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The Simpsons Take on The Fountainhead

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Myself

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According to Hollywood Insider, an upcoming episode, “Four Great Women & A Manicure,” will "reimagine the worlds of Macbeth, The Fountainhead, Citizen Kane, and Queen Elizabeth I, with Springfield residents in key roles." The episode is set to be aired in 2009.

EDIT: Here's a bit more information:

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscr...ns_September_28

We actually recorded Ellen Page this week. Jodie Foster is in a trilogy episode, it's powerful women through history. We do a parody of The Fountainhead where Maggie Simpson is in a preschool, where she trying to build these beautiful block buildings and the preschool teacher keeps knocking them down for being creative. And at the end she goes on trial like in the end of The Fountainhead, and Jodie Foster does her voice.

This actually sounds less like a parody and more like a respectful homage. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of speech they'll give her!

Edited by Myself
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Don't get your hopes up. This is the same show that had an "A is A" daycare center run like a prison.

In Futurama, made by the same man as The Simpsons, the society of people living in the sewer underground had a library, filled with Ayn Rand books. I doubt that this would be a "homage".

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I like a good joke about anything, even my own beliefs. Normally I see Objectivism getting mocked for it's more cult-like, zombie followers, who do amuse me.

Of course, there could be something that's just not funny whatsoever. Of course, there are jokes that just aren't funny as well.

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Fat chance. I can't think of one time on popular television that mentioned Rand in anything BUT a negative light.

Well, once a Jeopardy! clue was "This book begins with the sentence 'Howard Roark laughed'." Which all in all seems pretty neutral :dough:

Actually Roark's struggle to be creative in his own terms against the establishment's wishes may resonate with screenwriters regardless of philosophical persuasion. On the toher hand, Keating's efforts to be a succesfull hack and phony would resonate that much more strongly in Hollywood :D

I expect we'll see. I just can't take The Simpsons seriously. Mr. Groening is of the Toohey school of humor. That is, everything is an object of ridicule regardless of how important or sacred it may be, including himself. The show pokes fun at itself all the time (Bart on the chalkboard "I will not demand what I'm worth", Marge saying "No more movies about the Simpsons. One was plenty", Groening appeared once as a right-wing, neo nazi nut in a behind the scenes special ep.,etc).

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Wouldn't that more or less be a swipe at people who have no backbone?

No. It came after the off season stories of the voice actors, specially the woman who does Bart, demanding a raise or more royalties from the network and producers.

Similarly on a clip show Bart writes "I will only do this once a year." The show is full of stuff like that.

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There is a book called "The Simpsons and Philosophy".

I wouldn't bother. Have you ever looked in the philosophy section of stores like Borders or B&N? They have "Batman and philosophy", "Spiderman and philosophy", millions of books that are simply "[Popular movie/tv show] and philosophy". That's what philosophy has become, a side-comment on pop culture.

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I wouldn't bother. Have you ever looked in the philosophy section of stores like Borders or B&N? They have "Batman and philosophy", "Spiderman and philosophy", millions of books that are simply "[Popular movie/tv show] and philosophy". That's what philosophy has become, a side-comment on pop culture.

I still have "South Park and Philosophy" from a long time ago lol. I have a hard time finding Rand's fiction in my local book stores and libraries... I'll probably have to order Ominous Parallels and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.

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The "X and Philosophy" books are a series, I think. If memory serves, Diana Hsieh (of Noodlefood) has an essay in the "Harry Potter and Philosophy" volume. These books basically take pop culture as a springboard for the exploration of various issues in philosophy. Since philosophy can be found in just about anything, I wouldn't take the existence of such a book as an indication that the show is unusually philosophical.

With regard to the Simpsons episode specifically, it's probably worth noting that it has been many years since the "Ayn Rand School for Tots" episode. I'd be surprised if the entire writing staff hasn't changed in the interim. That said, I'm not particularly optimistic.

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With regard to the Simpsons episode specifically, it's probably worth noting that it has been many years since the "Ayn Rand School for Tots" episode. I'd be surprised if the entire writing staff hasn't changed in the interim. That said, I'm not particularly optimistic.

Oh, the writing staff's probably all diferent now. Hoever the top executive staff, Groening at al, are still there. Plus a lot of people who sued to write for the show now are show runners (that's the man in overall charge of an episode, kind of the real producer). The tone of the show has not changed significantly when it comes to philosophical and political matters.

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Fat chance. I can't think of one time on popular television that mentioned Rand in anything BUT a negative light.

Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged have been mentioned numerous times in the new tv-series "Mad Men". The executive of the advertising agency is a student of Objectivism, and has given a copy of Atlas Shrugged to two of the employees (main characters) so far. While the executive is a bit quirky, he's intelligent, successful and likeable. The story is set in New York, in the 60's. There have been four mentions so far.

Edited by JMartins
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Has anyone seen some of the stabs at Ayn Rand on YouTube?

There's one video where some guy is gleefully burning a copy of Atlas Shrugged (so I guess he would advocate government censorship of any "dangerous" books), and another where some heavy metal "musicians" perform a song called "i hate ayn rand" (the "music" consists mainly of someone screaming and other people thrashing their guitar strings). I didn't bother to check out any others.

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  • 2 months later...

Look up merryjest's tribute to "Atlas Shrugged", it's the top first video that pops up when you type "Atlas Shrugged" in search.

Has anyone seen some of the stabs at Ayn Rand on YouTube?

There's one video where some guy is gleefully burning a copy of Atlas Shrugged (so I guess he would advocate government censorship of any "dangerous" books), and another where some heavy metal "musicians" perform a song called "i hate ayn rand" (the "music" consists mainly of someone screaming and other people thrashing their guitar strings). I didn't bother to check out any others.

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I can't think of one time on popular television that mentioned Rand in anything BUT a negative light.

Have you seen this overwhelmingly positive mention of Atlas Shrugged on the UPN sitcom One on One? However, I concede the point that this show is probably not "popular"! :)

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