The Almighty Letdown

After watching The Simpsons for years, fans’ excitement for the movie keeps growing until the release date. Fans desire their favorite television shows to make a movie, which finally happens for the fans of The Simpsons in 2007. Fans exit the theater with mixed emotions, some (usually the newer fans) love the movie, meanwhile, others (usually the ones who know the earlier episodes) leave feeling disappointed and let down. The movie becomes a serious letdown for many fans. They expect a fantastic, original movie. Instead, the writers recycle plotlines and jokes from previous episodes and make The Simpsons Movie feel like déjà vu.

The Simpsons gained their popularity early in the series, with its popularity continuously growing as the series grew longer. The series uses celebrities to attract viewers and provide familiarity to newer viewers, using well known, easily recognizable celebrities. It gained popularity because of the lack of boundaries from the writers. Even now, the writers cover all topics, even the offensive topics. The characters “pushed all kinds of buttons that few real people could get away with” (ABC News). They push stereotypes, make fun of serious topics, but they explore these topics using a real-like family: the Simpson family. They continue to make jokes to entertain even the younger audience, making their show a huge success.

My brother, Josh, thoroughly loves the movie. He enjoys it for many of the reasons that The Simpsons Movie receives criticism. Josh recalls the movie as completely original, although “the last time [I] watched the movie was a while ago.” He recalls how a lot of the plot lines from the movie related to the episodes, but he believes that they become new again because the “characters are in completely different situations.” Although he wouldn’t want much changed about The Simpsons Movie, he wishes that more of the characters escaped with the Simpsons family. The characters; interactions with each other make the movie more interesting, so the fact that a lot of the characters seemed to go missing throughout the movie, made it less interesting to watch and made the jokes less effective.

The satire uses these offensive topics to entertain their viewers, but the movie, lacking many of the shows’ entertaining elements, makes those offensive comments obvious. The Simpsons Movie follows the family up to Alaska, thus, characters like Moe, Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, Krusty the Clown, Sideshow Bob, Flanders, and Barney, who the fans love, receive very little screen time. The writers, wanting to keep each character the same as the fans already know them as, find themselves unable to make as many jokes because of lack of supporting characters. One reviewer on IMDb writes that all of the favorite supporting characters “have about a line and that's it…But, the most disappointing fact was the jokes. They couldn't be cheaper and more harmless. Missing the ambiguousness and depth of the jokes in the TV-version, it seems as they have only been designed for a very young audience. The humor reminded me a lot of the one from movies like Ice Age.” The jokes that people catch tend to be the ones about race, “’Black’s the worst color!’ ‘I’ve heard that a lot,’” and Homer saying “Why does everything I whip run away from me?” when trying to get back to his family that ran away from him. Those jokes, that normally go relatively unnoticed, stick out in the movie due to the lack of depth in the other jokes. The writers lose their luster for The Simpsons Movie, even when all eleven of the usual writers collaborate.

The writers attempt using celebrities to make the movie more interesting, but little comes out of the celebrities they use. At the beginning, they introduce the movie (after the episode of Itchy and Scratchy) with a concert from Green Day. The band tries to talk about the pollution of their lake, only for the lake to kill them. They introduce the movie poorly but effectively introduce the main plotline of the movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger acts as the president of the United States and leads Springfield to the main problems of the movie: being trapped under a dome and detonation. To make those decisions, he never looks at the options given to him, a completely unrealistic option for someone with so much power. He uses his power and ends up choosing to kill off the city of Springfield, making a change from the flood and instead, not letting anyone survive. Viewers of all ages recognize his name, even if they never know who Arnold Schwarzenegger really is. Tom Hanks makes a commercial in the movie, broadcasting that the United States Government plans on making a new canyon. He states that “it is nowhere near where anything is or ever has been,” but because of the location, the Simpson family knows they plan to blow up Springfield. These celebrity appearances attract more people to the movie, but they use their characters in ways where they don’t build much to the plot.

The writers of The Simpsons Movie also reuse many of the plot lines that they used for previous episodes. The writers make small changes to the plot lines, hoping the recycled ideas would go unnoticed. They allude to Snow White during one of the scenes in Alaska, like they alluded to The Little Mermaid in an earlier episode. They exile the family from Springfield, like in the episode “Zombie Simpsons.” Only in the movie, the rest of the town stays in Springfield. They reuse the idea of a similar looking family, which they already used multiple times in previous TV episodes. They even reused the animal with an unusual number of eyes! Homer used to have a fish with three eyes in some of the TV episodes, in the movie, they made a squirrel with “a thousand eyes.” They use the same ideas as in majority of the episodes, making the movie feel like a strung-out episode. They use the usual tension between Homer and Marge, Homer and Bart, and Homer and Flanders, along with Nelson’s laugh, and Maggie suddenly doing something completely unexpected of a baby (in this case dropping a boulder on someone’s head). The writers lack originality and reuse plots.

When the writers use new ideas for The Simpsons Movie, they tend to die out. They make Homer find a pig, which Homer dubs “spider pig,” which becomes a favorite for many younger fans. As soon as Homer drops the silo of pig crap in the lake, spider pig seems to vanish. They use the pig as an excuse for Homer to pollute the lake, although he never needed a pig to find something to pollute the lake with. They make Lisa fall in love with Colin, who seems almost exactly like her, but when they leave Springfield, Lisa forget about Colin, only remembering him once death seems inevitable back in Springfield. The writers use plots completely uncharacteristic of the characters. Homer and Bart make up for a small part of the movie, working together to throw the bomb out of the dome. While that resolution between the pair lasts for only a short time, the pair never got along well in the past, so it makes viewers wonder why a bomb makes them get along for once.

Compared to the well-known episodes of The Simpsons, the movie lacks originality. The authors depend, instead, on previous ideas. The genius the show became known for disappears from the movie. The TV show becomes more entertaining than the movie, and fans can even watch the TV show for free! The movie proves unworthy of the money needed to see it.

The writers of The Simpsons Movie disappoint their fans by reusing the same plot points as they already used, not using some of the favorite character of the fans, thus making the movie drag on. The few ideas they used to try to make the movie better, died out, making the movie less interesting. The long wait for The Simpsons Movie ended up leaving most completely disappointed in the movie.

Works Cited

Carlson, Josh D. Personal interview. 17 Feb. 2017.

Ebert, Roger. "The Simpsons Movie." RogerEbert.com. N.p., 25 July 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

Edelstein, David. "'Simpsons Movie': Bigger, Longer, Underwhelming." NPR. NPR, 27 July 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

"IMDb - The Simpsons Movie." IMDb. N.p., 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2017. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462538/reviews?start=0>.

Nathan, Ian. "The Simpsons Movie Review." Empire Online. Empire, 11 Apr. 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

News, ABC. "How 'The Simpsons' Has Stayed on Top." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

Scott, A. O. "We'll Always Have Springfield." New York Times. N.p., 27 July 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

The Search for the Perfect Review Topic

Things I Want:

• Time to cook
• Lots of time to sleep, every night
• A boss that makes sense when he talks
• To not have to work out to keep in shape
• Siblings that are closer to my age
• To be done with school
• Free college after I’m done with HS/PSEO

The Jury’s Still Out:

• Whether I have an attention disorder or just don’t bother to pay attention
• What I think of the Kardashians
• If I like cats or not
• If I like black coffee for the taste or the ease (not having to mix it or wait as long)
• Why I can’t ever stay awake when watching something on the TV but can on any other device

My Media and My Obsessions:

• Netflix/TV shows 
• El internado
• Gossip girl
• Scandal
• Friends
• The Flash
• Supergirl
• Jane the Virgin

• Movies
• The little princess
• Chalet Girl
• Hush
• High strung

• Snapchat
• Instagram
• Spanish
• Coffee
• Artists
• Adele
• Zayn
• Jon Bellion
• G-Easy

Things That Bother Me:

• Substitute teachers (Arns-Radai) who act like they the teacher whenever they are there. Arns-Radai goes as far as to make her own lesson plans, trying to make everyone participate in class in things that she shouldn’t oversee
• People who don’t know when to shut up (when I put earbuds in and am trying to do homework, you shouldn’t try to have a conversation with me, I’m busy)
• Kids who skip class at the HS, you are there for a reason and if you need an escort to each of your classes, you are doing something wrong. Like, why are you even here?
• People who walk super slow when they know there are people behind them. Then there are people who seem to try to not let you get past them, especially when they are walking in a big group.
• People vaping or smoking in general
• The Fault in our Stars (more so how everyone was so obsessed with it)

Why do I love Spanish so much when the people around me seem to be so negative about Spanish/leaning foreign languages?

            My mom started trying to teach my brother and I Spanish when we were probably in kindergarten. At that time, I hated learning Spanish. We had a book that we would “learn” from, but we never did any of it consistently, so all I ended up knowing was numbers and a few colors. Once I got into middle school, we had to start a language, and I chose to do Spanish the whole year, rather than try three languages throughout the year. I didn’t like the first quarter. I didn’t try, I thought that it was stupid, like a lot of the people around me do now. Then, we started learning by listening to songs, and I started to get it. I started to love the language and how I could actually communicate (even if it was only things like asking what someone’s phone number was)! I think that was when I realized how much I loved the language. Now, I’ve been in Spanish for the past six years and I love listening to the music, watching TV shows in Spanish (my current obsession is El Internado). I can’t imagine not having continued with the language for so long. I think that so many of the people that I am around never give the languages enough of a chance. As soon as they think it is hard, they give up. They never put in any effort to get better, only doing the bare minimum while talking in class or doing different things to help them grow in the language. Leaning a language takes effort, and so many people see that effort as negative because of the time it requires, but I love it.

Nancy Theis: The High School Superhero

Walking through the halls of a new school scares a lot of people, especially when it means the beginning of their first year of high school. A smiling, welcoming face helps anyone in such a terrifying situation. High schoolers grow accustomed to the adults around them, taking their help for granted. Surprising some of the students, these adults chose to work in the high school, to surround themselves with kids, and their work involves more than just sitting at their desks. They help students with their sports and clubs, choosing their colleges, keeping up their grades, interacting with the rest of the student body, and keeping the school afloat. All those adults impact those students in unimaginable ways. They all have stories that led them to work in a high school, stories that define them.

Walking into the Prior Lake High School, I worried about everything: finding my classes, what teachers would be like, where I would sit for lunch, having enough time in between classes. I heard someone call my name as I walk past the activities office. I look over to see a small woman with graying hair and a permanent smile on her face, Nancy Theis. I remember her from elementary school, helping me through the death of my brother. When I saw her, knowing she remembered me from nearly ten years earlier, I knew that she makes a difference in so many lives. Her smiling face brings happiness and reminds me that no matter how difficult, things get easier. Nancy made me confident on my first day of high school when I felt that everything would go wrong. Nancy makes her life goal helping the kids around her. Nancy helps anyone she encounters with her positivity and desire to help others.

Nancy Theis, one of seven children, surrounds herself with children. Her parents led her to go after her dreams. When she found herself in a job that felt unfulfilling, despite how much she loved it, she knew she needed to make a change. She wanted to make a difference in her job, helping people as much as she could and surrounding her with something she loved: kids. The change scared her, but she knew, that she needed to take that leap and feel like she makes a difference in her job. The support she always felt from her parents helped her to take that risk.

That huge change became the biggest lesson she learned throughout her career. Nancy started working as a project administrator in the construction field and ended up changing her career to working in the Prior Lake school district, helping kids to the best of her ability. At first, she worked as a paraprofessional and now as an admin’s assistant to the director and assistant directors of activities. Nancy made a huge career change and just needed faith it would work out and that she could fulfill her goals in that job.

Nancy’s goals for work include staying connected with the kids. She wants to “make them feel that they can succeed at matter what it is that they want to do, that they will succeed.” She believes that they need the motivation to keep at it, to achieve their goals. Nancy helps those kids build their self-confidence so that they achieve their goals by themselves. She knows that not all kids feel completely comfortable asking for help, and she wants to make them feel comfortable enough to talk to her and the rest of her coworkers. Nancy loves her job because of the impact she makes on kids’ lives. When they walk into the office, she loves helping them.

Nancy always remembers when kids walk into her office, wanting to get involved with some of the activities around the school. Some of the kids show little to no interest in athletics, but Nancy loves helping to get those kids involved in the activities around the school: intramural sports and clubs. She loves getting the kids involved in something that they feel comfortable with, and she knows that she helps those kids feel more comfortable in the school. Nancy loves going to work and “seeing kids in their elements, academics, athletics, arts, clubs, etc. Whatever they chose to do.” Those kids motivate her and they remind her of her love for her job and make her realize she would never want to change anything about her career and the choices she made to get into her job.

Nancy loves going to her job every day. She sees every day as a good day because of the people she helps in her job and the people she works with. Her coworkers, the director and assistant directors of activities, Russ Reetz and Beth Fuller, influence her daily. Nancy loves how they support her in what she does and how she does her job. Their passion for their jobs helps her daily. Nancy and her coworkers love helping the kids at the high school and they make every day easier for them.

Nancy loves helping kids in her job at the high school, but before that, she worked as a paraprofessional at Jeffers Pond, the elementary school that I happened to attend. I first met her in first grade, where she helped in my class. That year, my older brother committed suicide and Nancy helped me get through such a tough time. Whenever I cried in class, which happened a lot, she brought me out into the commons and calmed me down. Nancy sat and talked to me, making sure that I felt better and that I realized life goes on. It hurt then, but I knew I would feel better, knowing that he was in a better place. When I got behind on my schoolwork, she brought me out into the hall and worked with me, one-on-one, making sure that I learned all the material. Nancy worried about my well-being and my education. She helped me and I know that she helps everyone that she gets the opportunity to help.

Although Nancy loves her job, if she could change something about her past, she would. Nancy never went to college, but she if she went to school past high school, she would have gone into aviation. Her family consists of pilots: her father, her brother-in-law, and her nephew. She loves flying, no matter what type of plane, big, small, acrobatic. Her brother-in-law flies an acrobatic airplane, and she loves the feeling of flying in his plane. She will always remember the thrill of spinning in circles, looking at the world upside down. She loved seeing the world in a completely different perspective. Even if Nancy chose to go into aviation, her passion for helping others would drive her through her career, keep her working hard, and help her make a difference in the lives of others.

Nancy Theis helps people in every aspect of her life. Kids at the high school never realize how much she wants to help them, how much her ability to help them drives her daily to work her hardest. She loves interacting with the kids and their parents and gets excited to help them get the best possible experience from high school. Nancy helps kids daily, even when they take her helping them for granted. Nancy’s love for her job keeps her helping all the people at the high school, even if they never notice how much she really helps them.