An hour and a half of simpsons for the summer break

After 400 television episodes comes the first motion picture

The whole simpsons family moves away from the sofa and goes to the cinema to see their flick for themselves. Life in springfield takes place behind a clouded screen and, of course, you can find out a lot about homer co, as always, you can learn a lot about the fames and peculiarities of our time and the media.

Homer simpson has been famous for a long time, in 2003 the british voted him the "greatest american of all time" (ahead of abraham lincoln and martin luther king by a wide margin). He and his family live in springfield, a city that is located somewhere (or rather nowhere) in the usa and looks like many other american cities with its hubschen nuclear power plant, houses, traffic jams, mountains and people.

The simpsons are a family at the bottom of the american middle class. Homer simpson is not only a couch potato as yellow as you can imagine, he is also, in his egocentric way, the last yellow philosopher of the media age. He can never grasp life better than on the couch in front of his tv, but unfortunately life allows this situation far too seldom.

Twenty years ago, when matt groening was asked to create an animated series for the tracy ullman show, no one could have foreseen that these yellow characters would go on to make television history, appearing in over 400 episodes.

Absurd everyday life

The simpson family is held together by a desire for normality in absurd everyday life that is as romantic as it is mundane. Marge is anxious to move her husband from the sofa at least once in a while. But very often they spend time together with their children in front of the tv screen to get a closer look at the world. No wonder the kids love to watch the ultra-brutal "itchy and scratchy show" a version of tom and jerry in the simpsons universe.

Perhaps it’s a wonder that lisa, the oldest daughter, is so completely out of character: not only is she above-average in intelligence, vegetarian and fighting global warming, she’s also a gifted jazz saxophonist. Bart, on the other hand, stands out as a little rebel who ultimately suffers because his father doesn’t care enough about him. You can really imagine how matt groening drew his yellow alter ego into this character, not for nothing he named homer after his biological father. So now the family comes to the movie and finally we have more than just a scant half hour to watch them struggle unsuccessfully to live together quietly. Homer naturally prefers to spend his time in front of the tv in peace, but he gets in his own way.

A dome over springfield

He did almost everything right – maybe he should have loved his son half as much as he loved the pig – if it hadn’t been for that strange hysteria against pollution in springfield and if it hadn’t been for that phone call about the free donuts, just at the moment when he actually wanted to dispose of the whole pig’s guts properly.

But this is how he is identified as the culprit who actually broke the camel’s back in springfield. With far-reaching consequences: russ cargill, chairman of the environmental protection agency (epa), wants to make an example in springfield, how else could he distinguish himself as the right man for the job?? Finally, he applied to the president with his own slogan: "sir, why should i take this job at the head of the least successful agency in the u.S.?? I am a rich man who wants to give something back. Not the money, but something."Thus he gets the desired post from the man who in the simpsons reality is already president of the united states: arnold schwarzenegger.

As soon as cargill is appointed chairman, the president gives him far-reaching powers and isolates the entire city of springfield from the outside world by means of a huge glass dome.

Once the dome is erected over the helpless inhabitants of springfield, cargill addresses the trapped people through a televised message. The unbreakable dome will remain over the city once and for all and the inhabitants will be left to fend for themselves. A promise as if you were allowed to sit in front of the tv for the rest of your life, but the scenery is too ominously reminiscent of "the truman show".

With the fate of springfield hanging by a thread, homer embarks on his odyssey – a difficult one, since he has to hope for marge’s forgiveness, save his life claimed by the mob, protect his endangered family and leave his hometown, but fortunately he did a rather poor job of plugging the hole in the ground back then.

To the rescue there are the omnipresent media

Of course homer had no idea where to live beyond his beloved couch, but to the rescue there is the omnipresent media. Here in the form of a giant billboard for alaska. So, in good old american tradition, the simpsons decide to start a new life in a wide, free country where they won’t be hunted by the government and hit the road. Life develops wonderfully.

But suddenly a new problem enters their lives in the form of tom hanks via television. Because the actor promises the american population finally a new nature monument beside the meanwhile ode working grand canyon. Marge and the children immediately realize that springfield should be wiped off the map in order to create this new crater landscape. To save the town, the entire family is called upon, but homer would rather continue to be an unconvincing egotist until he sits alone in front of the tv watching the overplayed wedding video.

The film is bursting with quotes and allusions and ultimately we experience a yellow bent mirror in the simpsons. Sitting on the cinema seat, we see them perceiving the world via the screen and get with them all the already known quotes of the media society yellow conveyed. It is not schwarzenegger’s austrian accent that is made fun of, but his ambition, mostly laughed at, with which he has made it from mister universe to movie star and re-elected governor of california.

His mania, legendary in america, to implement a personal five-point program every year, is ironically refracted in the film when cargill presents him with five dossiers, one of which he is supposed to read. Arnold decides – without reading – on a number. After all, he was not elected to read, but to govern, so the disaster for springfield takes its course.

Homer, meanwhile, can draw on his entire wealth of experience as a father when he consoles bart, who is regretting the worst day of his life, with the brutal wisdom that it was only the worst day of his life so far. Here you can see that the jokes between the characters have a real origin in their virtual lives, and we realize that we are very similar to them just in these broken statements.

There will be a thrilling showdown before we leave the cinema with the entire simpson family and hear the first word from one-year-old maggie before we even exit. Of course, it’s not mom, or dad, but as simple as demanding: sequel.