From Newsgroup: alt.tv.simpsons
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/tv/2007/05/i_cant_stand_the_simpsons.html
I can't stand The Simpsons
400 episodes on, and I still don't find Matt Groening's series funny. Is it just me?
Subversive or schmaltzy? It's the Simpsons.
The longest-running comedy in TV history reaches its 400th episode milestone tomorrow, and my heart is sinking in despair. You see, I know I shouldn't
say this, but I just don't find The Simpsons funny. At all. In fact, I find
it annoying and predictable. Does that make me a pop culture outcast?
Probably. I can live with that. Because trust me, I'm not even trying to be cute in a devil's advocate kind of way: I just don't get it.
Maybe I have absolutely no sense of humour. Maybe I'm not clever enough for comedy. I've tried listening patiently as people explain the in-jokes and
the irony of Matt Groening's televisual masterpiece, but all I see is crude cartoon characters doing the same damn thing, episode in, episode out. Why
fans are apparently puzzled by the plot of The Simpson's Movie, I do not
know. It's obvious what the film will be about, isn't it? ("D'oh!" is how
fans would probably put it.) Every episode I have ever sat through in a
futile attempt to get the joke is about the very same thing: Homer doing something really stupid, followed by Homer doing something even more stupid
in an attempt to fix his previous stupidity, followed by Bart/Madge/Maggie doing something tedious to make it all OK. And to round it all repetitively
off there's a gut-wrenching dose of American schmaltz that hammers home the moral message.
That idiot, clownish element, so central to most comedy - from Charlie
Chaplin and Jim Carrey to Homer Simpson - leaves me cold. The shovels full
of slapstick hitting you over the head with humour in a way that seems childish, not clever. Of course like every other artform, the enjoyment of comedy is very personal, so it would be odd - and boring - if we unanimously agreed that one joke is funny, another not. I think the Peep Show is largely unpleasant viewing, but when I groan while everyone else grins does that
mean I'm missing something?
What I do know is that representing the ridiculous side of life is one of
the most important things art can do, but often comedy fails in this task -
by trying too hard, and thus being so far removed from real life that humour becomes just a cover-up for the things we are too frightened to say with a straight face. The Simpsons is supposed to be radical, but wouldn't it pack
a mightier political punch if people took it seriously?
Inevitably this grand anniversary will mean yet more screenings of the show than there already are, and my friends won't find it surprising to hear that
I honestly cannot think of anything worse than sitting down to see Homer
play pranks every night at 6pm. I'd much rather watch something that makes
me cry, not laugh, at the stupidity of our existence. It feels more honest, somehow. Then again, maybe that comedy cover-up is the point? You jokers
please tell me.
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