worst. episode. ever. 



Maybe it wasn't the worst episode ever; some parts of it did make me laugh. I'm referring to Sunday night's episode of The Simpsons. In the episode, the Simpson family travels to China so that Marge's sister, Selma, can adopt a Chinese baby. The Chinese government, however, will not let Selma adopt the baby because she isn't married (I'm not sure how accurate that is--I can't imagine that the PRC government would care if a single person wanted to adopt a baby), so Homer has to pose as Selma's husband while they are in China. Actually, I'm chuckling a bit right now because the premise itself is rather humorous. But I don't think the Chinese would have enjoyed the episode, especially the part where Homer is viewing Chairman Mao's reposed corpse, saying something like, "He looks just like a sleeping angel, yes, you do... a sweet, little sleeping angel who killed 50 million people." Don't get me wrong. I'm no fan of Mao, but the Chinese seem to love him. It might be something like a cartoon in which someone digs up the corpse of George Washington and dances the waltz with him.

The episode seemed to mostly be poking fun at the communist regime, with its ridiculous bureaucracy and overly controlling tendencies. But it seemed a little disrespectful. Again, don't get me wrong. I'm all for a little irreverance, but I guess my major problem with it was that it might proliferate the negative attitude most Americans have of China. And that would be a bad thing. Then again, it was just a Simpsons episode, and I suppose most people aren't going to let it effect their world-view. Something from the episode that did make me laugh out loud, though: a plaque at Tian'an Men Square that read, "Tian'an Men Square. On this site in 1989, NOTHING HAPPENED."  

Posted: Tue - March 15, 2005 at 01:26 PM           |

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