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The Simpsons is without doubt one of the longest-running comedy sequence on TV, airing since 1989 and comprising over 30 seasons. In the various many years it has been on the air, society has modified an awesome deal. Trends have come and gone, new generations of celebrities have risen, and social and cultural values have progressed.
As such, not each joke made within the historical past of The Simpsons is comfy viewing within the current. Sometimes the present makes use of humor that may be thought of offensive these days, or its uncanny skill to foretell the long run both fails or hits far too near dwelling.
10 An Extremely Transphobic Money-Saving Joke
One of essentially the most important shifts in society all through The Simpsons‘ time on air is by way of LGBT+ rights. Although The Simpsons may dip into stereotypes typically about homosexual individuals, it has at all times aimed for tolerance in the direction of different sexualities, and sometimes hit the mark. With transgender individuals, nonetheless, the present has a a lot rockier historical past.
In the episode “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo,” Homer and Marge attend a money-saving lecture. The host explains how he affords his costly yacht with a good looking feminine workers: that the workers is transgender. Aside from couching it in closely transphobic phrases, the joke additionally implies that transgender ladies are lesser, one thing that may not fly in a household comedy present as we speak.
9 Robert Downey Jr.’s Shootout With Police
The Simpsons has by no means been above lampooning the celebrities of its day, even those that do not make cameo voice appearances. In the episode “Beyond Blunderdome,” one thing eerily prophetic relating to Mel Gibson’s profession, the present additionally makes a misfire relating to one other superstar: Robert Downey Jr.
The episode has a throwaway gag about him filming a film the place he is in a shootout with police, just for there to be no cameras, lampooning his troubles with the regulation. Since then, Downey’s profession revival in Sherlock Holmes and Iron Man has made the joke closely dated – and made it appear to be punching down, given his open contrition about that interval of his life.
8 The Prophetic Plague Cruise Ship
Due partly to its commentary on ongoing social developments and the sheer quantity of content material it has, The Simpsons is thought for predicting the long run. One of the extra unlikely and hard-hitting instances comes within the episode “A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again,” when Bart fakes a worldwide pandemic to increase his keep on a cruise ship.
Seemingly innocent, the episode is much less amusing in mild of the COVID-19 pandemic. Early within the pandemic, the cruise ship Diamond Princess was left stranded and unable to dock on account of fears it contained COVID-positive passengers. Aside from the grief and ache triggered to passengers, the ship grew to become an early image of the pandemic for a lot of.
7 Lisa’s Celebration Of A Pilot Bombing Mosques
Lisa’s outspoken feminism is a serious a part of her character, but it surely tends to be balanced with different, equally socially acutely aware causes. For instance, within the 1995 episode “Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming,” Lisa makes an irreverent remark sure to show heads as we speak. She celebrates the primary stealth bomber pilot, additionally named Lisa, for bombing seventy mosques in the course of the Gulf War.
Part of the joke’s humor is the surprising and darkish nature of the ‘achievement,’ however the joke remains to be made pretty irreverently. With larger consciousness of Islamophobia within the US and far of the world, any character – significantly Lisa – making such a remark light-heartedly can be much more doubtless to attract complaints now.
6 The Running Joke Of Homer Strangling Bart
The dysfunction of the Simpson household has at all times been exaggerated and cartoonish, however hardly ever is it extra brutal than the recurring joke of Homer strangling Bart in suits of rage. This joke runs all through the present, however occurs much more typically in earlier episodes, with little provocation, in additional grounded methods.
Although strangling kids has never been thought of good parenting, the joke can nonetheless depart a foul style in individuals’s mouths with rising consciousness of the results of parental abuse. Notably, the present consists of it way more hardly ever in trendy episodes, and tends to do it in additional ludicrous, fantastical methods to scale back the impression.
5 Principal Skinner’s Joke About School Shootings
Some jokes are supposed to be darkish and controversial, however solely get stronger over time. For instance, within the episode “Sunday Cruddy Sunday,” Nelson has a dialog with a postman in regards to the previous stereotype of ‘going postal,’ and committing a mass taking pictures. Afterward, Principal Skinner jokes that he is glad he works in an elementary college, and is due to this fact protected.
At the time, this joke was made within the backdrop of a rising variety of college shootings, supposed to be significantly darkish. However, college shootings have solely grown in prominence and severity. In explicit, the worst college shootings have been because the episode – together with a quantity aimed toward elementary faculties.
4 Prank Calls Using Out-Of-Date Methods
Not each joke would not maintain up properly as a result of it is offensive, however just because it depends on cultural touchstones that are not related anymore. One instance is the working joke of Bart and Lisa prank-calling Moe’s Tavern, baiting him into calling out a reputation that’s some type of innuendo or double-entendre.
Although the joke is humorous in its personal proper, it depends on the viewers realizing {that a} widespread strategy to contact an individual in an institution was phoning the place and having a workers member carry a message. Nowadays, with the ubiquity of cell telephones, this can be a a lot rarer prevalence, leaving the character of Bart and Lisa’s pranks more and more out-of-date.
3 COPS: In Springfield Joking About Police Brutality
Even when a joke clearly expresses disapproval of one thing, it will probably achieve this in a far too irreverent strategy to really feel respectful of the difficulty. This is the issue at coronary heart with the joke about COPS: In Springfield TV present, featured in “Homer’s Bypass.”
Although the present and theme track are supposed to present Springfield’s police as incompetent and corrupt, a jovial line about their willingness to make use of police brutality can really feel disrespectful after a number of high-profile instances within the 2010s and 2020s. In addition, it reveals a heavily-militarized police drive attacking the fallacious home – additionally uncomfortably near real-life tragedies.
2 Nelson Attacking Milhouse Over A Love Note
Even although it has at all times tried to be tolerant, the best way The Simpsons reveals some characters reacting to homosexual or seemingly homosexual characters can really feel uncomfortable. For instance, in “Lisa’s Date with Density,” Lisa asks Milhouse to cross Milhouse a love observe to Nelson for her. Milhouse does so, inflicting Nelson to assume it got here from him, and assaulting him for it.
The joke depends on a conventional comedic misunderstanding, and is completely in-character for Nelson. However, it additionally echoes real-life instances of homophobic assaults – together with outright murders – in the direction of homosexual individuals. Awareness of the difficulty has risen sharply because the 2000s, making the joke really feel in poor style to sum.
1 Homer’s Disappointment Over The Denver Broncos
“You Only Move Twice” is taken into account a traditional The Simpsons episode, doubtlessly probably the greatest ever. For essentially the most half, its comedy is timeless and pleasant, however one joke dates it closely. In the tip, Homer’s boss items him an American Football staff, but it surely’s the Denver Broncos as a substitute of the Dallas Cowboys.
At the time, the Cowboys had been record-breakingly profitable, whereas the Broncos had been one thing of a laughing inventory. The two groups’ fortunes have flipped virtually completely because the episode, with the Cowboys struggling and the Broncos thriving. As such, purely for the way little it displays the current day, the joke doesn’t maintain up properly.
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