In this episode of "The Simpsons" Lisa delves into the Simpson family history for a school assignment. She begins the assignment with high hopes, but soon discovers that the Simpson family tree is full of crooks and theives. In her quest to find a good Simpson, Lisa discovers the diary of Eliza Simpson, a young girl who helps a slave, Virgil, esacpe. Lisa is esatic that she found a good Simpson, a decides to present her findings to her school in order to help celebrate black history month. While presenting, Lisa discovers that Eliza was not the person she thought because when the slave owner came for Virgil, Eliza let her father give Virgil's hiding spot away. Seeing her daughter's disapointment, Marge encourages Lisa to continue looking into the Simpson past.When she does, Lisa discovers that Eliza's mother helped Virgil escape the slave owner. After pressing Grandpa, he finally tells Lisa the whole story. ELiza's mother, Mabel and Virgil escaped to Canada, and eventually fell in love. She divorced Eliza's father and married Virgil, having another child with him. Mabel and Virgil's son is the earliest decendent of the Simpson family. From this story Lisa discovers there is a good Simpson, and that she is 1/64 black.
I found the main plot of this episode to be very entertaining and a good way to encorporate black history month into the episode. It also represented how we all long to find good in our ancestry, and go to great lengths to find it.
Also, whenever I watch the Simpsons it is often that I find the little things the creators put into the episode that make it funny, often even more than the main plot. These aspects of the show are often the parts that the viewer can most sympathize with. For example, I found it very funny and realistic in the beginning of the episode when the teacher did not have anything planned, and simply looked out the window for an idea. I have been a teacher before and there are times when you have nothing planned, and do not have the care to really think of the lesson, so you just pull something out of nowhere. In my opinion, this little bit of satire on teachers was honest and funny. Another part that I found to be funny was when Lisa was trying to get into the attic. The door was too high and she got stuck trying to pull it down. The attic reminded me of my own attic, and the struggles I always have trying to get into it. Not to mention the dust and the dirt that I have to go through once I am up there.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Boy Meets Curl 21.12
So begins my blogging of "The Simpsons," a show that I never cared to watch before, or understood the facination with, but now am beginning to.
In this episode of "The Simpsons" Marge and Homer are looking for somewhere to go on date night when they stumble along an ice rink. The rink is closed for skating because the curlers are practicing. Not afraid to try something new, Homer and Marge try curling, and with her years of sweeping experience behind her, Marge turns out to be a great curler. Eventually Marge and Homer became olympic curlers, and travel to Vancouver. This episode was very appropriate because olympics are currently going on. The way that this show uses current events in their episodes is always very interesting and makes the show fun to watch. In addition it was unique in the fact that it used the sport of curling to focus on. Curling is a sport that many people do not understand, and the writers of the Simpsons used this to their advantage. They were able to make light of the sport in a way that was not directly making fun of it.
One part of the episode that I particularly enjoyed occured after Marge hurt her shoulder. It was when Marge lost the use of her right hand that Homer discovered she was a lefty. All this time she was hiding being a lefty because it is a righty's world. I can sympathize with Marge because I am too a lefty often forced to compromise my leftiness and a righty dominated world. Also, in the subplot Lisa became addicted to buying the souvenier pins. This aspect of the episode reminded the viewer that although the olympics are focused on the gathering of teams competing for gold, it is ultimatly a business, and there is always somebody out there looking to make a buck.
Overall I thought this episode was not very humorous, which is not to say that I did not like it. I enjoyed the way that Marge defended her husband, and stood by him. It is often the way most couples hope to stay their entire lives. I also enjoyed the fact that the oylmpics were included. They are pivotal in world history, and it is nice to know that television shows understand the importance of the olympics.
In this episode of "The Simpsons" Marge and Homer are looking for somewhere to go on date night when they stumble along an ice rink. The rink is closed for skating because the curlers are practicing. Not afraid to try something new, Homer and Marge try curling, and with her years of sweeping experience behind her, Marge turns out to be a great curler. Eventually Marge and Homer became olympic curlers, and travel to Vancouver. This episode was very appropriate because olympics are currently going on. The way that this show uses current events in their episodes is always very interesting and makes the show fun to watch. In addition it was unique in the fact that it used the sport of curling to focus on. Curling is a sport that many people do not understand, and the writers of the Simpsons used this to their advantage. They were able to make light of the sport in a way that was not directly making fun of it.
One part of the episode that I particularly enjoyed occured after Marge hurt her shoulder. It was when Marge lost the use of her right hand that Homer discovered she was a lefty. All this time she was hiding being a lefty because it is a righty's world. I can sympathize with Marge because I am too a lefty often forced to compromise my leftiness and a righty dominated world. Also, in the subplot Lisa became addicted to buying the souvenier pins. This aspect of the episode reminded the viewer that although the olympics are focused on the gathering of teams competing for gold, it is ultimatly a business, and there is always somebody out there looking to make a buck.
Overall I thought this episode was not very humorous, which is not to say that I did not like it. I enjoyed the way that Marge defended her husband, and stood by him. It is often the way most couples hope to stay their entire lives. I also enjoyed the fact that the oylmpics were included. They are pivotal in world history, and it is nice to know that television shows understand the importance of the olympics.
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