Just watching the Simpsons episode from season nine, with Marge and Homer's balloon ride. I can't believe that they got away with showing Marge Simpson nude. And I can't believe I liked it so much. That's just twisted.
Also I was not aware that "Think of the children! Won't somebody please think of the children!?" was a quote, and a satirical one. I love it. I wonder if this was the first appearance of it? (Man, the concept even has a wikipedia entry.) (Update: this guy has a comment on it.)
Update: the episode ("Natural Born Kissers") did not only have female nudity (which for some reason seems more controversial than male) (seriously, what's that about?), but was also about Marge and Homer's sex life. And apparently it was the only one ever where Fox actually wanted to ax it. And it was banned for children in Australia. -- In the commentary they mention that the episode "belonged to a different era", they couldn't do it today. Though the rerun is still shown. What kind of a hell must it be inside the minds of people who get offended by a cartoon boob?
8 comments:
Is it still shown in US re-runs? Since the Jackson/Timberlake debacle everything has changed.
I don't remember nipples, somehow boobs only become offensive when they have nipples.
We got an old Capt Pugwash book, and there is a bare breasted mermaid there.
There are cartoon women and cartoon women. Some actually do work, the same way as an abstact painting may.
Well, Marge is yellow. And her hair is BLUE.
Pssst ... did they show whether or not the draperies match the carpet?
Good grief no! That would be obscene! Think of the children!
The only shot where nothing covered her butt and tits was a split second from the very far distance. And they barely got away with that.
(Good one, though.)
By the way, they got away with more in the Simpsons Movie. And it turned out to be one of the funniest moments ever.
I thought they showed more in the scene at the nudist picnic and didn't Marge pose nude for a painting (or did she paint Burns nude).
It's sad, but there actually ARE people who know more about Marge's anatomy than that of a real girl. I'm afraid I'm becoming one of them. :(
Alex mentioned one of my least favorite phrases: "everything has changed".
I live in the US, and I've noticed that this is the excuse that the new breed of Puritans uses for all of their ridiculous restrictions. (Maybe it's the same old breed, but they don't call themselves Puritans anymore.)
Sadly, the media tell us when something is offensive, and everyone works themselves into a tizzy over it, even if it wasn't offensive at all. Then we look differently at our friends and neighbors. It makes no sense.
A quick example: I have three children. I'm an actively involved parent, helping out at school fund-raisers, actually attending their award ceremonies, etc. At a recent event, my kid was getting an award, and I was there with my camera taking pictures of his proud moment. A friend of ours has a daughter at the same school. This lady had forgotten her camera, and asked if I might take a few pictures of her daughter getting her awards, and email them to her. Of course I was happy to help out.
After the event, the school principal (a matronly Puritan if ever there was one) approached me and asked me to be careful in future not to take pictures of any kids except my own. I asked something like "Huh?" There were, of course hundreds of kids around. How would you NOT get at least twenty into any picture you might take?
She said that it might make the other parents nervous to see a man that they didn't know with a camera. "Times have changed." was the catchphrase she threw in to justify her request (which wasn't really a request at all, of course).
Oddly, she didn't go to the dozens of mothers who were there and give them the same talk.
American society is infected with some kind of sick paranoia in this area, and I'm not sure I know what the cure is. It's all of their weird behavior towards body-image, extreme fear of nudity, not trusting one another . . . If I was a conspiracy nut, I'd start to think that the government and the media were in cahoots to keep the public divided, brainwashed and confused, but I'm not that nutty.
Think of the children! I think of them growing up in the midst of all this insanity -- their Puritan (or confused) parents teaching them not to trust one another. What does the future hold for them?
Alex mentioned one of my least favorite phrases: "everything has changed".
I never really meant that to be as broad a statement as it seems.
The FCC seems to have overreacted to Janet Jacksons "wardrobe malfunction". Maybe the event was the nail in the coffin, but we'd been seeing nipple slips for a while. This one just happened to be on a major sporting event.
So I was referring to everything TV/Radio broadcast-wise.
I agree with Philip though, it is an overused phrase. I believe modern paranoia will divide society more harmfully than any bad element within the society.
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