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Tag Archives: Essays
A Brief History of Marge Simpson Versus Washington
You may think it’s a sign of our perpetually insane times that a member of the Trump administration somehow managed to kick up a feud with a cartoon character. Nevertheless, Trump’s Senior Legal Adviser, Jenna Ellis, recently tweeted that Democratic VP candidate Kamala Harris “sounds like Marge Simpson.” This prompted Marge, ever the consummate (albeit imaginary) professional, to issue a polite but cutting response, criticizing Ellis for resorting to name-calling, something she discourages in her young children, and for disrespecting suburban housewives.
That might seem like the latest bizarre cut from the never-ending “greatest hits” of 2020. But The Simpsons, and Marge in particular, have long found themselves entangled with real life political figures, most of whom, like Ellis, underestimated just who they were messing with.
Saying Farewell to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
It might surprise you to know that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is still on the air. The show (which ends its seven-season run this week) debuted in 2013, one of the first new releases from the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the 2012 megahit The Avengers. Superhero fans, and the public writ large, were champing at the bit to spend more time in that world. They also wanted to spend more time with Phil Coulson, the workaday agent who’d become the connective tissue for Phase 1 of the MCU.
Back to the Future, E.T., and the Wonder of a Non-Violent Blockbuster
The modern blockbuster is built on combat. No matter what emotional depths our heroes may uncover — no matter the melodrama, deconstruction, or social commentary that emerges in their wake — there had damn well better be enough eye-popping fisticuffs to justify tugging on the producers’ purse strings.
But there’s a model, in movies like Back to the Future, Mary Poppins, and E.T., for exciting, special effects-heavy films that don’t rely on high-powered scuffles to create their spectacle and awe. Big problems that must be solved, eye-catching showcases, and great escapes can all provide a means for cinema’s auteurs to wow audiences along a different dimension. In the process, these types of movies provide an alternative to the monotony of the standard third-act action sequence and call for more imagination than the usual collision of fists and firepower.
Posted in Classic Films, Movies
Tagged Back to the Future, Blockbusters, E.T., Essays, Mary Poppins
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The Forgotten Arc of Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman
The mild-mannered, middle-aged dad becomes a cold, remorseless killer. The put-upon chemistry teacher evolves into a vicious drug lord. As series creator Vince Gilligan famously put it, Mr. Chips turns into Scarface.
That transformation is the backbone of Breaking Bad and one of the most convincing and compelling character shifts in television history. With that, Walter White understandably takes up a lot of oxygen in discussions of the show. And yet, focusing on the slow, disquieting arrival of Heisenberg within the broader trajectory of the show ignores how it’s only one half of the grand irony and reversal at the core of the series.
Posted in Other Prestige Dramas, Television
Tagged Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad, Essays, Jesse Pinkman, Vince Gilligan, Walter White
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The Case for the White Walkers Winning the Game of Thrones
Predictions are a fool’s game, particularly for a show as resolutely shocking and twist-heavy as Game of Thrones. But discussions of what a show ought to do, how it might pay tribute to everything it’s shown to the series’ devotees to the point of its final season, and reach a conclusion as earned as it is satisfying, is a separate matter. As the countdown to the show’s final season and its conclusion begins in earnest, both of which have been met with no shortage of speculation, the answer to that question becomes as clear as it is startling upon realization. The White Walkers should win.
Posted in Game of Thrones, Television
Tagged Essays, Game of Thrones Season 8, White
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The Matrix Was Prescient About the Online World, But Also the Real World
There’s a tension at the heart of The Matrix. The film frames its machine-forged digital ecosystem as a prison, as a lie intended to keep humanity docile. It’s the work of an authority that means to tame us. But the Matrix itself is also a world of unlimited possibility, one where you can look cooler than the real world would ever allow, do what no flesh-and-blood human ever could, and see and feel and experience things that simply aren’t possible outside of this virtual space. The film quickly establishes a tug-of-war between the true but meager subsistence the real world offers and the blinding but comforting falsehood of the world made out of ones and zeroes.
20 Years Later, The Sopranos Is the New American Tragedy
Send ‘em home happy. If you spend season after season, year after year with a show and a cast of characters, you want their final notes to be pleasant ones. As viewers, we’ve also invested in them. We’ve committed to their journeys by that point. To have them end in pain or tears or frustration would be too much after all of that. And most series, no matter how dark or cynical they may be, oblige their audiences on that account.
In the 20 years since The Sopranos first took to the airwaves, scores of shows followed in its footsteps, imitating its dark-hearted approach, novelistic bent, and antihero bona fides. In the ensuing two decades, television’s level of moral complexity rose; the chances to see protagonists make ethically questionable choices soared, and examinations of the grim underbelly of everything that TV once made bright and clean became legion and fashionable. But for all the titans who emerged in Tony Soprano’s (James Gandolfini) wake, few if any have had the stick-to-your-guns conviction to finish their runs on a note so bleak, a loss so complete, or an ending of such unmitigated tragedy.
Posted in Other Prestige Dramas, Television
Tagged Essays, HBO, The Sopranos, Tony Soprano, Tragedy
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Stan Lee Was the Icon We Needed Him to Be
The Stan Lee moment that stands out to me isn’t from one of his many famed cameos, or his legendary backpage columns, or his colorful promotional appearances. It’s from a short-lived television show called Who Wants To Be A Superhero? Stan was the master of ceremonies on the series, an effort to tap into the waning days of the reality T.V. show craze. Each week, a coterie of costume-clad hopefuls would compete to have the characters they created and cosplayed enshrined in a comic book by Stan “The Man” himself.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Finds Its Unsuspecting Heart with Kids
The most shocking thing from the season 12 finale of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia wasn’t that Dennis Reynolds, the venerable instigator of The Gang, seemed poised to leave Paddy’s Pub, and with it the show, forever. It was why he left.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Dennis Reynolds, Essays, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
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Can Matt Groening Strike Gold for a Third Time with Disenchantment?
If all Matt Groening had ever done was create The Simpsons, one of the greatest television shows of all time, it would still have earned him a place in the pantheon of TV’s legendary creators. If all he had ever done was give life to Futurama, the cult classic sci-fi comedy that simply refuses to die, he would still have a claim to fame and have left an indelible mark on the small screen. But now Groening is about to unleash his newest creation, Disenchantment, another adult animated comedy, whose success or failure will determine whether Groening can carve out a place for this new series, distinguish it from its predecessors, and complete the TV show hat trick.
Posted in Other Animated Shows, Television
Tagged Disenchantment, Essays, Futurama, Matt Groening, The Simpsons
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