Today in Porn, "The goggles! They do nothing! My eyes!" Edition

SIGH. this news about Marge Simpson appearing in Playboy is depressing enough that I don’t really have much to say, except yeah, Warming Glow is right on this one: “But the Internet trumped Playboy in a big way here. Go ahead, Google “Marge Simpson naked” or “Simpsons porn.” You will find a vast and disturbing tableau…” [NOTA BENE: He’s being rhetorical there. Or at least I am. Please please please don’t actually Google “Marge Simpson naked.”] I don’t usually include links to profanity on this here blog, but it’s kind of hard not to feel like this guy.

Comments

  1. Original Interlocutor, Ex-World's Biggest Simpsons Fan says

    "This whole thing makes me ill. I'm going to get a large glass of scotch now. I'm not sure whether I'm going to drink it or pour it in my eyes…"

    No disagreement here. I feel…kinda violated. The truly sad thing is that the show is actually having a terrific season – I've laughed more during one episode than I have perhaps in the last 6-7 seasons combined. But no doubt this sad concession to the basest denominator will filter its way into the writing sooner or later…

    There's really no childhood left anywhere on earth, is there?

  2. OI, Matthew

    (A Strunky-Whitey point first: you probably want to say "World's Biggest Ex-Simpson Fan" or "No Longer the World's Biggest…" etc.
    Otherwise, it makes you sound a tad bit Manichean or at least Cartesian…).

    But I wonder at the wonder of this issue, the Simpsons go porn: given the lucrative business or porntoons out there.

    Is it because the porntoon has gone "mainstream" – i.e. Hefner (is there a double irony there or only one? Hard to tell.)? Or is it because The Simpsons producers' had crossed the unspoken line by giving official sanction to the porntoon? Or is it because we were all so surpised – that really, in its heart of hearts, The Simpsons was really a darn innocent cartoon written by a really darn good – albeit edgy – bunch of writers?

    Just wondering.

    JOB

  3. Matthew Lickona says

    Lucrative? How is it lucrative when Google Images will give it to you for free?
    But yes, I'll argue that The Simpsons, while maybe not innocent, has always been good. That is, like all effective satire, it has worked from a strong moral center, even as it depicts moral free-fall. I'll even argue that often as not, Marge has been the personification of that center.
    To me, this says that the Powers Behind the Simpsons simply no longer have a compass.

  4. notrelatedtoted says

    I see this as more of a commentary on Playboy, than on the Simpsons.

    I haven't watched the Simpsons in years, but I even wonder if there's a bit of "wink,wink-nudge,nudge" going on here.

  5. Matthew,

    Well, lucrative for someone – unless Adam Smith's rules of engagement are suspended on the Inet. (The assumption, I think, is that you give 'em the freebees to get them coming back to pay for it, no? Like free shots of Plum Brandy at the local juice store….)

    NT,

    That was my assumption – in fact, haven't they had Hefner on as a guest star? Although there's got to be a money trail, too which indicates, as Matthew says, the moral compass is spinning wildly for the potential profits….

    JOB

  6. JOB: Dude, did you just give me style pointers? Ouchie.

    NRT: Yep, I think you are onto something. Playboy is hoary and staid – according to the NewMedia standard – so they figure they'll hitch their wagon to something that is ever fresh and hip? Except The Simpsons are kinda, I dunno, 1999 (wasn't that when Hef was on?). So relevance is not, perhaps, the prize.

    Matthew: Not sure they ever had much of a moral compass. I'm thinking this is a (delayed) rejoinder to Pinsky's "The Gospel According to the Simpsons" proclaiming the show essentially pro-family, pro-bourgeois-values.

  7. OI,

    My apologies. I regretted it the moment I put it out there.

    I'm in the midst of grading students' papers and my mind has been in a sort of Strunk & White/ Funk and Wagnalls default mode.

    Mea culpa.

    Feel free to daisy-cutter the Snide Room in my Bunker of Arrogance with the OED – complete edition ….hardback even! I deserve it.

    JOB

  8. JOB, all is forgiven. I figure my week's not really off to much of a start if I haven't consumed at least a small slice of humble pie. Even better when it's a professional (and sound) bit of criticism.

    Your students are no doubt grateful to have such a qualified guide to the intricacies of Standard Written English.

  9. notrelatedtoted says

    My point was that in lending the image to Playboy's cover, I'm wondering if Groening, et al. aren't subtly poking fun at Playboy.

  10. Her body on the cover looks completely photo shopped. Compare the photos.

  11. Matthew Lickona says

    Ha!

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