Sunday 26 August 2012

What The Simpsons Mean To Me

In many ways, science is religion, and really all religion is belief and faith. Whether you are doing a chemistry experiment or saying God created Earth, you always have a sense of uncertainty. Nothing is ever completely certain, just like you never know whether our existence are merely our brains in a jar controlled by a master computer which are creating all the images, sounds and smells in our heads. All in all, you can only believe, never sure of, that 1+1=2, that E=MC^2 and that mixing red and green makes black, just like how Christians can only believe that there is a Jesus.

The Simpsons, when you get right down to it, is like a religion, or a belief. And the Simpsons believe in family. Family is presented to be the most important factor in life, and everything else (wealth, fame) goes below it. This "religion" appeals to so many people because it is what a lot of us believe in. By believing in family, or the theme of the Simpsons, we believe that we achieve happiness. When we see Homer sacrificing his dream job in "And Maggie Makes Three", he is doing it because Homer loves Maggie,and cares about his family members. When Homer gets a second job in "Lisa's pony", it is because Homer cares about Lisa, showing that he believes in family.

Having a faith, or some people call heart, in a cartoon is really the highest praise you can give to any cartoon. The ability to make lifeless drawings into something that has heart and that can make people truly care about and believe in is astounding. When you compare all the cartoons that have been made in history, no other show has had the ability to present a belief while maintaining satire and other elements that appeals to its audiences. Unfortunately, as Classical Simpsons transitioned into Modern Simpsons, much of that heart is lost, much of the faith that the Classical Simpsons once held dear is forgotten and trashed away. As a result, you see what typical online fans call "jerkass Homer", improper characterisations and etcetera. In many ways, I believe, and this is my personal opinion only, that what makes a lot of online fans unhappy about current Simpsons is because the doors to the Simpsons "church" closed, and people who once "worshipped" there are thrown onto the streets.

Therefore, I watch the Simpsons because I believe in family and believe in the Simpsons "religion". As I have said before, the most important thing in this Simpsons "religion" is heart and faith, and those are directly affected by characterisation. When the characters act in character in a way that endorses family well-being, then I am happy. When the characters do not, then I am sad.

There are many people out there who say atheists are bad. But in my view, one cannot be an atheist. If you believe in science, you are not an atheist because science is a religion by itself. For me, I am definitely not an atheist. I don't believe in any religions, but I do firmly believe in science and the Simpsons.

Note: not that anyone actually cares, but I will be starting to post episode reviews beginning in September. I had a one week vacation for the last week so that's why there were no posts.

Friday 17 August 2012

Marking criteria

In my opinion, when reviewing TV shows or movies or really anything, professional TV reviewers or amateur fans alike attempt to do it in two ways: objectively and subjectively. Whereas they may give what they think about each show, they also attempt to represent the views of at least a group of viewers that are most similar to them, and call that "objective review".

Other than the fact that one must realise that no one person can be completely objective at any time and is always biased to an extent, it is also important to factor in that my view in this blog is generally representative of me, and not anyone else. Although I will attempt to be as objective as possible, my motive is not to represent anyone else, but to give as fair a rating as I can provide for each episode. So even though many parts of the scoring criteria may contain an "objective" section and "subjective" section, it is important to realise that the "objective" scoring section is merely a feeble attempt by me to be as objective as possible to rate an episode. It, however, is not the final word. But it is a personal attempt by me to give a fair rating.

Anyways, I hope all that made sense. In general, for each and every episode, there will be a rating out of 10. Out of those 10:

Objective scoring:     /8

  • Characterisation:   /5
  • Storytelling/Plot:     /3
Subjective scoring:      /2

Grand Total:      /10

Again, while it maybe true that episodes have much more elements to it than just characterisation and plot, it is what I feel are the most important. And in my attempt to be as objective as possible, I feel that the most important elements to provide a fair and objective scoring is based on those two elements.

The subjective scoring section is really just a way to point out the bias I may have toward a certain episode compared to another. Since it is true that everyone is biased in some way, then it is best to indicate how much the bias account for in a marking scale. Also, subjective scoring allows me to truly be me, to truly give a mark not based on intensive character or plot evaluation, but allows me to say whatever I want.

The reason that characterisation is worth so much is because I feel that the Simpsons is special because of that. Many people have said before that what made the Simpsons different and better than any other TV show that had been on before or now is that the Simpsons had heart. It had the power to move you. It had the ability garner at your sympathy and break your heart. And really, I feel that the amount of "heart" an episode have is directly related to the characterisation. If the characterisation is not consistent, there is a lack of relatability and realism in the episode and therefore undermines the impact the episode has on the audience. If the characterisation is consistent, then the characters are more relatable, and the things the characters do and say have more impact, because in a way, they are just caricatures of ourselves.

Storytelling and Plot is also an important factor because it is what makes the story flow. Again, if the story progresses in a believable way, then the story is more realistic. If the episode has a plot that progresses with no plot holes and in a logical way, and has proper and consistent characterisation, then the viewers are more able to relate to the story.

In general, that is my general criteria on evaluating each episode, from the beginning of the classical pilot episode, to the very last Season 23 finale "Lisa Goes Gaga" episode at the time of writing this. At the end, it is just an attempt by me to rate every single Simpsons episode fairly and all based on one marking scale with as little bias as possible, and if there are any, point them out and separate them on another scale.

Introduction

Compared to many other bloggers of the Simpsons out there, I am a late Simpsons fan. For me, I didn't discover the Simpsons till the late October of 2011. Before that, I knew the Simpsons existed, but I really didn't pay attention to it and had no idea what it was.

The first "serious" Simpsons episode I watched was the 23rd season Halloween Special. After I finished that episode, I just wanted to watch more. As a result, I started digging WTSO for more episodes. I started off with going from the most recent backwards and honestly, I didn't find much fault in any of the episodes early on. However, eventually through the power Google, I found the classical era. From there, I was absolutely hooked on the Simpsons and couldn't stop.

Of course, towards Christmas I had a lot of exams and from then on I was generally busy. I didn't really have much time at all until the summer holidays. So I choose to use this opportunity to give another watch of the Simpsons by the way I see it.

I only have been watching the Simpsons for no more than a year. I have, however, watched most of the 500+ episodes of the Simpsons in the beginning of 2012. Now, I plan to revisit the Simpsons after about 8 months. But ultimately, this blog is for me. As I plan to watch one episode per day if I have time, or one every two to three days if I don't, and starting from the pilot episode all the way to whenever Fox plans to kill the show.

I don't really think a single living soul is going to read this, especially since I don't really plan to promote this. I have never really blogged before and am not that good at writing to begin with. But as I have said before, this blog is more for me than for anyone else, as I am just a random Simpsons fan with a lot to say and nowhere or nobody to say to.

So on this day, I shall begin my ultimate task of reviewing each and every Simpsons episode. I highly doubt anyone will read this, and really it doesn't matter to me. Eitherway, here I go.