Wednesday, February 04, 2009

The most recent episode of The Simpsons was a Heavenly Creatures parody starring Lisa. This is weird, right? Not because it's an obscure thing to reference for a half-hour's time, although the highly-specific nature of how it went about it's parody highlighted that element: Remakes of particular shots, multiple references to Josh Groban in place of the film's Mario Lanza. That all felt bizarre and tedious, but maybe no more than any other extended parody to grace a whole episode of an animated program. (It was also strangely emotionless for a Lisa-centric episode of The Simpsons, at least to a viewer primarily familiar with the first few, good, seasons.)

But what a weird way to evolve an archetype over a series of years, when depending on coming up with plotlines. The original idea of a smart little girl, who tries hard and wants approval, then becomes a vegetarian, then a buddhist, and then is placed in an intense friendship with a lesbian subtext. This is one for the culture studies majors in the room.

Everyone else is directed to this Youtube video of a child high on drugs from the dentist.

13 comments:

Braidedbraids said...

My friend texted me as it was happening, as it had notoriously been my favorite film ever since I was eleven. I guess there were also H. Darger images in the background? I haven't seen it - nothing (external) is sacred, especially not media - it actually almost gives me hope for simpson's writers.

Erin Tustin said...

so did you find that link on hipster runoff or what?

Brian said...

Are you talking about the high seven-year-old? That was from a dude on a message board. (Abhay Khosla, who gets a sidebar link for his hilarity) The Nick Sylvester essay was from the Fluxblog dude's tumblr blog.

So, fuck you, Erin!

Erin Tustin said...

lol i was talking about the high kid link. i had never even heard of hipster run off until about a week ago, then i saw your blog and read Nick Sylvester's and had to check it out. I just noticed that they had posted the high kid. Sorry just busting your balls :( good post though

laura said...

that stoned dental patient was also the featured youtube video on "igoogle" last week. "igoogle" is a nice homepage--i've known for a month now that slipknot is playing at a local amphitheater soon. i hadn't heard of hipster runoff either but sylvester's post about it (and then the site itself) put into words something i've been unable to articulate for awhile now, this really self-conscious reaction to pop culture's appropriation of things we like--something that's been happening to every sub-culture ever. i should thank you for posting about that, brian, though it kind of did a number on me because ultimately i think sites like hipster runoff are really sad..they flaunt this inability to genuinely digest something (a repercussion of the internet? too many voices crowding out our own, immediate response?). particularly in the case of animal collective i find it almost embarrassing to forget they're real people, to suggest that they're a product of the internet. but i guess hipster runoff is itself a product of a certain internet culture so it can't function outside of those terms.

Erin Tustin said...

hey laura, I don't know you but HRO makes me feel the same way. The more I read it the more embarrassed I feel about my younger self, and even my current self, and then I feel mad for this website making me feel embarrassed to like or have liked things. That is what Nick Sylvester articulated the best, the importance of mistakes. I feel a conundrum coming on because I don't want to be a modernist and ignore the deconstruction of "great" things, which I think is important. But I also want to be able to enjoy the things around me and not at all in an ironic sense. I don't think there are right or wrong reasons for liking things either and that seems like it is what HRO is trying to undermine. But then is he? yeah this guy is confusing...

I just hate this guy because he reminds me of a guy that I know, who definitely "gets it" but just doesn't get that mostly everyone gets it too, or that after they got it they grew up about it instead of regurgitating it in their everyday life in a way that says "I am allowed to act this way because I know that it is ironic but you do not."

so there is what ended up being probably a paraphrase of Nick Sylvester's argument minus all that animal collective stuff which I know not too much about.

laura said...

oh, man, seriously fuck irony and being embarrassed about liking stuff in any situation ever. i'm glad you mentioned irony, i was actually hoping that it would be mentioned in hipster runoff as a kind of meta-meta thought...seriously imagine him making fun of irony, how ironic would that be?!?
but i hate to hear that such flimsy rhetoric makes you feel embarrassed for liking stuff-- i think that's actually part of what gets me down about that dude's line of thinking, because that's a shitty meme to spread.
it all kind of reminds me of this interview that pitchfork just did with stephen malkmus where they talk a lot about getting older and how that changes so much of how you interact with the music scene/world etc.i'm really interested in that process and i guess already that's been part of me letting go of this idea of "guilty pleasures," of liking anything apologetically or as a joke instead of just fucking liking it for its own sake. the sooner you can get into that territory the better and it's really regressive to pretend otherwise. like you said, it undermines your reasons for liking something, but also like in the case with animal collective, the thing you like as well

Erin Tustin said...

this has been bugging me all night, I forgot to point out that this is also the way that brian nicholson made me feel when I met him in highschool. HAHA

but thanks laura, I think you're right about irony. I think that what HRO doesn't get is that people can grow up and actually like things because they do. Now his thing seems to be talking about how it is now the in thing to be normal instead of "alt" or whatever buzz term he uses. Come on, fuck you, my whole life I have been told it is lame to participate in various subculture that is actually just part of consumerism, don't fucking take being normal away from me and make it ironic. goddamn!

Brian said...

There's an interview with the Hipster Runoff dude at the Village Voice website, where he sort of explains himself, but still seems kind of distant from how I, and all my closest friends, live their lives. You can read it if you want to: http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-02-04/music/hipster-runoff-explained-maybe/

Erin Tustin said...

that link didn't work for me, but this is one I found, assuming its the same one http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-02-04/music/hipster-runoff-explained-maybe/

Erin Tustin said...

yeah apparently your comments just hate posting the full url and making me look like an asshole

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