The Simpsons, S23E19
Bart, tired of the humdrum of the everyday, tried to raise money to go on a fancy cruise by selling everything in his room. The others eventually helped him pay for it by selling some of their own things. Their time on the cruise kept getting better and better, making everyone happier than they had ever been. Bart started to think about how it would all end in a week when he heard a song about the limited time of their vacation happiness. He used a scene from a movie to make everyone think that the world was infected by a virus so that the ship would have to stay at sea forever. It took only 12 days to turn the paradise ship into an apocalyptic nightmare where food was scarce and fun and entertainment had been replaced with fear and mob rule. Bart confessed to his ruse after Lisa and Marge discovered what he had done, and the people of the cruise rewarded him by abandoning the family in Antarctica. That turned out to be a blessing for Bart, who came to understand he should enjoy the great moments in life instead of dwelling on the routine in the rest of it through his observations of the penguins.
After watching so many episodes where everything that could go wrong in a vacation does for this family, it was nice to see everyone having a great time on the boat. Something, of course, had to upset their paradise or it would be boring, but seeing everything go right for once was a nice change. Plus, the Simpsons are like my family so seeing their enjoying themselves made me smile. I thought it was funny how that song at dinner was so depressing about how their happiness would end once they got off the boat, but only Bart was paying attention. Everyone else was "enjoying it while it lasted," per the song's advice. I couldn't be mad at Bart for wanting to make it last forever. I often feel like that and in doing so, ruin my chance to enjoy the now (which is the point). So I really identified with the overall message in this story.
I got a little sad watching Bart imagine his life after he left the boat and his only good memory was him on that vacation. He died while holding the only picture of his happiness, and it made me a little misty-eyed. That's pretty terrible for a boy his age to be writing off his own life before it had barely started. I was even a little down by seeing the montage of his daily routine that ended on the couch. His childhood should be some of the best times in his life, but instead he was disillusioned by age 10.
When they were cast off the boat to Antarctica, I couldn't help but wonder how the hell they were gonna get back home. They never answered that, but I guess that's the magic of a cartoon where you can leave things open like that because it will have no impact upon the next episode. I didn't like that they started to look at the penguins and use them as an example of how to live life better. It was corny, but it was better than everyone being angry at Bart, and it distracted me of thoughts of how long it would take them to freeze (or starve) to death. But I liked how Bart stopped trying to make every day fun and instead had a wider variety of moments he could cherish in his new vision of his old age. He remarked in that vision, "What a great ride," and it reminded me of how I'll probably feel about this show ending one day. Not every story was one I'll remember forever and find myself quoting in daily life, but I have enjoyed this show's ride so far. The numbers of years they kept me laughing and thinking is more than enough to excuse any number of episodes that failed to meet my expectations.
Call me a softie, but I liked this episode a lot, despite it was more sentimental than it was funny. Sometimes that is what I want to see--a nice, heartwarming story where it's not about how much you can shock or thrill the audience. I'm happy to see that this show can still tug at my heart strings after all this time and not make me want to roll my eyes or gouge them out.
perfect!
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