives Marge a bowling ball that says ‘Homer’” Oh also great video
The principal and the pauper never bothered me until various RUclips videos told me how it ruins everything etc but no your right it does make total sense that someone going through such trauma would love a simple mundane life afterwards. Can’t wait for the rest of your deep dive into the Simpsons. Well researched and well thought out video, love your work!
Cheers :) yeah in the next one I've been going through more episodes that everyone seems to have just decided are bad: the jockeys one, the one where homer frames Marge for drunk driving. When you don't take these views that they such as "obviously correct" you end up finding a lot more under the surface
i always think that while it's interesting to properly analyse this show it's also useful to remember the TV landscape it was part of and the fluffy family sitcoms of the 70s and 80s that it was satirising. pressing the reset button at the end of each episode was pretty much a hard rule back then, something the show was fully aware of in the golden age and often poked fun at. the genuine reason a writer decided to do something outlandish is likely just because they thought it would be funny there and then and nothing deeper than that. had the show started in the 2000s there would have been more precedent for having characters develop and making changes stick. i can only assume that the principal and the pauper's infamous reputation was them making a meta joke as they always had done without noticing that the audience was beginning to change. finding out a beloved character has a secret past can be absolute gold dust for a continuous story but overwriting aspects that were previously established then ignoring it all anyway clearly rubbed some fans the wrong way. personally i never minded that episode, it brings the jokes which on my shallow level is what the simpsons was best at.
My observed breakdown: Stone Age: 1-2 Golden Age: 3-8 Silver Age: 9-14 Bronze Age: 15-present* Because there seems to be a general consensus on when the quality declines, I would argue the silver age begins in season 9 and ends in 14 when rating began to decline after that season. There is a general trend of viewership loss with season 15 onward: this would suggest that the show is not as pop culturally significant (and potentially not as well received) and previous seasons. Ratings are not equivalent to quality, but for an iconic show like The Simpsons, rating falling would indicate that something went wrong from a quality perspective. *To be fair, I do not watch the show that often anymore, but other fans have told me that the show has turned around in recent years…I believe around season 31.
Sorry I'm kinda commenting as I go but I completely agree with you on Season 1. It's a wonderfully written depiction of the show that doesn't flinch at the sight of drama or darker themes. I'd probably go so far as to say that Season 2 is one of my absolute favourites in the series because it does a nice job at balancing the darker themes with the comedy.
I will be using this as a tool to help teach prevention vs. reaction alongside general media literacy. I've been applauding as I watch, thanks for taking us not only back to English Lit, but giving us a more digestible way to understand the material
I'm glad i was there to watch it right from the start. I watch an episode or more every day in order, but just start again once I get into Season 9, just picking the odd later episode here and there. Season 1 is hard work at times, but seasons 2-8 are wonderful.
For me a 80s kid session 1 to 10 is the golden age, I don't watch any of the new stuff but 1 to 10 was pure magic if you was a little kid when the simpsons come out there was nothing bigger, the simpsons was it, and anybody who thinks session 1 isn't part of the golden age I just can't take them seriously, this break down was brilliant and you get a subscriber from me, edited and narrate was perfect I enjoyed it very much.
51:30 Regarding CPS, I can say from first hand experience, it doesn't take much for your kids to get temporarily pulled from custody. Simpsons is always exaggerated for comedy but it's not entirely unrealistic.
I did watch each of the first 10 seasons in production code order and have found that the golden age ends after season 9. In that order, "All Singing, All Dancing" is the final one and seeing the ending of the episode, it feels to me like watching the conclusion of a special and amazing series. It just has a "final" feel to it when I watch it.
The "golden age" is somewhat of a thing invented by older fans that mainly stems from nostalgia and the decline of modern TV. I would argue the decline happened at some point in the early 2010s. Many of the most timeless and funny episodes came out in the 90s, but not all episodes made from Seasons 2 to 9 are good. Some say it started to go down after Season 10, but I've found many episodes that I love. Stuff like this always bothers me, like when Indiana Jones fans say the franchise should've remained in the 80s or Star Wars fans say they believer they haven't made any films for 40 years. Heck, even my childhood show, Thomas the Tank Engine, has fans complaining it hasn't been good for decades. You can't really call yourself a fan of something if you only like part of it from decades ago and hate all modern content. If franchises ended, they wouldn't be half as well known of beloved, and that goes for The Simpson. Have my respect for watching every single episode just to make content. That's dedication.
I was suggested this video and clicked it to have something on in the background but must say it was really well done and hooked me. I love golden age Simpsons (which is seasons 1-7 as far as I'm concerned)
I love hearing the opinions on the Golden Age. For me Season 3-6 we’re almost consistent and classic. Still good episodes before and after but they became less and less. I’d say 1997 was where I kinda stopped following.
i can remember the exact episode that undid the show for me. The Lady Gaga one. It was so over the top and had no actual narrative function. It was like "hey, LGG's at the top of the charts, let's give her an episode!" It was a far cry from episodes like the Michael Jackson one where he voices the guy that believes he's Michael. It's pretty touching, and depending on PoV, did a good job of highlighting mental illness as something other than just lunatics in a padded cell. I guess I could say the show lost its sense of context. I watch modern episodes, and regardless of my opinions of where the show has gone in its writing, it's like they just gave up on Springfield itself and telling stories based on the everyday lives of the wider cast. It's mostly just fairy-tale spins with the cast playing roles. And far as I've seen, the episodes that DO stay in Springfield have been hit with typically divisive themes. So yeah. Anything after 2008 is garbage to me. Anything after ~2013 is a tire-fire.
I'd always thought Marvin Monroe's assessments of the family members in "There's No Disgrace like Home" was to show his incompetence, satirising as an example Dr Phil. for me the most, possibly only touching moments between "Skinner" and Mrs Skinner were when she clearly knew he wasn't her son but nudged things to cover up the issue
I definitely agree with you about season 01. I love it and think it's one of the best along with 02 and 03 etc etc. Of course, I was 8 when it debuted so I still remember waiting for the premier and falling in love with the show I'll always have a soft spot for the early ones. Amazing job on this video! Just getting into season 02 and agree with your analysis so far. Rock n roll!
I remember an episode which ends with Homer and Lisa breaking into a museum, and they realise an artefact is a music box. I always thought it was beautiful.
this was very well thought out, and it has effectively changed how i viewed the simpsons as well. i havent thought about it for a while, but i felt the same as most about the episode the principal and the pauper. at the time, it felt too crazy and too weird, and felt like a huge break in character. thus signaling the end of the golden years. oh how times have changed. i just look at my own life and see a very striking similarity to armin tanzarian, as well as that of your teacher. its not something ive thought about in a while, but your analysis of that episode kind of brought this unbidden to my mind. well thought video. subbed
Bart doesn't lack intelligence, he's just not geared towards the way the American educational system teaches. He's a gifted schemer, a great detective, a talented writer, able to very quickly pick up languages and when he puts his mind to it or someone gives him necessary attention, he is able to succeed academically.
lil bastard clock tampering kit. Can’t believe I remember this decades later, funny shit.
I’m curious though so if anyone knows chime in please. Did Bart also have other “lil bastard” kits or was the gag only used once?
Yeah I know
@@joshuawesteros5345 He has the Li'l Bastard Traveling Kit in Itchy and Scratchy Land and the General Mischief Kit in The Joy of Sect (which he never gets to use before the cult leaders use their Li'l Bastard Brainwashing Kit on him).
That's all the instances of Li'l Bastard Kits I can think of off the top of my head. I think that's all of them.
Ty. The whole lil bastard kits is great.
Bart isn't a sociopath or psychopath, as Bart understands and empathises. I'd say that Bart probably just has ADHD and isn't given the attention and support he needs. They actually gave him medication for it once and he was so much better but it was a stupid anti medication story, so it went nowhere.
Also I will mention that in real life, many sociopaths recognize there is something wrong and decide to control their urges and be a good person. I'm going to make a movie about this path that they take, with a plot loosely based on the book Ulysses
I saw an episode from about season 30 recently and he was on a cocktail of meds, so I guess they eventually found a balance. Also, that anti med episode actually did end with him on Ritalin.
agree, Bart does feel guilt and feels empathy. Sociopaths dont
Mismedication(?) is rife but the problem is that people take that and get all AnTi!!!. They do nothing for the children who need it and... pppfff🤷🏾♀️... well...
Exactly. Someone with ASPD (or conduct disorder, as Bart is a minor) wouldn't give a damn about shooting a mother bird and wouldn't bother incubating her (as far as he knew) eggs in her absence. Edit: I 100% agree about the anti-medication bullshit.
I had always assumed the reason Lisa was so smart was in part because her environment forced her to mature much faster then normal, in a sense, the opposite of Bart who revels in the immature.
It’s because she’s Matt Groening’s POV character
Also the women in her family have historically been very smart and intelligent and sometimes brilliant and the men in the family including overseas relatives have typically been doofuses and ignoramuses. There's an episode that explains that. Can't think of exactly which season. I gotta look it up.
The "do it for her" plaque makes me genuinely sob every time oh my God. Earlier in the video when you only show the original plaque, even then I got choked up. Now later in the video when you actually showed it with pictures of Maggie, I'm in the middle of doing my makeup and it's running down my face now 😭😭😭😭
Man, I just love this show so much. Well, the early seasons. I have 1-13 on DVD and I'm totally gonna start watching from the beginning now. My best friend from 6th-8th grade Josh and I used to call each other every day and talk on the phone while we watched the Simpsons 🥹 cracking up together and quoting Simpsons lines to each other was the entire basis to our friendship 🥰
I'd never heard people complain that Skinner being a street punk was a problem. The issue I've always heard was that the retcon to his backstory undermines his relationship with his mother, since the implication was always that he is the submissive, straight edged person he is because of how she raised him, and if that never happened then something substantial is lost. Either way, I never had much of a problem with the episode, I saw it as a kid and didn't realise it wasn't just a normal thing to happen on the show.
I watched it when I was younger and was so confused to learn how many people hated it when I thought it was funny
Up Yours Children.
To be honest, I do know some people who in their life ONCE tried to rebel against their overbearing parents - and then never again. I could see that in Skinner too.also explains his allowed healthy libido without any concerning kinks. He must have had at least a short wild time.
What about skinner grandfather Sheldon.
@@BillBlazejowski I give the episode a pass for that line alone
Timestamps:
Intro - 0:00
Discussion on the First Season - 4:37
Homer - 11:05
Bart - 20:43
Lisa - 29:49
Maggie - 38:04
Marge - 43:46
Homer & Marge's Marriage - 51:50
How The Show Changed From Seasons 2 to 4 - 57:29
Everything in Springfield is Either Broken or Rubbish - 1:02:24
Treehouse Of Horror - 1:09:39
In Defence Of The Clipshows (Sort Of) - 1:20:42
When Does The Golden Age End? - 1:23:14
In Conclusion - 1:33:19
Top 10 Episodes From The Golden Age - 1:34:19
Outro - 1:41:08
Thanks
You are the best GlipGlig ever
Ty
I have begrudgingly titled this "early years and golden age" cause I know people are gonna pull me up on that but I personally think 1 should be counted. Watching season 1 today is just mindblowing
This video made me go back and watch the first season of the programme, yeah it's bloody brilliant. A lot more grounded and dark in tone that the rest of it, but I like that.
I'd include season 1 in the golden age any day
Okay but the *real* early years don't even start until The Tracy Almond show loool
It would be rather silly to dismiss season 1 of any series. It's the foundation for the rest of it, after all.
Golden age refers to the run of top tier episodes. S2 is my personal fav but it's a lot different from the next few seasons that all seem to have found the formula
We actually have Paul McCartney to thank for Lisa staying a vegetarian. He agreed to appear in the episode on the condition that the change would be permanent
I always knew he was a good man
@@EdnaK728🤨
@@RebornAudio oh geez, what the hell is that look all about?
@@EdnaK728 Language Timothy. Where's the proof that fact is true?
@@RebornAudio do you accept Wikipedia?
I think the issue isnt that homer got more stupud. I think the problem is he gets more callus and uncaring in his stupidity. Theres a genuin underlying warmth to homer in the early seasons and while it occasionally shines through later on it certainly becomes rarer
You've summed up the key problem, in the early series homer actually had some basic intelligence and some fatherly authority even it's just if he could cut corners and so something half arsed he'd take the short cut which is where the humour came from, also he had a certain lovable innocence, unfortunately the more they increased his stupidity the more of an outright arsehole he became until as you say he became downright detestable in the end because his concern for anyone other than himself over rode all his better original qualities. What's worse though is that he stopped being funny cos all the original writers like Conan O Brian left and new people who had no real understanding of what made homer likeable in the first place moved in and so the depth of character was gone to be replaced with superficial moronic frat house humour and that's where they ruined their own program.
I'll stick to what I've always said about Homer Simpson he is man's initial thoughts and the way we would like to act before societies programming kicks in
Homer's rampant alcoholism is societal programming.
We've seen in flashbacks, examples of what Homer and Barney were like before they first tried beer 🍻
@@AnnoyingNewsletters Homer was directly responsible for Barney's alcoholism though. His friend was going to make something of himself but Homer's possible jealousy at this had him harassing Barney to try beer which sent him on a spiral I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong) they've ever shown Homer making himself accountable for as an adult.
'got more stupud'
im glad there was a whole section dedicated to season 1 in this. bart the genius is one of my favorites and the conversation with homer right before bart goes to his first special class where he says hes going to show him how to put on a tie but puts on a clip on and says "theres nothing wrong with a father kissing his son... i think" after kissing bart on the forehead are some of my favorite simpsons lines
"What do we need a psychologist for? We know our kid is nuts"
@@Stubagful Sheldon skinner.
@@Stubagful Seymour grandfather.
@@Stubagful what about Sheldon skinner.
"Garcon! Another bottle of your second least expensive champagne!" is an absolutely hilarious unappreciated Homer line that speaks volumes about his character. Season 1 is incredible.
I literally clicked this video at random, but I'm so glad I did. Most people making these kinds of videos only give a summary and they leave it at that. They add nothing. You're giving an in-depth, serious look at the characters. Putting actual thought and care into your endeavor. As a 28 y/o who grew up watching Simpsons on an Open Fire I appreciate your work very much so.
38:49 Maggie is one of my favorite characters in the whole show. I never forget about her. She shot Mr. Burns. She is a genius baby who can kick butt when she needs to.
Seriously I think about Maggie a lot. She is probably my favorite character and honestly probably smarter than even Lisa
The absolute FORKING CHOKEHOLD that the mystery of who shot Mr Burns had on the culture, I have lived nearly 4 decades and I will never forget that.
I see
And they pulled it off internationally! @@rockcriedout7679
Her first word was also voiced by Elizabeth Taylor....I remember that episode being such a HUGE event.
The Simpsons golden age ended for many reasons. The death of Phil Hartman (the heart of the show) and the 9/11 attacks ending the 'prosperity' era of the 1990s were some of them. The rise of South Park, Family Guy, Futurama and other similar shows in the early 2000s was another reason. The Simpsons had to compete with the edginess of these shows and lost its original more subtle humor. Another reason for the decline was cable TV was just no longer special anymore. It used to be that cable TV was exciting, people would use "I have cable" as a pick up line at a bar... the Simpsons was an event that everyone had to watch. The internet and the explosion of animation in the 1990s and 2000s made the show no longer a phenomenon but just another animated show in a sea of them.
Good points! No Troy McClure/Lionel Hutz = no classic Simpsons!
You made a really good point on these.
@@chaddwickfincher5835 gil was the scrappy doo of the simpsons.
Phil Hartman was not the heart of the show at all. he was in 54 out of 206 episodes of the show up until his passing. if he was the heart, how come more episodes were produced without him than with him?
@@thebasedgodmax1163 maybe you didn't watch the show in the 90s. troy mcclure and lionel hutz were some of the funniest characters on the show. matt groening named fry from futurama after Hartman after his death. They were even talking about making a troy mcclure movie at one point.
Wowsers, what an indepth and eloquent dissection of the first few seasons of The Simpsons. You put a really impressive amount of introspective thought into The Simpsons, both recognising it's existence as a Television cartoon, as well as it's existence as a piece of art, and one with a deep and varied creative vision. This is definitely my favorite dissection of The Simpsons thusfar, and I really cannot wait to see where this goes. I'm legitimately surprised to see you aren't resting on big-name success on this site yet, and I sincerelt hope you find success in the future.
For a long time Stu just did Doctor Who reviews with the odd video of something else so it's a pretty niche audience to capture. That plus his videos always use the crude animation instead of the perhaps more popular format of talking to the camera I guess wouldn't attract as many viewers (fwiw I've always loved his little animations and they're a staple of the channel I'd never wanna see gone). Stu does deserve a much larger audience though tbf, I've always appreciated his insight and thought he's one of the best reviewers on the site even when I don't agree with him, so hopefully projects like these get him more noticed.
Marge on the lamb is one of my all time favorite episodes. I always loved the view of Springfield at night, the over night slumber party feel, and the desert parts with the cool orange sky, real nostalgic.
I think it is a testament to the show that in spite of years of repeats across various forms of media. Those clips are still funny. I still remember first hearing _"These kids have no future"_ and thinking I don't doubt a lot of teachers think that.
Finally someone else recognizes how great the first season was.
I did a breakdown of life on the fast lane for an essay for my master's and when you look at the structure of the plot and character, it's just a thing if pure beauty.
@@StubagfulI'd love to read that!
@@Stubagful Please make this a video essay.
Season 1 is fine as it’s more experimental
"Finally someone else recognizes how great the first season was."
I completely agree with you.
I never was into The Simpsons but my son loved it so I decided to buy preowned dvd box sets (the packaging alone is worth the price) and asked which ones he recommended. Series 3 to 10 he said. I bought the first ten and have started watching Series One. Didn't expect the characters to be developed from the start. Love these episodes, The Telltale Head, Life on the Fast Lane and Call of The Simpsons my favourites so far. Excellent critique. Thank you
1:06:35 you are the first person that I know of/remember to have actually acknowledged this joke. "Dig up stupid" is easily one of my all time favorite Simpsons one liners, but it never really gets mentioned often.
Props dude.
The video is amazing, and you earned my sub. (I rarely sub just because someone earned it through the quality of content, I usually do so for ease of access to new uploads so that is kind of a big deal from my perspective)
yes that line was great! it's classic.
One addition to how People who you perceive as boring authority figures can have interesting pasts that you wouldn't expect: In one depiction of the future at the end of an episode, Bart is depicted as being a chief justice of the supreme court when he and homer are going to see the itchy and scratchy movie, which I feel also highlights a similar thing, but in the opposite direction. Perhaps one day Bart will become a boring man with a job of authority, just like how Armin Tamzarian eventually became the Seymour Skinner we know of, so its something the show had sort of done before, (admittedly in a future segment)
True. Also in separate vocations the counsellor says he had Bart pegged as a drifter when the aptitude test tells him he's going to be a cop - then he becomes a hall monitor and he's good at it
That same future has Bart dying after pranking skinner (who also dies), so he doesn't get as boring as skinner.
Lisa is the voice of reason and the smartest one because Lisa is a parentified child: the one that feels like she has to hold things together because the parents can’t. I feel that’s why she suffers from mental health issues the most.
She’s a midwit
"People call themselves fans of the simpsons even though they only like a third of it." So like star wars fans then.
you don't need to like everything about a series to be a fan
Corpos can't own an IP. It belongs to the people.
Pretty much most fandoms in my experience
lol, nice, i like the first 6 but don't count myself as a fan, but i'm always down to watch the OG trilogy and enjoy the first 6 - last 3, only saw 'force awakens' and was honestly bored by it
but fan is short for fanatic, never understood the point - take it or miss it, doesn't matter much in life
Nice jab, hardly applicable tho
Man, the subtle appreciation of the more deep and emotional character moments really did get me tearing up, how human and heartfelt these comedy chatacters were written
First off, I adore this analysis, you did a spectacular job dissecting the show and characters. I do have a nitpick though where you said that we “don’t see shows about functional families.” I’ve studied family sitcoms, and the simpsons was a pretty unique show for its time because it centered a dysfunctional family. before then, most shows featured very functional families and much less extreme personal drama in the dynamics. the simpsons popularized the dysfunctional tv family in that regard
I was born in 1964. I don't know if I caught every single Simpsons short on the Tracey Ullman show or not.
But, back in 1986 to 1988 I did have the Life in Hell series of comic books by Matt Groening. (Should still have them - they're SOMEWHERE in my house.) But I absolutely know I HAVE watched EVERY SINGLE episode of The Simpsons, at least twice, since it began in 1989. I wish the show would end, not because I think it is bad, but because I wish ALL shows would end,
so I would not feel compelled to watch every single episode through to the end of the series. And The Simpsons is still good, even in 2023.
I genuinely love season one. In my opinion it’s so raw and deals with scenarios that many people deal with themselves. There are so many heartwarming scenes and also scenes that hit hard. It’s why I love it (I also really like the animation I can’t lie)
I'm so burned out on video essay culture and ridiculously long, blown up videos full of nitpicking and a mirage of analysis, but this video is great! You really nailed a lot of the thoughts I had being a longtime fan of the show.
This was such a brilliant video! It was strange seeing The Simpsons talked about as a linear TV show because growing up I consumed hundreds of hours of the show when they would be rerun on Sky 1, so the episodes were always out of order and I never really watched it as a box set. But that’s what made watching this so good, I thought I couldn’t see The Simpsons in a new light but this was so interesting.
It wasn’t just insightful and interesting though, it was really heartwarming when you talked about Homer and Marge’s marriage.
You’ve really made me want to go back and rewatch the golden years, something I thought I would have no interest in doing anymore.
Particularly do season 1. I recommend everyone try season 1 again cause it was so far ahead of it's time. It gets modern trends in adult animation so on the money
@@Stubagful I’m very keen to watch it properly. They wouldn’t rerun season 1 as much when I was a kid so the only time I ever properly watched it was when I was staying with my cousin who had the dvd. I was really excited to see how The Simpsons began but was so confused at why it was sad and miserable and didn’t try it again for years.
I’m really excited to see it after all these years, where gloomy and miserable TV has almost become the thing I enjoy most.
37:29 i remember this scene vividly as a kid. Realizing your parent isn't on your side when you thought they were can be devastating when you really care about those moral values.
"Bart Gets An F"
This is my favorite episode of The Simpsons:
This is such an unashamed morality play that if it were less good it might be annoying. But the moral message of the importance of studying and working hard is driven home with such a skill and thorough characterization that it remains entertaining throughout even as it delivers an insightful and poignant lesson.
Bart is falling further and further behind at school and is threatened with having to repeat the fourth grade. This threat is enough to scare him into action and he enlists Martin's help in studying.
Unable to concentrate on revision, Bart slaps himself around the face, muttering: "You wanna be held back a grade? Concentrate, man!" There is a sudden jump cut to the next day, as the class are handing in their completed test papers - and Bart is still slapping himself. Even in cartoon form the sight of Bart slapping himself to try and force himself to focus is a really effective character moment. He is clearly trying his hardest to succeed and when his tears of failure come they are understandable and sad.
By the start of the second series, of which this was the first episode, Bart had become something of a counter-culture hero. But rather than capitalize on the character's punk reputation, the show's writers decided to show that, deep down, he was scared of failure.
At every single step the writing focuses clearly and absolutely on Bart's situation and state of mind. Every avenue and possibility is explored to build up Bart's state of desperation. This was, and still is, a bold and daring moral for a cartoon show, and the emotional payoff and the relevancy of this hard lesson (Even when you try hardest, it still might not be enough-and it's okay!) are why this episode represents the very best The Simpsons has to offer.
Favorite Moment: (Bart has just given a poor book report on Treasure Island.)
Mrs. Krabappel: Bart, did you read the book?
Bart: , I am insulted. Is this a book report or a witch hunt?
Mrs. Krabappel: Then perhaps you'd like to tell us the name of the pirate.
Bart's Brain: Blackbeard. Captain Nemo. Captain Hook. Long John Silver. Peg Leg Pete. Bluebeard.
Bart: Bluebeard?
Yes, that is a great episode.
Yes😊
@@marcj3682yes😊
Been impatiently waiting for another longform analysis like this from you, but wouldn't have expected this!
I started watching in February. Currently at season 14...this is gonna take a while
I just did the math and if you keep watching at that rate it'll take you until March next year to completely catch up to the current end of the series (and by then Season 35 will be halfway through airing). May God have mercy on your soul.
Good luck! My husband and I attempted that a few years back and only got to around season 12 or 13.
@@crpalstuck2966I did slow down when I got season 8. If I get going again I'll be finished by the end of the year.... probably
Season 14 was the season I gave up. I liked the treehouse and moe baby blues is great, but the other 20 odd episodes for me ranged from boredom to awful. The humour in my eyes drastically went down when al Jean returned in 2001
@@Stubagful Google is deleting people account at the end of the year.
I like the comparison between Frank Grimes and Superintendent Chalmers. Both are canonically not from Springfield so they are presented as the straight man in this wacky town. While Chalmers adapts and even at times plays into the wackiness, even moving to the town since his daughter attends the High School in Springfield, Frank let it consume him and had a mental breakdown as a result.
Also didn't help that Grimes was also a judgemental, Randian, "bootstraps" asshole with delusions of grandeur (given his rant at Homer was just veering very close into "welfare queen" dogwhistle territory).
The class after class of ugly, ugly children broke him
Ah yes, a fellow enlightened season 1 fan. When I was a kid, I'd try to watch the Simpsons whenever it was airing but often times my parents wanted to watch something else or I was too busy. We only had the season 1 DVDs when I was a kid, so I watched those 13 episodes over and over and to me, for many years until I sought out the rest online, that WAS the Simpsons. I definitely think it's an underrated season. I like Marge's actual issues! She has a drinking problem, she can't control herself and SHE embarrasses Homer! And seriously, did they EVER do a "Marge might cheat on Homer" episode again? There's plenty with Homer proving his loyalty, but Marge only gets the one and like you side it's pretty harrowing comparatively. Homer loves Marge and would never ever cheat on her in a million years, the Mindy episode proved that. The love that Homer feels for her is infinite and immovable. Marge on the other hand... Homer is certainly a less appealing partner. It'd be fun to do more stuff with that. My favorite episode of the season is "Moaning Lisa" because it really felt alien compared to most other things I had seen at that point and I think it was incredibly ahead of its time. The idea that a kid can just... be sad... isn't something that is often shown in TV shows, at least until recently. Not to mention Marge's clear trauma from her less than stellar mother. And it really still speaks to me. A quiet sadness that can't really be explained or easily fixed, but can be helped with the love of your family. The ending is just too freaking sweet, I love it man. "You wanna be sad honey, be sad! We'll ride it out with you! And when you get finished being sad, we'll still be there. From now on, I'll do the smiling for the both of us!" That right there is Marge being an awesome mother and breaking a cycle of trauma. In a cartoon from 1989. Amazing.
Fantastic. Can’t wait for the next one.
My take on The Principal And The Pauper is that it just further emphasized just how much of a soul crusher Agnes is, rather than thinking of it as an episode which takes something away from Seymour. Idk, at the time it might have felt like it was a shark jump, I was only 2,5 y/o when it aired, but, I think the 20 : 20 hindsight perspective is the correct one here. The rest of season 9 is still very solid and the fear of experimenting with the formula which had pervaded the writers' room after the backlash undermined the show needlessly. This crowd mentality among hardcore fans phenomenon can be unnecessarily detrimental to shows sometimes.
A lot of the backlash was from the cast themselves, particularly Harry Shearer.
I still feel that Principal and the Pauper could have worked if it was from an earlier season. By season 9 we have had several spotlight episodes for him. So we know who he is and what makes him get up in the morning. I will say having the background of him being much like Bart, a rebellious angst, shines a new light on their relationship. Skinner wants Bart to do better and not to fall into the same traps as he did. It took a war for Skinner to change and clearly he does not want history repeating itself.
Ironically the backlash against change caused one of the main problems of why the simpsons fell in popularity, with now only the odd stories that actually do anything new even being talked about.
though when it comes to experimentation I think this is something the show has gone back to doing more regularly more recently, which is nice to see!
As far as Bart being accused of murder; at around about the time when this episode aired; there was a case that had happened.
In Chicago, a 14-year-old girl was raped and murdered. Two 8-year-old boys were charged. There was a small media circus around this case. Pundits and editorial writers did shocked pearl clutching "think" pieces that banged around the culture.
There was only one problem. It was physically impossible for the boys to commit the killing. The people in the neighborhood all knew who did it. Because of the race and class of the neighborhood and boys they were condescendingly ignored.
Somehow the truth won out and the county dropped the charges. Basically, all that happened was the police and county issued a brief apology and the media had a few short retractions. Basically, they said "Whoopsy" and moved on and it was rarely mentioned again.
I have no evidence that this story was an inspiration for Bart/murder episode but, that story from Chicago happened very close to the time and after this story happened in Chicago.
Huh interesting. Didn't come across that one. It's possible. I never realised back in the day that the antifreeze in the wine was an actual scandal in the mid 80s
Looking it up it seems like you're talking about the murder of Ryan Harris; it seems like that happened in 1998 though, which was after Bart the Murderer. So unfortunately that couldn't have been the inspiration.
@@TheAlexSchmidtthey said it was a 14 year old girl who was murdered. Was Ryan Harris a girl? If not then that can't be the case they were talking about.
@@MissSeaShell Ryan Harris was a girl, but she was 11.
i just started making video essays myself (on another channel) and i have a ton of respect for the quality you’ve put out. it’s a really honest take of the series. thank you for uploading
I wouldn't necessary say that Bart is not as intelligent as Lisa, just he is skilled in a different form of intelligence. And that is shown by his numerous triumphs over Sideshow Bob. Someone who is just as academically gifted as Lisa. And yet in their very first episode, Lisa could not believe that Robert framed Krusty while Bart is the one who figures it out from just a phrase. Which is also why I like Brother from Another Series. As Barts victories clouds his judgement and assumes Bob is guilty from the get go. Much like how you hear stories of police officers still treating reformed convicts or even exonerated ones with suspicion and mistrust. No doubt his victory from their second encounter was a factor to this. Where Bob pretended to have changed so he could marry and then murder Selma for money. So why should Bart believe him this time around?
He may be a madman, but Sideshow Bob is handsome and charming and his voice is utterly intoxicating
I think the move to wide-screen HD and clean cut computer drawn lines have marred it really.
The 'charm' was the hand drawn style from around series 5-ish and the 4.8 aspect ratio. If that returned, which is possible as the computer software could simulate that hand drawn style
The idea of Homer being not-actually stupid but rather "exactly as stupid as he thinks he is," is brilliant, especially given his backstory. I'm definitely going to be reading the character through that lens a lot of the time from now on.
I started watching this but then thought, instead I'm just going to start the Simpsons again from the beginning. I dont know if that's what you wanted me to do but im doing it.
Nightmare Cafeteria legitimately scared me as a child. I'd look away during the blender sequence at the end.
As a kid I could get through Nightmare Cafeteria, but I would always stop the episode before the inside-out fog bit.
I've loved this episode for 15 years, and as an adult now, I *STILL* have to look away at *BOTH* of the scenes you two mentioned. XD
@@BenColMy parents would turn the show off before the inside out scene played. I wonder if it bothered them?
One of the reasons I have such an attachment to these episodes, in particular, 'And Maggie Makes Three' is that I can see my own family in the Simpsons. My dad worked in a paper factory all his life, and while he never spoke about his work to me, I can only imagine the reason he was prepared to get up every morning and do a really crap job was that he was trying to keep us going as a family. He died when I was eleven on the way to that job, and while I can't ever really know what his life was like from his perspective, seeing Homer post those photos of Maggie up as a way of showing us why he sticks with it all feels like more of an insight into my father than I ever got while he was alive.
I know it's a deliberate bit of emotional manipulation and it's a little schmaltzy, but it's *damn good emotional manipulation.*
Something to note that you did not mention. Starting in season 10, they changed to hand drawn, but digitally colored animation. To me there's a stark difference and it coincides with the change of tone season 10 had. Then starting in season 13 the entire show was animated digitally, again marking a tonal shift that happened to coincide with animation changes. Coincidence?
I really enjoyed this retrospective. You brought fresh perspectives to a well-tread topic - really high quality. Your defence of Principal and the Pauper particularly resonated with me - the episode is not the shark jumping moment it's made out to be. Season 9 is surely still in the golden age. I think an argument can also be made for season 10.
Super excited to see the following parts of this. Love to see people acknowledge the depth of Marge, especially when it comes to her portrayal in Life on the Fast Lane, and it's always great to see people give season one the love it deserves. Grew up on a DVD player and only the first four seasons of The Simpsons to play, so its definitely got a special spot in my heart. Great video!
I've watched a whole bunch of simpsons videos, all hours long. some going through every single episode, some talking about the golden years and the fall. so i really should be sick of it by now - but your video provides a really interesting character analysis on each of the characters, and i'm enjoying this so much that i'm compelled to write this comment. great video! relaxing, a nice even tone and nice music with some sweet and relevant clips. also, these pictures are great. subbing now, eagerly awaiting more!
in a random attempt to make this comment seem more genuine and less robotic so the compliments can really sink in: my arm is super itchy right now for no reason, but it's lucky my nails are longer than they've ever been. my sister painted them pink for when we went to the barbie movie, which i LOVED by the way. so i couldn't bite them. they're still pretty short but just that extra white sliver makes all the difference with scratching. and i'm acting like humanizing myself is a noble act to make the compliment hit deeper, but really i'm hypomanic (bipolar) and just like talking about myself. anyway, i'll watch your friends video next - that one looks like a goodie.
not that i've ever watched friends before - but hey, i had never heard of the simpsons before this either! (that's a joke)
I didn't think it was robotic. I hearted because I thought it was lovely. Thank you :) I enjoy going deep on characters. I find trying to express the core of what makes these iconic characters function improves the writing work I do outside youtube
Do you ever watch the episodes with the commentaries? When I was collecting the box-sets as a kid I never listened to them, maybe one or two out of curiosity, but always found it a lesser experience to just watching the episode regularly, so kept away from them. Now, as an adult I find them inmensely fascinating, so much so that I find it hard not to immediately rewatch an episode with the commentary track after watching it regularly. Just to hear how the different creatives viewed their approach to the show and the characters, hearing the explanations as to why the show evolved the way it did, it's such a rewarding listen. I recently found out there was a secret easter-egg commentary from Oakley & Weinstein on Lisa the Simpson, and it felt like finding a new cheat code for a video game or something. I think it speaks to how well-crafted the show is that they could make a twenty-minute discussion for every episode - they had enough to say about every episode without it ever feeling repetitive or boring.
Also it's just nice hearing people who you can tell are all friends having a laugh together.
Admittedly it's a shame John Swartzwelder never joined in considering how much he did for the show (unless that really was him in The Cartridge Family commentary). But we got the New Yorker interview with him a couple of years ago which I'd say makes up for it.
The stuff with Maggie is a great example of why I think the Simpsons should’ve always aged the characters, Maggie would’ve been a toddler for a while, but the chance to do it really was gone by season 3 or 4.
Honestly, I did talk like Lisa at age 8. I had a “reading age” of 14-16 and was involved in reading and discussing political things and other subjects I really probably shouldn’t have. I honestly don’t like how precocious I was, but Lisa feels like a very realistic example of that kind of kid to me. I also don’t think it’s especially contradictory to her home environment - sometimes if you’re “gifted” it’s the only escape from a crummy home, with all the extracurricular activities and so on.
I never mentally filed “Simpsons Comedy Showcase” as a clip show, but I guess it is! I always thought of it more like The Day The Laughter Died or 22 Short Films as a format shift. All the other clip shows being framed around a usual Simpsons situation set them apart for me.
Life on the Fast Lane is one of my favourites too. Any time Marge or Homer realise their marriage isn’t working for them, and maybe they should be friends instead, I always lap it up. Even though it’s always temporary.
I was like Lisa at that age too. I get a little annoyed when people respond to characters like her as "little kids don't talk that way".
Other than that I loved this video.
I’ve honestly always been the same way. A lot of the time, with characters such as Lisa, the lack of friends and overdeveloped sense of language, reading, writing, and thinking is something that I’ve seen paralleled a lot in my own interactions and life. This is also a bit of an issue with the art that I happen to create, as usually the stylistic, conceptual and artistic choices are, from other people’s perspectives, too different or complex for them, so they don’t like it. I do want to make clear that I am not trying to boast, or boost my considerably atrophied ego. My writing thus far has only been a reflection upon my own life.
However, I do wonder whether I would have been better in a gifted program, a la the “Bart the Genius” episode. I was not placed into one when younger, supposedly because I did not meet the requirements. However, considering how my life has went and the challenges I have faced, I do recognize quite a bit of these struggles in descriptions of other gifted kids. Again, please keep in mind that I do not consider myself a genius in any way, nor anything special. However, paradoxically, I do see the differences compared to my peers, much like how you saw that your reading and comprehension levels were higher than average.
@@dumbolddoor9882 tbh, one of the things Bart the Genius gets so right is that gifted programmes are just containment vehicles, only presented as a Special Treat rather than a punishment.
Most of the time when people “don’t meet requirements” it is because they are judged to be too socially well-adjusted, and thus are judged to not need the true reason behind the programme.
I was in some of the various forms of it, and even skipped a couple years in school, but even then the main reason given behind those decisions was an attempt to reduce bullying from my social ineptitude. A problem with those programmes is the way they separate kids creates a self-reinforcing cycle of always being separate and different from their peers. Not that that’s the only way it can happen, but it’s a pretty common one. IE it can create a lot of the bullying and behavioural problems it exists to try and address (in a very blunt way).
By some very limited metrics I kind of thrived in those programmes, I did university-level stuff a few years early, but it didn’t help prepare me for life any better. And the hyper competitive atmosphere makes it very difficult if not impossible to make friends among your new peers. I tried so hard to make friends with the other bookish nerds but they were even more proud and standoffish than I was, so there was always some barrier which came up and we always hit an impasse.
As we see in Bart the Genius, it’s quite a mean, two-faced, defensive environment. You have to constantly prove you really “deserve” to be there, which means the kids spend more attention on each other than the way they’re treated by the adults around them. It’s kind of a diversionary tactic, carefully outlining the societally-acceptable ways to utilise one’s smarts and demarcating the ways that are bad and will get you ostracised or kicked out back into the general stream (where you will always be marked as an outsider). The idea is to teach people how to be good at office work, whether that’s with social cohesion in the break room or being sequestered at one’s desk constantly.
But it’s also completely understandable you wonder what it would’ve been like if you’d been “allowed in” by the gatekeepers, since it is sold as some amazing special reward, wow honours track, etc etc to the rest of the school populace. That’s another major dimension of how it serves to control the student population. To give just one example the smart kids who want to be let in will focus on that aspect, and will often want to avoid getting-into trouble in the hopes that lets them gain consideration into later entry.
But you really honestly didn’t miss much. In a lot of ways it messed up my sense of self which took many years to begin to recover from post-education, where it was all bound-up in my academic performance and precocity. Precocity is a quickly-rotting asset, even moreso than ideas like youthful beauty. So I didn’t know what to do once that began to fade, and school certainly hadn’t prepared me to learn how to struggle in a world of equals. Adjusting to being a fairly unremarkable near-30 year-old was hard.
And don’t worry, I don’t think you’re tooting your own horn. It can be hard to discuss these topics precisely because of the envy which the school systems deliberately implanted in its student body when they instituted this kind of separation. The very fact it is a system of separation, intended to be aspired to, creates an artificial hierarchy which can outlast people’s time in school. Attempting to simply discuss it factually does run the risk of someone interpreting it as a humblebrag, and missing the point in so doing, because they will often have old social wounds associated with the topic in one way or another.
It’s just another reason I wish time had been allowed to exist in the Simpsons - Lisa could’ve been a vehicle to explore all these difficulties at uni and beyond, but instead she’s stuck perpetually in this kind of school limbo. Imagine how it could influence her parenting style, for good and ill! Or how Bart could come to realise the remedial and gifted wings were just two different ways to cordon off “troublemakers” and bond stronger than ever with Lisa, breaking through some of that envy. (Because let’s face it Bart is also really smart and resourceful in tons of arenas, just not ones which require the ability to quietly sit at a desk all day.)
That got a bit longer than I’d intended, but I hope you can find something useful in all this.
Could you imagine if, rather than resetting every episode, every single lesson is learned and applied forevermore? By the end of the second season, the family is incredibly well-adjusted and loving. By the end of season 5, Springfield has abandoned capitalism. By the end of season 9, Springfield is a utopia, and all its citizens have developed telepathy. Somewhere in the middle of season 18, Homer learns how to sustain the human body on nothing but air. In current episodes, they would have long since abandoned their material bodies and linear existence.
40:32 I mean when my niece was 3 and I lived with her parents (my sister and brother in law) she was always really upset when "Daddy and Mommy" left her for whatever reason. It was really cute actually cause even if one of them were still here she would cry for the other one because she didnt like not seeing one of them. I remember when my sister started working my niece was devestated when she left for work and cried for about an hour. Finally she calmed down but the look on her face when she saw "Mommy" later that day at work was adorable. She ran to her cash where my sister worked as a cashier and gave her a huge leg hug even though she was tech still working.
This video gave me a strange, borderline existential feeling about the Simpsons.
I never thought much of the Simpsons as a kid, but I gave it a rewatch and I have to say the "golden age," if there is such a thing, is seasons 1 and 2. They're gorgeous and poignant in a way few other shows are that I've seen, and that I definitely didn't appreciate when I was too young to relate to the parents. 3 is where the guest stars become annoying and the transformation of the family from characters with feelings to noisy soulless gag machines starts to really grate, and 4 is virtually indistinguishable in tone from later seasons- by season 4 it's well and truly the show I remember not liking.
Glad to hear someone sticking up for seasons 1 and 2.
33:11 - 33:53 That part made me absolutely crumble down to a mess, just hyperventilating and sobbing. I've struggled with depression for most of my late teens and all of my early 20s and even though I'm doing a lot better now that just reminded me so much of how my family treated my depression with just not understanding it properly. I don't think even I understood it properly... But that's just the most important part. People around you making sure you understand you don't have to do or be anything other than what you are is enough and so, so important. I'm still a fucking mess writing this so sorry if it doesn't make sense. I don't think I've ever had a reaction this strong to a RUclips video
It took me a long time to understand how to get people around me to understand depression too. I honestly tear up watching that clip of Marge.
I hope you're okay and getting the help you need. I struggled with depression for so long but therapy has turned my life around, for me and everyone around me. It's made me much more capable of expressing what I need
Stu are you OK? You sounded really subdued there while thanking your patrons.
Gotta say, damn fine retrospective. I really love hearing your very finely tuned criticism.
I’ve seen a bunch of Simpsons videos before, this is a quality Simpsons video. Clearly thoroughly researched
Simpsons video essays get better as they go on. Compare this to supereyepatchwolf’s or entertain the elk’s from years ago & this is much more nuanced & has better analysis
I can’t tell you when the show “stopped being good,” as I never watched it religiously. But I can tell you the episode that made me go “ok, I don’t need to try to keep up with the new stuff.” It was Judge Me Tender from season 21, the one with Simon Cowell as himself. Actually, while I can’t pinpoint a specific time I feel (and I emphasize this is just a feeling) like things went downhill around whenever it was that celebrities started appearing as themselves instead of as characters or even analogs.
See I thought that too but then I watched the golden age back and it's full of celebrities as themselves - Krusty gets cancelled is full of them.
And they still do "we wrote a character for a guest star" in later years I've run into. I was trying to put my finger on what wasn't working about a random episode and didn't realise an incidental character was played by Reese Witherspoon.
I think it's the lack of deprecation too. When George Harrison shows up, homer doesn't go "oh my god it's George Harrison" he goes "oh my god where did you get that brownie?" In the golden age no one's impressed a celebrity has shown up in Springfield. It's the opposite of the Elon musk one
53:40 Not true there are many great shows with functional families. The Addams Family, Bob's Burgers, Spy x Family, Big City Greens, Bluey, etc. One of the biggest compliments the Addams Family and Bob's Burgers frequently get from fans is "I like how the family gets along so well despite being weirdos."
I was thinking Bluey when l heard that as well. "Functional" does not mean "flawless" or "without problems".
@@TheDanishGuyReviews I never said it did but they get along way better than the Simpsons do.
@@icecreamhero2375 I didn't mean to imply you said that. Instead, it was what l thought of when l heard Stu say functional.
@8:42 What you're saying about Homer and Marge's marriage being at stake reminds me of how I feel while watching some old Bond movies. I know 007 won't die while trying to climb to that Orthodox monastery in For Your Eyes Only, but it still manages to make me nervous. The scene succeeds to communicate me the danger faced by the best spy of the world. Die Another Day suddenly starts to stink when it forgot James Bond was convalescing from months of torture and turn him into Superman who's able to escape to Hong Kong even if he's barefoot and in pajama pants.
A good tension-building in fiction doesn't depend of the actual result of a situation . Viewers know Indiana Jones won't die because after falling from a cave at the 36th minutes of the movie and they'll know Marge and Homer will still be happy together at the end of the episode. However, you still can make them feel like the threat was serious.
This is great analysis. I love hearing an outsider’s perspective from someone who’s not fluent with the American culture the show grows out of.
the simpsons was created to be a parody of the typical domestic comedy sitcoms at the point of the show was that the characters were flawed but likable. The problem is that in the later seasons the audience is meant to feel sorry for a character when they suffer the consequence of their actions, yet ignore the severity of those actions and the fact that they feel no remorse for them. At the same time the actual victims are often villianized. Either for being in the way of what the character we are supposed to sympathize with wants or for suffering from their actions which makes it harder to sweep them under the rug. Then there is the fact that the writers keep using the same plot over and over again yet pretend that it is the first time it has happened. So we are beat over the rails that when one character does something it is wrong but when this one does the same thing they are the victim.
While people tend to use jerkass homer as the face of the decline I tend to use marge and bart as they are two sides of the same coin with how they are treated by the narrative.
Wow, this is incredible timing. I've just now watched Stu's video on the Clickbait Episodes!
I've seen people do character analyses on South Park characters, but not really the Simpsons. Still seems a bit weird in a show without serious multi-episode character arcs but it is nice to see the show reinterpreted this way.
Agnus: "Seymour! The house is on fire!"
Seymour: "No Mother, it's just the Northern Lights."
*House becomes engulfed in flames.*
Agnus: "Hellllp! Hellllp!"
😅🤣
Loving this analysis video. You really did your homework here. 👏👏 looking forward to the next one
I have never been bombarded with so many adverts, it's every 5 minutes
Really? I've had only one in the full video
I really liked your segments on Lisa and Marge here. I won't pretend like I'm a particularly big Simpsons fan, I didnt grow up with it and only remember bits and pieces, but you always have a unique perspective on these sitcoms.
The idea that Homer's idiotic and incompetance is fuelled by others perceptions of him is heartbreaking but I can totally see it being the case
I've always thought Homer was ADHD coded, but now it seems even stronger than that, the whole "feelings of inadequacy basically being a self fulfilling prophecy."
ADHD is also commonly believed to be either hereditary, or at least likely to run in a family. Bart DEFINITELY has ADHD, and it is extremely possible that Homer also does.
When I got diagnosed, I dug DEEEEEEEP into it, and because it all clicked with me, but it also massively applied to my dad, I told my dad to get checked out and guess what? Lol.
If the Simpsons wanted to be really relevant now, they would have Bart getting diagnosed with ADHD and either Homer gradually works out that he also has ADHD, or maybe Marge or Lisa works it out for him or something.
@@wolfgangbailey3730 Exactly my thoughts! Same thing happened with me and my mom and sister.
I absolutely love your analysis of Season 1.
I'm old enough to remember watching the show as a 6 year old kid when Season 1 it first aired and the tone really stuck with me, particularly scenes like the cut from syndication part in Bart the General where Bart is lying in the coffin with the Xs over his eyes, or even the more brutal animations in the boxing videogame in Moaning Lisa. They didn't exactly give me nightmares, but they made me uncomfortable. Then there were episodes like The Telltale Head and The Crepes of Wrath which I feel sorta scared me straight into being a good kid, even though at some point my parents were convinced that Bart was a bad influence on me.
Going back to it, it's not the funniest, but it's unmatched in terms of this weird, hard to describe type of atmosphere where the world, despite being a small town (or in my case, a suburb in a big city) was really expansive and kind of dangerous. I also think it's really unappreciated in terms of just how cynical and sardonic the show was even in its very first episode. It's so easy to take for granted nowadays, but it really was a pretty big tonal shift in 1989-1990.
And that's not even getting into Life in the Fast Lane and having those scenes of Bart and Lisa trying to process the fact that their mom and dad are fighting burned into my memory at an early age and serving almost as a preview to my own situation with my parents just a few short years later. It absolutely did manifest in appreciating the sudden loosening of the rules and showering in gifts before realizing what's going on and then sinking into dread. Again, easy to take for granted now, but as someone growing up in the late 80s and early 90s whose earliest formative memories of TV started around the era in which this show premiered, it's hard to describe how "real" the family's portrayal felt to me and how it was so different from anything else at the time.
I'm so glad to hear I'm not alone in my love for the first glorious season of The Simpsons. I personally loved the dark tone of that series it was unlike anything I had seen at the time. I was born in 1982 so was around The Simpsons original run, the golden years. I believe the show died many years ago and I'm honestly stunned it's still being renewed. The issue with Homer for me is they just took away his soft sweet tender side and not only doubled down on the stupidity thing but also making him a jerk basically with very little regard for those around him. Homer was a loveable oaf in the golden years, he always had heart which redeemed him in my eyes. It had a unique way of handling complex issues and themes written with intelligence and now the humour is just so dumbed down it's unbearable. Thank you for this insightful video 👌
The first season Family Therapy episode was a call-back to one of the Tracy Ullman shorts
One thing that I've always found very touching about The Simpsons (especially in this era) is that they may not have the healthiest family dynamic, but you can never deny the fact that they do love each other. Bart and Lisa fight like cats and dogs, but they still look out for each other. Homer and Marge don't have the perfect relationship, but they still love and support each other. There's something kind of beautiful about that.
On the clip shows.
I always loved all singing all dancing! the simpsons songs are awesome anyway, and it's great to see and hear them again, (especially in a pre-youtube era).
but the framing material is some of my favourite musical humour from the show, and if you want surreal and dark stuff snakes insertions are just hilarious!
"say your prayers! and then it's cablammo! Click, clikck, click click click! Oh no! I'll be back! when I get some ammo! bboyeeee!"
There is no way that literally holding a gun to the heads of a family, including two children and a baby! should be that funny! and that even after such fantasticness as ""mom is right! your singing's a sin! your as les miserable! as Lee marvin!" just before another good old fatherly choking by Homer!
You done this show so much justice. The Treehouse Horrors episodes were primarily for the comics, I used to read them and I felt even back then that they had to juggle and retain the core Simpsons so its not treated as a spin-off. The clips show part, I don't think any of these writers predicted RUclips and streaming services because tbh considering I'm from the uk and used to watch Simpsons on Sky One and C4, talk shows, news and soaps was always before Simpsons so I think it was more serving the network and try to transition well to compete with the behemoths that it had to contend with. Good video
To this day, the only thing I can remember about my College Physics II course is that the teacher’s favorite Simpsons episode is “the one where Homer, for Marge’s birthday, gives Marge a bowling ball that says ‘Homer’”
Oh also great video
The principal and the pauper never bothered me until various RUclips videos told me how it ruins everything etc but no your right it does make total sense that someone going through such trauma would love a simple mundane life afterwards. Can’t wait for the rest of your deep dive into the Simpsons. Well researched and well thought out video, love your work!
Cheers :) yeah in the next one I've been going through more episodes that everyone seems to have just decided are bad: the jockeys one, the one where homer frames Marge for drunk driving. When you don't take these views that they such as "obviously correct" you end up finding a lot more under the surface
this was a really well made video, I appreciate the time involved in putting this together. its a lot of editing involved.
i always think that while it's interesting to properly analyse this show it's also useful to remember the TV landscape it was part of and the fluffy family sitcoms of the 70s and 80s that it was satirising. pressing the reset button at the end of each episode was pretty much a hard rule back then, something the show was fully aware of in the golden age and often poked fun at. the genuine reason a writer decided to do something outlandish is likely just because they thought it would be funny there and then and nothing deeper than that.
had the show started in the 2000s there would have been more precedent for having characters develop and making changes stick. i can only assume that the principal and the pauper's infamous reputation was them making a meta joke as they always had done without noticing that the audience was beginning to change. finding out a beloved character has a secret past can be absolute gold dust for a continuous story but overwriting aspects that were previously established then ignoring it all anyway clearly rubbed some fans the wrong way. personally i never minded that episode, it brings the jokes which on my shallow level is what the simpsons was best at.
My observed breakdown:
Stone Age: 1-2
Golden Age: 3-8
Silver Age: 9-14
Bronze Age: 15-present*
Because there seems to be a general consensus on when the quality declines, I would argue the silver age begins in season 9 and ends in 14 when rating began to decline after that season. There is a general trend of viewership loss with season 15 onward: this would suggest that the show is not as pop culturally significant (and potentially not as well received) and previous seasons. Ratings are not equivalent to quality, but for an iconic show like The Simpsons, rating falling would indicate that something went wrong from a quality perspective.
*To be fair, I do not watch the show that often anymore, but other fans have told me that the show has turned around in recent years…I believe around season 31.
Sorry I'm kinda commenting as I go but I completely agree with you on Season 1. It's a wonderfully written depiction of the show that doesn't flinch at the sight of drama or darker themes. I'd probably go so far as to say that Season 2 is one of my absolute favourites in the series because it does a nice job at balancing the darker themes with the comedy.
I will be using this as a tool to help teach prevention vs. reaction alongside general media literacy. I've been applauding as I watch, thanks for taking us not only back to English Lit, but giving us a more digestible way to understand the material
Season 1 Simpsons is in the core of my brain and everything else since sits on top.
Lol
ok, i seriously thought u had hundreds of thousands of subscribers and millions of views, so underrated, subscribe earned.
I'm glad i was there to watch it right from the start. I watch an episode or more every day in order, but just start again once I get into Season 9, just picking the odd later episode here and there. Season 1 is hard work at times, but seasons 2-8 are wonderful.
For me a 80s kid session 1 to 10 is the golden age, I don't watch any of the new stuff but 1 to 10 was pure magic if you was a little kid when the simpsons come out there was nothing bigger, the simpsons was it, and anybody who thinks session 1 isn't part of the golden age I just can't take them seriously, this break down was brilliant and you get a subscriber from me, edited and narrate was perfect I enjoyed it very much.
I saw the show in 2015
51:30 Regarding CPS, I can say from first hand experience, it doesn't take much for your kids to get temporarily pulled from custody. Simpsons is always exaggerated for comedy but it's not entirely unrealistic.
Excellent analysis. Entertaining, well thought and laid out.
I did watch each of the first 10 seasons in production code order and have found that the golden age ends after season 9. In that order, "All Singing, All Dancing" is the final one and seeing the ending of the episode, it feels to me like watching the conclusion of a special and amazing series. It just has a "final" feel to it when I watch it.
The "golden age" is somewhat of a thing invented by older fans that mainly stems from nostalgia and the decline of modern TV. I would argue the decline happened at some point in the early 2010s. Many of the most timeless and funny episodes came out in the 90s, but not all episodes made from Seasons 2 to 9 are good. Some say it started to go down after Season 10, but I've found many episodes that I love. Stuff like this always bothers me, like when Indiana Jones fans say the franchise should've remained in the 80s or Star Wars fans say they believer they haven't made any films for 40 years. Heck, even my childhood show, Thomas the Tank Engine, has fans complaining it hasn't been good for decades. You can't really call yourself a fan of something if you only like part of it from decades ago and hate all modern content. If franchises ended, they wouldn't be half as well known of beloved, and that goes for The Simpson.
Have my respect for watching every single episode just to make content. That's dedication.
I was suggested this video and clicked it to have something on in the background but must say it was really well done and hooked me. I love golden age Simpsons (which is seasons 1-7 as far as I'm concerned)
1:00 made me look up what Simpsons season was airing when I was born... 19 and Season 15 started the day before I was born 😬
I love hearing the opinions on the Golden Age. For me Season 3-6 we’re almost consistent and classic. Still good episodes before and after but they became less and less. I’d say 1997 was where I kinda stopped following.
Finally someone who enjoys Life in the Fast Lane as much as I do! It is such a greatly written and compelling episode.
I think in every episode where Homer get a new job he is at least competent and usually good at it which supports your reading
i can remember the exact episode that undid the show for me. The Lady Gaga one. It was so over the top and had no actual narrative function. It was like "hey, LGG's at the top of the charts, let's give her an episode!" It was a far cry from episodes like the Michael Jackson one where he voices the guy that believes he's Michael. It's pretty touching, and depending on PoV, did a good job of highlighting mental illness as something other than just lunatics in a padded cell. I guess I could say the show lost its sense of context.
I watch modern episodes, and regardless of my opinions of where the show has gone in its writing, it's like they just gave up on Springfield itself and telling stories based on the everyday lives of the wider cast. It's mostly just fairy-tale spins with the cast playing roles. And far as I've seen, the episodes that DO stay in Springfield have been hit with typically divisive themes.
So yeah. Anything after 2008 is garbage to me. Anything after ~2013 is a tire-fire.
I'd always thought Marvin Monroe's assessments of the family members in "There's No Disgrace like Home" was to show his incompetence, satirising as an example Dr Phil. for me the most, possibly only touching moments between "Skinner" and Mrs Skinner were when she clearly knew he wasn't her son but nudged things to cover up the issue
I definitely agree with you about season 01. I love it and think it's one of the best along with 02 and 03 etc etc. Of course, I was 8 when it debuted so I still remember waiting for the premier and falling in love with the show I'll always have a soft spot for the early ones. Amazing job on this video! Just getting into season 02 and agree with your analysis so far. Rock n roll!
I remember an episode which ends with Homer and Lisa breaking into a museum, and they realise an artefact is a music box. I always thought it was beautiful.
this was very well thought out, and it has effectively changed how i viewed the simpsons as well.
i havent thought about it for a while, but i felt the same as most about the episode the principal and the pauper. at the time, it felt too crazy and too weird, and felt like a huge break in character. thus signaling the end of the golden years.
oh how times have changed.
i just look at my own life and see a very striking similarity to armin tanzarian, as well as that of your teacher. its not something ive thought about in a while, but your analysis of that episode kind of brought this unbidden to my mind.
well thought video. subbed