Am I Bo Bice? Yes, I am! Well played, worthy adversary!

[vovat]

Hey, it was yet another Simpsons episode with three out-of-continuity segments and a flimsy framing story! They do a lot of these nowadays, and it's always fun to see how they manage to work established characters into the various parodies and period pieces, but such episodes generally aren't favorites of mine. Still, they usually have their moments. As for the specific segments this time, the Count of Monte Cristo story was probably the best overall. Moe living in the doorway was a well-executed joke, and I liked some of Lenny and Carl's lines. It's interesting how so many of these recent fantasy episodes use Moe as Homer's adversary. Lisa's story was largely forgettable, but I did like Milhouse's various means of taking revenge on everyone in the school. And when he said "prevenge," that MUST have been a They Might Be Giants reference, right? :P The third one was pretty funny, although the Batman spoofery has kind of been done to death. I did enjoy Snake's lame puns and Krusty's criticism, though. So overall, the episode was decent enough, but not great. What was great was the seemingly random dedication to everyone who died in the Star Wars films.

Regarding Family Guy, it's cool that they brought back the Brian/Stewie roadtrip concept, since those episodes have been quite cleverly done in the past, and this one was no different. Brian and Stewie's interactions are often the best in the show, although I think Adam West might have actually had the funniest lines this time around. I originally thought the subplot would be lame (Hey, a character lost his driver's license! Really original stuff there!), but I did like the way in which Peter gained newfound respect for Meg.

And finally, American Dad. (I gave up on King of the Hill years ago, so I used the time in which that episode was on to finish the survey in my last post.) I appreciate how the show can take on actual issues facing the county (in this case, illegal immigrants) without getting preachy. The subplot, with Steve and Roger in competing bands, was also pretty good, although a bit undeveloped.

Because he apparently doesn't already have enough on his plate, Seth MacFarlane has also created a third show, and it looks dumb. Of course, Fox DOES have an uncanny knack for picking out the worst jokes when promoting something, so it might not necessarily be as bad as it looks. Still, though, I get the idea that, after succeeding with his two animated shows, Seth has gotten the impression that he can do no wrong, and Fox is willing to indulge him.

Oh, and am I the only one who finds Burger King's "I'm a MAN, so give me MAN food, like the Texas Double Whopper!" commercials irritating? I guess I have a general distaste for exacerbation of gender differences, especially when such differences don't actually exist. I haven't really noticed eating habits to be particularly divided among gender lines. Well, aside from women tending to like chocolate more than men do, but that's partially a chemical thing, isn't it?

Comments

[l8erngr8er.livejournal.com]

That Burger King commercial is mad macho. Didn't you just want one of those King X-Box games so bad?

BTW, I'm sure you've mentioned it before, and it's my bad for not remembering at that rate, but I was wondering why you disliked King of the Hill.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

KotH had its moments, but I found a lot of the episodes kind of oddly paced and not very funny.

I don't think the Burger King X-Box games were such a bad idea, although I'm not sure why they chose the X-Box. Some kind of deal with Microsoft, I'm sure.

[arfies.livejournal.com]

Burger King has gotten really weird with their commercials lately. There was the Superbowl Busby Berkeley-like burger-stacking with the chorus girls, the creepy always-smiling King showing up to haunt people, and now they've re-appropriated Helen Reddy's classic '70s hit, "I Am Woman (Hear Me Roar) that asserted women that they did, indeed, have lives out of the kitchen, for a bunch of growling construction workers pulling chains, punching each other, flexing their muscles, grunting, etc. while cheerleaders are behind them, in order to sell burgers.

Granted, it's really funny, amusing, and clever how it plays off the stereotypes, and there are many more problems to deal with in our society than worrying about a fast food commercial, but still. I like that song and what it stands for. Don't ruin it!

Read the comments. They are fascinating in how different people react to it, attack each other's opinions, etc., give plenty of ad hominem attacks like "lol man hater much go back to your feminist rally lesbian" and "Looks like alongside the complaining women we have some "white knight" & faggy men bitching. you whiners can put up your own commercial for Salad Queen. I AM MAN!!!" and on the other side of the coin, "Lyrics should be: "I'm a guy, I'm a hungry, arrogant and stupid. Yes, I'm a dickhead!"" Some people are analyzing it for their masculinities studies and identifying the stereotypes. I find the comments themselves interesting too.

Some responses of my own:

A) This is not "man food." I'd eat it.

B) I'm way more filled up when I eat at a restaurant than I ever was at a Burger King.

C) AHH!! Attack of the in-your-face gender roles! What, are we back in the fifties again? Was no progress made? Are women not allowed to be anything but cheerleaders, and are men not allowed to be anything besides "manly" muscled construction workers throwing a minivan off a bridge?

D) Some may attack me for being too analytical. Sorry. I like asking questions (darn you, ARQ!) But as a Comm Media major, this is the kind of field I'm going into. Millions of dollars are spent on a commercial like this one, and every single aspect of it is planned. The casting of the particular actors that looked like "real-life men," the message it's sending of "you're not a REAL MAN if you don't eat at Burger King!" Heavy stuff.

E) I like Wendy's better anyway. They have good, hot, *MEATY* chili. And since when have burgers actually been "real beef," as this ad claims?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Read the comments.

What comments?

Eh, I think the original Helen Reddy song is annoying, and I'm kind of amazed that Burger King was able to make it MORE annoying. I agree with most of the rest of what you said, though. To reply to a few individual points:

A) I always think it's a little weird when commercials essentially insist that their product is only for a certain group, thereby alienating potential customers. While not quite as in-your-face, there are some products that are generally only shown being used by women (and no, I'm not thinking of tampons or Lady Speed Stick, but rather stuff like Special K cereal). And "just for kids" is yet another issue. I remember advertising campaigns for both Frosted Flakes and Cinnamon Toast Crunch that tried to go against the idea that the cereals were just for kids, by basically saying, "Hey, adults can eat these, too!"

D) I guess for me, it isn't just this one commercial, but that there's a lot of stuff like it in the media. (Hey, what about Spike TV?) The Burger King commercial is the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. Oh, and I recently sold my old copy of Asking the Right Questions. {g}

E) While I tend to like burgers at places like Fuddrucker's and Ruby Tuesday, I usually stick with chicken at fast food places. Burger King has the Tendercrisp, which I really like. At Wendy's, I used to like the Chicken Breast Fillet, but they totally changed it for some reason, and now it's not that good. On the other hand, as someone who doesn't much like potatoes, I appreciate Wendy's offering things other than fries with their combo meals.

And since when have burgers actually been "real beef," as this ad claims?

Well, I'm sure they're genuine BOVINE. Whether or not they're BEEF is anyone's guess.

[arfies.livejournal.com]

The comments on the commercial's YouTube page.

Aw, I like Helen Reddy... go "Pete's Dragon!"

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, personally, I like Dave Barry's assessment of "I Am Woman": "Don't get me wrong: I am all for gender equality. That's why I feel that if a woman sings a song that has lyrics such as 'See me standing toe to toe' and 'I'm still an embryo with a long, long way to go,' she should be criticized just as a man would."

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Technically, there HAVE been differences shown between the foods men and women tend to have cravings for-- women tend to crave sweets and men tend to crave meat. Unless of course the woman is pregnant, in which case hamburgers suddenly become the greatest food in the world. Like you said, it is a chemical thing.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, I seem to mostly crave bread and cheese, which I guess makes me a mouse or something. {g}

Speaking of which, where does the stereotype that mice like cheese come from, anyway? As far as I know, they much prefer grain.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I was actually thinking about that recently, because we had mice--we used peanut butter on bits of pretzel, but I'd found this moldy cheese in the fridge and wondered if that would be good to use so as not to let it go to waste. Then I wondered if trapping mice was just what people used to do with their moldy cheese.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think my mom used to bait our traps with peanut butter. I was wondering why anyone would use cheese, when that's more expensive than a lot of the stuff mice actually prefer. But your theory about wanting to get rid of the moldy stuff is a good one.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the fantasy Simpsons episodes, but I've gotten tired of the Simpsons in general. They're trying to hard to copy off of the success from Family Guy. I rather liked the first ten seasons better, before they were competing with other animated shows and copied ideas from them.

And for the record, I can't live without chocolate (I really can't) but hamburgers are gross to me--I'm guy, so go figure.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

According to an interview I read recently, Matt Groening has specifically denied the Simpsons staff copying Family Guy, and doesn't think it works in the other direction, either. I do think the basic idea for FG was kind of a Simpsons rip-off, but the show has done enough to make itself different over the years. I think The Simpsons is probably more guilty of copying itself than of taking ideas from other animated shows.

I agree that the show isn't as good as it used to be, but I don't think it's gone as far down the tubes as a lot of people seem to.