All through its three and a half-decade run, “The Simpsons” has seemingly managed to parody just about each facet of well-liked tradition. From main developments in political historical past to iconic film scenes, the present’s capability to recreate historic moments was all the time a part of its appeal, and “The Simpsons” acted as a approach to showcase the animators’ skills (not less than within the golden age).
The “Raiders of the Misplaced Ark” parody from the opening of season 3 episode, “Bart’s Good friend Falls in Love,” stands as probably the greatest examples. The hand-drawn recreation of Indy’s escape from the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors, reimagined as Bart escaping his residence whereas being chased by an enraged Homer, was a genuinely spectacular demonstration of the animators’ talents, and apart from being humorous, proved that the present was being made by true craftsman.
Because the present has gone on, the film parodies have remained a constant aspect, with “The Simpsons” most recently parodying an underrated Martin Scorsese movie within the season 36 episode “Desperately In search of Lisa.” At occasions, the long-running sequence has even parodied your entire plot of a movie, as was the case with the “Shinning” phase of “Treehouse of Horror V,” which principally revealed your entire plot of “The Shining” to a technology of youngsters too younger to have seen Stanley Kubrick’s film.
However there may be nonetheless a parody that creator Matt Groening has wished to do for many years that’s but to be realized, and it may be the present’s most formidable parody but.
Matt Groening has wished to make Simptasia for many years
“The Simpsons” became the longest running scripted primetime series a very long time in the past, and has been airing ever since. Now in its thirty sixth season, the present refuses to die regardless of the prevailing knowledge being that it misplaced its magic way back. Issues weren’t helped in that regard by Disney’s acquisition of Fox, which was completed again in 2019 and gave the impression to be the right symbolic improvement for the best way through which “The Simpsons” had misplaced just about the entire subversive energy that helped make it such successful again within the ’90s. Nonetheless, the Disney buyout may be simply what Matt Groening must lastly understand his long-gestating concept for what may change into essentially the most important parody within the present’s historical past.
Disney had a simple message for “The Simpsons” after the merger, which primarily amounted to “preserve doing what you are doing and we’ll keep out of it.” That is precisely what followers, and little question the writers who’d loved many years of non-intervention from Fox had been hoping for. However Groening may really welcome some cooperation from his new overlords because the creator has been planning a “Fantasia” parody for actually many years.
Throughout the DVD commentary monitor for season 4 episode “A Streetcar Named Marge,” author and former showrunner Mike Reiss recalled how a desk learn for the sequence through which Maggie escapes her daycare triggered the learn to grind to a halt. The sequence itself was a parody of “The Nice Escape,” however the intensive stage instructions within the script meant the desk learn turned considerably of a bore to take a seat by. Fellow former showrunner Al Jean defined, “That is one purpose we do not have lengthy stage instructions as a result of they normally shut the desk learn down chilly. We’ll now put issues in parentheses that we do not need learn as a result of it simply kinda slows the laughs.”
This, it appears, is why Groening’s “Fantasia” parody has by no means come to fruition, with Reiss including, “I do know Matt, for 12,13 years you have wished to do ‘Simptasia,’ you have wished to do ‘Fantasia’ with ‘The Simpsons’ and it is like, no one needs to write down this 30-page script of stage instructions.”
Do we actually want a Simpsons Fantasia parody?
Disney’s legendary animated musical “Fantasia” went from a box office bomb upon its 1940 debut to a cultural touchstone. Essentially the most formidable animated characteristic tried by Walt Disney on the time, “Fantasia” introduced the very best out of the corporate’s staff of animators, and options a few of the best animation but seen on-screen, with legendary animators like Invoice Tytla contributing timeless sequences to the movie. A “Simpsons” model would hopefully do the identical factor for the present’s personal animators, although I can not assist however really feel the time for such a parody has lengthy since handed.
Over time, “The Simpsons” has really parodied sure sections of the movie. The episode “Itchy & Scratchy Land,” as an illustration, reveals that creator of the animated show-within-a-show, Roger Meyers Sr., oversaw the creation of “Scratchtasia” which featured a piece primarily based on the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” phase from “Fantasia.” Elsewhere, in “Treehouse of Horror IV,” Homer claims to be smarter than Ned Flanders’ model of Devil, earlier than Flanders transforms into Chernabog from “Night time on Bald Mountain.” There are a number of different moments like this when “The Simpsons” has acknowledged Disney’s seminal animated characteristic, however the “Simptasia” concept has by no means been produced.
Now, with the animation so clear and missing that hand-drawn contact that made the golden age episodes so charming, a “Fantasia” parody propelled by digital animation strategies made to imitate the model of hand-drawn masters simply looks as if one other approach to remind us all that “The Simpsons” is not what it as soon as was. Whereas Disney’s acquisition of Fox absolutely introduced the concept of “Simptasia” nearer, then, it does not essentially really feel like one thing the present must do at this stage.
