Vatican Paper Praises 'The Simpsons'; So God Loves Mediocrity???
Taylor
12/22/09 05:04 PM | AP, KJIH-TV Media
Read More: Aristotle's Virtues And Homer's Doughnut, L'Osservatore
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VATICAN CITY — To put it as the devout Ned Flanders would, the
Vatican's newspaper thinks "The Simpsons" are an okely dokely bunch.
L'Osservatore Romano on Tuesday congratulated the show on its 20th
anniversary, praising its philosophical leanings as well as its
stinging and often irreverent take on religion.
Without Homer Simpson and the other yellow-skinned characters "many
today wouldn't know how to laugh," said the article titled
"Aristotle's Virtues and Homer's Doughnut."
The paper credited "The Simpsons" – the longest-running American
animated program – with opening up cartoons to an adult audience.
The show is based on "realistic and intelligent writing," it said,
though it added there was some reason to criticize its "excessively
crude language, the violence of certain episodes or some extreme
choices by the scriptwriters."
Religion, from the snore-evoking sermons of the Rev. Lovejoy to
Homer's face-to-face talks with God, appears so frequently on the show
that it could be possible to come up with a "Simpsonian theology," it
said.
Homer's religious confusion and ignorance are "a mirror of the
indifference and the need that modern man feels toward faith," the
paper said.
It commented on several religion-themed episodes, including one in
which Homer calls for divine intervention by crying: "I'm not normally
a religious man, but if you're up there, save me, Superman!"
"Homer finds in God his last refuge, even though he sometimes gets His
name sensationally wrong," L'Osservatore said. "But these are just
minor mistakes, after all, the two know each other well."
David
wrote:
>Vatican Paper Praises 'The Simpsons'
Later adds "We're willing to give "The Cleveland Show" a couple more
episodes."
OFF Fan
Hmm, they've softened their stance on abortions?
Remysun
by Bart's insolence and the crude language, but Homer and Marge's
marriage has been television's best example of love through better or
worse, and its depiction of sex has been honest, but not titillating
and immoral. In fact, the show is now considered downright tame by
many. But satire has always been a careful examination of conscience,
and thus it is no surprise that the Vatican would find more
affirmation than denigration.
I fully expect the stance against Harry Potter to swing around as well.