478. Angry Dad: The Movie

Original airdate: February 20, 2011

The premise: The current intellectual property holder of Bart’s old Internet cartoon Angry Dad approaches him about making it into a film, later turned into a short. As the film sweeps awards season, Bart becomes discouraged that his father is assuming all the credit for his work.

The reaction: Here’s a modern-era series trope that I’ve missed (sarcasm), wherein a Simpson becomes a gigantic success apropos of nothing, in an episode based entirely upon Hollywood navel-gazing. “I Am Furious Yellow,” an episode from nine years prior, was a perfectly enjoyable episode featuring then-contemporary riffing on Internet companies and web cartoons. This episode is less concerned with Angry Dad itself and more about fame and the awards circuit. From the moment they walk in the studio, Bart and Homer are regarded as legends of the industry. Why? Is Angry Dad like a cult classic? It’s the equivalent of animators today shitting themselves over meeting the Joe Cartoon guy. None of the history of why people care so much about Angry Dad or the production of the short itself is really dwelled on; we get the decision to make it a short rather than a film, act break, then we find out it’s been nominated for a Golden Globe. We don’t even know what the fuck the film is, and if you haven’t seen or don’t remember “Furious Yellow,” you should have no clue what’s going on. The emotional thrust of the episode is Bart getting bummed out that Homer, as the voice and inspiration of Angry Dad, is hogging all the credit for all the awards the short is getting. Boy, what a relatable conflict! But it’s not clear what exactly Bart’s role in this film is. Two-thirds of the way in, we find out he was the writer/director of the film. What? We never saw any of that. Bart is busy crowing about not getting the recognition he deserves, but meanwhile we never saw him really putting any work into the film at all. But none of that matters. I’ve referenced it many times in the past, but the entire episode reeks of the classic Krusty line of trying to relate to the common man (“Like when your lazy butler washes your sock garters, and they’re still covered with schmutz?”) This is a show with a staff that’s won countless awards, and this episode is all about their world and their problems, far removed from the average American family the Simpsons are supposed to be. When Bart gets the call that Angry Dad is up for an Oscar, he goes into a little song and dance (“I’m going to the Oscars! Not as a seat filler! I’ll get a gift basket! But I won’t declare it!”) So this normal ten-year-old boy knows about the concept of seat fillers, getting gift baskets at Hollywood events, and declaring them on taxes he doesn’t have to file because he’s fucking ten. Terrible, terrible episode.

Three items of note:
– Instead of getting any actual plot or character motivation, we’re treated to extended clips of other cartoons, aping the likes of The Triplets of Belleville, Wallace & Gromit, Persepolis, and so on. But there’s not really any parody element to them, they’re just references, Simpson-ized versions of the actual articles that are effectively love letters. We love you, Mixar! I mean, Pixar! Ooooh, but we made a small dig at Cars! BURN! The easiest comparison one can make is to “The Front,” as both episodes involve an award show for animation. Remember the “How to Buy Action Figure Man” bit from that episode? It’s one of the most brilliant jokes the show has ever done, eviscerating the not-so-hidden agenda of 80s cartoons existing to sell toys in a mere four seconds. We see only a few seconds of each nominee, because that’s all the time they needed to tell their jokes and move on. Here, we get at least forty seconds each of four different nominees, where, as mentioned, there’s no real joke, it’s just a tribute to those actual films. A whole lot can change in twenty years. The writing staff of season 4 wasn’t as highly gilded, still bitter off their Emmy loss to a claymation Easter special, so they took great pleasure taking fire at their medium and the hokey pomp and circumstance of award shows. Nowadays, it’s just a big inoffensive love fest. It’s like the ending of “Radioactive Man” played straight, with a kind, ever-forgiving Hollywood set to “Lean on Me.”
– Lisa tries to encourage Bart about making Angry Dad into a short, listing great directors who started out making shorts: Wes Anderson, Frank Tashlin, and Tim Burton. One of these names is not like the other, isn’t it? Anderson and Burton are contemporary filmmakers, so I’ll accept that Lisa knows of them. But Frank Tashlin? Tashlin was one of the lesser known classic Warner Bros. cartoon directors, doing a lot of the old Porky Pig cartoons of the 1930s. I’m a huge cartoon nerd and I didn’t even know that after that, Tashlin went off to direct some successful films in the 50s, none of which are titles I recognize. The point is, there’s no fucking way Lisa knows who Frank Tashlin is. I try to not reiterate points that are constant problems in for this series, but Lisa’s compendium of world knowledge when the plot needs it was especially glaring here. And the joke isn’t over; Bart replies to Lisa’s list by asking, “Name one more.” Lisa replies, “Taylor Hackford.” I looked up Hackford, seeing that he did some short films, but then later directed such films as An Officer and a Gentleman, The Devil’s Advocate, and Ray. Hackford and Tashlin are both names unknown to the public, but I’d hazard a guess more of the general public have greater familiarity with those movies than they do of Tashlin’s work. Did it all come down to that they couldn’t think of a third name to go along with Anderson and Burton? She could have just said fucking John Lasseter, which would then tie into their later Pixar dick sucking. Done.
– This episode has a parade of superfluous guest voices. First up is Ricky Gervais, who previously played not-himself in an episode he kinda sorta wrote the outline for, this time just playing himself. Now, remember when Gervais hosted the Golden Globes and made Hollywood feel uncomfortable with the jokes he told at their expense? Remember how big a “controversy” that was? That’s basically the underlying joke in his scene, and it’s a real eye roller. More inside baseball humor. Also, both of his scenes run far, far too long; as was the case in his last episode, his very rambling, long-winded style of comedy does not really fit well with this show. It would also help if his lines were actually funny. Russell Brand and Halle Berry appear to present awards, and pretend to make fun of themselves. The most curious appearance is Nick Park, Wallace & Gromit director, who admittedly is the best guest of the list (“I’m more clay than man now.”) But it’s just weird considering not many people must know who he is. I guess they figure the audience will figure it out, but they don’t even say his full name, Lisa just says “Mr. Park.”

One good line/moment: This is pretty difficult, since this is definitely the worst episode so far. I guess I’ll go with the aforementioned Nick Park line. I love Aardman anything.