Monday, December 3, 2012

"The Simpsons", Satire, And "The Odyssey?"

Compare The Odyssey video excerpt from the Simpsons with Homer's epic poem The Odyssey Books 9,10,12,22,23. What does the Simpson's version satirize? What does it make you think about regarding the poem's characters, theme, relationships, and episodes? Please respond with specific support (i.e.-quotations) for your argument.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the Odysseus, he makes some bad decisions regarding his friends and family. He goes to take revenge with out thinking about his other people that are with him. The Simpsons is kind of the same way. Bart ate all his friends and left his family and to make his way back to them was not a easy thing to do. More or less he dug a big hole for himself and was barley able to get out.

Anonymous said...

It makes fun of Circe and how she turned Odysseus's men into pigs and also it made fun of the sirens and how ugly they truly are. It makes me think that everyone has a different way of thinking on how the story can look for everyone. Like how the characters look or how the scene looks also in the book.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons video was suprisingly comparable to The Odyssey in many ways. I didn't think that it would be so similar. Homer's crew in the video was turned into pigs by Circe after they drank the liquid. In The Odyssey, only half of his crew was transformed, but in the video, his entire crew was transformed. When Homer returned back home, he easily killed all of the people. In the book it was more of a struggle. The Odyssey and the Simpsons video was similar in some very important events, yet different and amusing.

Anonymous said...

"The Simpsons" satire, "The Odyssey" was very sarcastic towards the actual books "The Odyssey." The video made Odysseus and his men look more like fools and stupid people more than heros like they are described in the books. Both of the texts had the same events in them, but they definitely had different tones and feelings in them. The video made his journey seem like it was easy and not that hard to accomplish, while the tale in the actual books were long and heroic. It was obvious that the Simpsons were trying to make fun of Odysseus and his journey home.

Anonymous said...

"The Simpsons" satire, "The Odyssey" was very sarcastic towards the actual books "The Odyssey." The video made Odysseus and his men look more like fools and stupid people more than heros like they are described in the books. Both of the texts had the same events in them, but they definitely had different tones and feelings in them. The video made his journey seem like it was easy and not that hard to accomplish, while the tale in the actual books were long and heroic. It was obvious that the Simpsons were trying to make fun of Odysseus and his journey home.

Anonymous said...

I noticed while watching the episode of The Simpsons that it was very sarcastic and it did more mocking of the Odyssey than it did of actual fact about the Odyssey. It took scenes from the Odyssey and related it to the real world by making fun of it in a way that the viewers can understand because it relates to modern day things that viewers today find comical and entertaining. Not only does this give off the impression that the Odyssey is influential but also uneducated. When something is being taken as a joke or in a funny way it's hard to tell if it is civilized or educated because people can now only scoff and laugh at it because of other things that initialize it to seem funny, even when it's not. That is what The Simpson episode did to the Odyssey.

Anonymous said...

"The Simpsons" got a lot of things from "The Odyssey". Such as Odysseus' men turning to pigs. However, in "The Simpsons", Homer ate them. Other than that they got Odysseus meeting Lady Circe, Penelope and the suitors, Odysseus killing the suitors, and the Underworld. Except, Odysseus didn't have a young son. Finally, it was a pretty good summary of "The Odyssey"except for a few differences.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons mocking version of the odyssey shows that he had to go through hard ships. Also that he had to go through hellish places to get home, although it shows less places he visits he still has to go through ruff seas, bad weather, and hard to resist temptation. The simpsons version makes the odyssey a funny little story, which is contradicting compared to the real version.These are fairly similar versions but still very different for many reasons.

Anonymous said...

In The Simpsons clip compared to The Odyssey i noticed the story went much more quickly then in the books and it summarized the plot instead of including details. The characters seemed less serious. The Simpsons seemed to be a much more brief telling of the story.

Anonymous said...

In the video excerpt from the Simpsons, the story of Odysseus' journey is shown in a much less complex way. Really, it is just mocking The Odyssey and making his journey look easier than it actually was. For example, parts of the journey was left out of the video including the time they spent with Polyphemus. Also, the video kind of criticized the men by showing how they were so unintelligent that they drank gross, green liquid which turned them into pigs. Overall, there were many things that differed from the video to the story.

Anonymous said...

The Simpson's version satirizes Odysseus' journey in a short version, when they accidentally traveled to Circe' Island, she turned his men into pigs. Circe later sent Him to the Underworld. It makes me think about how Circe and the Sylla were so a like, they took Odysseus' men for him to be able to continue his journey back home. Also shows that Circe was just trying to help him get home, she wasn't bad after all.

Anonymous said...

In the "Simpsons" version of The Odyssey books he goes through all of the same adventures as Odysseus did just in a stereotypical way. We see how he lost his men and how he was blown off course. In my opinion the film was politically incorrect but you get the main idea of the journey Odysseus went through.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons version of the Odyssey was about the Odyssey but made fun of it. The way it related to the Odyssey the characters kind of acted the same with the same ego. The Odyssey's characters was more serious were as the Simpsons tried to make it more entertaining by adding comedy.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons version of the Odyssey compares the Homer's version of the Odyssey in many ways, but in a more "cartoony" version. In the Odyssey Odysseus has many men on board with him, compared to the Simpsons version where there are only five. Also, in the Odyssey Circe turns the men into swine but turns them back once Odysseus asks for his men. In the Simpsons version, Odysseus eats his men once they are pigs. This part contrasts because Odysseus does not eat his men in the Odyssey, he goes aboard his ship and sails home. And, at the end of the Simpsons version, when Odysseus gets home, he doesn't love Penelope, he walks away. This contrasts with the Odyssey because in the Odyssey Odysseus greets Penelope and Penelope puts her arms around him for what could have been forever.

Anonymous said...

The original story of The Odyssey is a little different then the Simpson's version.In the Simpson's Homer is on a really fast journey through Circe's island and the underworld.It only took him 20 years to go through the whole journey while the other book it took him 7 years.In the movie clip he ate his friends.This kind of showed that Odysseus didn't really care about his shipmates but more about himself.I think that's true because Odysseus had a hero's mind but was selfish.He let his men die instead of putting himself in harms way.I thought the clip was straightforward about Odysseus's personality.

Anonymous said...

"The Odyssey" compares the the video excerpt from the Simpsons with Homer's epic poem. The Simpson's video satirizes Odysseus' journey in a short version; when they traveled to the land of Circe and his men were turned to swine, she sent him to the underworld. It makes me think regarding the character's relationships that Circe was not that evil after all; sending Odysseus to where he must go in order to take on him voyage back home. Sylla and Circe are alike in a way because they both lead him home.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons version of the Odyssey shows Odysseus's journey and the struggle he faced. The Simpsons version also shows some of the mistakes Odysseus made. But it also left out many parts of the journey.

Anonymous said...

The Simpson's version the Odyssey was correct in most ways compared to the actual text. It was correct in the fact that Odesseus took twenty years to sail back to Ithica and his wife faithfully waited for his return. Also, the gods controlled the fate of Odyssess and his men while on the sea. While the Simpson's is not the most reputable source, their interperetation of this text was rather accurate.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons video clip of "The Odyessus" poked a lot of fun at what the text/poem was trying to say. I personally thought that it was hilarious and that reading the books 10, 11, 12, 22, 23 was a waste of time because I don't understand the point. I really enjoyed how simple and to the point the clip was because it was so true. The characters were so funny because it made them actually seem as if that's what they were like back in the actual poem. The relationships also seemed really pointless in this video because there was no point to them. Especially because of the Circe part. I also thought that it was pointless because of the whole Penolope part wanting her husband to return home and how so many men were waiting in line for her hand in marriage.

SARAD248

Anonymous said...

The odyssey book and Simpsons video were very Similar because they both dint treat the people around them right. Odyssey neglected his friends and family and Bart ate all his friends and left his family behind. SO the two stories were very similar even though i would not expect them to be.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons video relates to The Odyssey because they both have the basic kind of story, Odysseus sails away from his wife and goes through a ton of obstacles that take him twenty years to come back. But this Simpsons video was very different from the real “Odyssey” because the underground did not have rock and roll music, the sirens were enchanting to the men (not ugly), and Odysseus never ate his men when Circe turned them into pigs. Also while I watched the video I noticed that the relationships were also the same and that there were suitors who wanted to marry Odysseus wife. Then once Odysseus comes home and learns that they have been harassing his wife, Odysseus kills all of the men and runs to her. But unlike the real story, his wife recognizes him and they both live happily ever after, or as happy as a couple can be in the greek time.