Western Animation - Discuss American, Canadian, and European cartoons here (or just bitch about wokeshit, I guess)

[KingLiberty76]

The Simpsons will be 36 years old this year (38 if you count Tracey Ullman shorts), I often wonder if anyone in production or anyone in general thought The Simpsons was going to last more than a couple years and then be forgotten like a lot of animated shows at the time. It must have been quite frankly bizarre to see The Simpsons become a decently large cultural phenomenon in not just American entertainment but also foreign entertainment.

 

[Quijibo69]

The Simpsons will be 36 years old this year (38 if you count Tracey Ullman shorts), I often wonder if anyone in production or anyone in general thought The Simpsons was going to last more than a couple years and then be forgotten like a lot of animated shows at the time. It must have been quite frankly bizarre to see The Simpsons become a decently large cultural phenomenon in not just American entertainment but also foreign entertainment.

A show that should have ended around the tenth season but is being beaten like a dead horse.

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

The Simpsons will be 36 years old this year (38 if you count Tracey Ullman shorts), I often wonder if anyone in production or anyone in general thought The Simpsons was going to last more than a couple years and then be forgotten like a lot of animated shows at the time. It must have been quite frankly bizarre to see The Simpsons become a decently large cultural phenomenon in not just American entertainment but also foreign entertainment.

the character assassination of Lisa Simpson from intelligent but still definitively a kid with a bit of Bart's mischievous streak, to "wise-beyond-her-years" wokescold will forever be one of the greatest tragedies in the history of animation.

not even mentioning Ullman-era Lisa, who'd drop-kick modern Lisa in a nano-second.

 

[Calandrino]

Hey Lois, Remember the time when our pilot was lost media?

At last, the holy grail: now we know for certain that Family Guy was never funny

 

[starborn427614]

The Simpsons will be 36 years old this year (38 if you count Tracey Ullman shorts), I often wonder if anyone in production or anyone in general thought The Simpsons was going to last more than a couple years and then be forgotten like a lot of animated shows at the time. It must have been quite frankly bizarre to see The Simpsons become a decently large cultural phenomenon in not just American entertainment but also foreign entertainment.

New episodes of the show used to be an event, but I couldn't tell you the last time I watched the show. It's kind of sad. At least I got to grow up throughout its golden era.

 

[KingLiberty76]

New episodes of the show used to be an event, but I couldn't tell you the last time I watched the show. It's kind of sad. At least I got to grow up throughout its golden era.

the last time I heard anyone talk about The Simpsons was the fake series finale it was at best a 6/10, I am convinced that the Simpsons will never die, even if the main series ends it'll be rebooted in 5 years tops.

 

[ShiftyBoi]

the last time I heard anyone talk about The Simpsons was the fake series finale it was at best a 6/10, I am convinced that the Simpsons will never die, even if the main series ends it'll be rebooted in 5 years tops.

Honestly I wish they'd do what some legacy animes do, let it die and end and reboot it with a new person's style and voice. Like Star Trek.

Instead of Simpsons season 5 billion we could be getting Simpsons: eat (my) shorts. Or something.
People like Lee Hardcastle have been able to do new interesting post modern things with Simpsons, it's still iconic it just needs new people and ideas

 

[FK009]

the character assassination of Lisa Simpson from intelligent but still definitively a kid with a bit of Bart's mischievous streak, to "wise-beyond-her-years" wokescold will forever be one of the greatest tragedies in the history of animation.
View attachment 7130466
not even mentioning Ullman-era Lisa, who'd drop-kick modern Lisa in a nano-second.
View attachment 7130488

The worst part is that the changes to the character that set her down on this track like vegetarian and Buddhism for Lisa, all happened because some guest star made it a condition of their appearance. Granted, you can’t blame 100% on them, maybe she’d become a woke-scold regardless, but these didn’t help.

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

I am convinced that the Simpsons will never die, even if the main series ends it'll be rebooted in 5 years tops.

 

[LifeAlert]

Honestly I wish they'd do what some legacy animes do, let it die and end and reboot it with a new person's style and voice. Like Star Trek.

So basically you want it to go on forever except even worse than it already was. And we see how well that's working out for Star Trek. Typical consoomer

 

[ShiftyBoi]

So basically you want it to go on forever except even worse than it already was. And we see how well that's working out for Star Trek. Typical consoomer

Did I say let it go on forever or did I say try something new?

The guys that made the original simpsons seasons good are gone to the four winds, the people in charge now are just collecting paychecks.
If they're going to continue this dreck they should at least try something new with new talent.
Like I said, I recommend Lee Hardcastle's couch gag series. There's a lot of crazy stuff you can do with existing Simpsons elements.

I compare this to legacy anime because when certain companies want to bring an anime like Devil Man back, they hand it off to a new studio to do something interesting with it, even if it is the same story. Couch gags are a good example of this, they platform studios no one's ever heard of.

 

[Trilby]

the character assassination of Lisa Simpson from intelligent but still definitively a kid with a bit of Bart's mischievous streak, to "wise-beyond-her-years" wokescold will forever be one of the greatest tragedies in the history of animation.
View attachment 7130466
not even mentioning Ullman-era Lisa, who'd drop-kick modern Lisa in a nano-second.
View attachment 7130488

This is the Lisa I miss dearly. She was the sister I have.

 

[Quiet Guy]

this clip from modern simpsons (and by that i mean an ep from like twelve years ago) has become a meme lately and i have to admit while i see why it did, the clip is got a good format for listing stuff on and the backing track is pretty nice, i have to say this encapsulates what's wrong with the voice acting and writing of the simpsons. burns sounds like shit ofc. but for me what is bad about it is you can feel the millenial behind the screen. because back in the day simpsons writers would be well read enough to include macbeth or anton chigurgh (remember it was a book first) in a villains lineup but they thought mr burns would list eric cartman, megatron and donkey kong as villains he respects. blegh

He mentions Iago from Othello.

 

[Bruce LaLiLuLeLo]

This will come as a shock to people:
I've never watched a single episode of an animated sitcom
DUN DUN DUN
(I hate sitcoms )

 

[Legalize Asbestos]

He mentions Iago from Othello.

That's the writer who was stoned one night and googled why the parrot had such a weird name.
You know I'm right.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

The worst part is that the changes to the character that set her down on this track like vegetarian and Buddhism for Lisa, all happened because some guest star made it a condition of their appearance. Granted, you can’t blame 100% on them, maybe she’d become a woke-scold regardless, but these didn’t help.

I didn't think the Buddhism episode was bad, you could tell there was actual criticism towards (mega)churches that become worldly to keep attendance up when all it does is push believers away and look elsewhere, though I don't remember there being a follow-up on that in the episode nor even later episodes. Might've been quietly dropped.

 

[Grand Duke Snowfall]

I’m just remembering the pile of cringe that the vegetarianism episode was, but I guess it does a good job at showing how entitled vegans can be irl. That aside, after coming across episode clips and such more often on YouTube, man did Lisa suck in ways besides eventually becoming a woke mouthpiece. Basically every single time something goes good for Bart, even if it’s just him working to improve his grades, she gets jealous/insecure and has to undermine him. Then there was the time she ran away from home because Maggie was showing signs of being smart. I can’t remember if she had self importance problems like that in the older seasons.
I don’t know, I liked Lisa as a kid, but now that I’m older it seems like her character’s degraded to a point where I just can’t bring myself to enjoy her even without the political bullshit. Then again, you can probably say that about every aspect of The Simpsons.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I’m just remembering the pile of cringe that the vegetarianism episode was, but I guess it does a good job at showing how entitled vegans can be irl. That aside, after coming across episode clips and such more often on YouTube, man did Lisa suck in ways besides eventually becoming a woke mouthpiece. Basically every single time something goes good for Bart, even if it’s just him working to improve his grades, she gets jealous/insecure and has to undermine him. Then there was the time she ran away from home because Maggie was showing signs of being smart. I can’t remember if she had self importance problems like that in the older seasons.
I don’t know, I liked Lisa as a kid, but now that I’m older it seems like her character’s degraded to a point where I just can’t bring myself to enjoy her even without the political bullshit. Then again, you can probably say that about every aspect of The Simpsons.

There's also how they use Lisa being the smart one so they use her as a mouthpiece to shill for celebrities like great people whose praise didn't age poorly like JK Rowling, Neil Gaiman, and Elon Musk.

But yeah she's a pretty bad character whose pretty much just a mouthpiece for the writers and a good example of how people can turn a character into a mouthpiece by virtue of them being the favorite character of the creator and staff.

There are probably worse examples out there in live action and animation of this happening (like Starlight in The Boys) but Lisa is a primordial example of how a character can be ruined to be a mouthpiece just as "Flanderization" became a term people used as Ned Flanders gradually just became a religious nut rather than the upstanding neighbor Homer got jealous of even if Flanders does still have his moments.

Either way it shows The Simpsons really needs to end since it decayed far too long and all the VAs sound too old but no doubt Bob Iger will keep it going after everyone dies given his recent interest in AI

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

Basically every single time something goes good for Bart, even if it’s just him working to improve his grades, she gets jealous/insecure and has to undermine him.

that is so far off the mark of what her character originally was it's insane.

in context, Bart is trying to pass a test so he doesn't repeat the fourth grade. He prays for more time to study, and God answers with a snowstorm.

 

[A Grey Cat]

I didn't think the Buddhism episode was bad, you could tell there was actual criticism towards (mega)churches that become worldly to keep attendance up when all it does is push believers away and look elsewhere, though I don't remember there being a follow-up on that in the episode nor even later episodes. Might've been quietly dropped.

That episode is very mixed especially since like the vegetarian thing it became a permanent aspect of her character but I think the Buddhism is even less a trait than her vegetarianism, only popping up for the sake of a joke.

However I will give it credit in one regard. I don't know I'd this was intentional on the writers part but not only was the megachurch bit at the episodes start a funny deconstruction of the concept of megachurches, but it also may be an allegory to the biblical story of Jesus and the temple of money lenders.