Monday, May 11, 2015

"The Simpsons" And "The Odyssey?"

How is The Simpsons' video clip a parody and/or satire of The Odyssey and heroes in Greek Mythology?  Please list at least one specific from the Heroic Code as you explain and defend your assessment and thinking.  This response is due during class today.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is some humor about the homosexuality during the Greek era, and they take shots at the idea of Penelope and her suitors

Anonymous said...

The simpsons poked fun at the odyssey in many ways. One was at the island of cercies were after turning the other men into piges insted of saving them Homer eats them.

Anonymous said...

In the show they are kind of poking fun at the gods. Such as when they were sailing on the ship and were almost home and they had Zeus flick the ship back the other way as a form of showing how Zeus caused them to go on a seven year journey. They also joke around about Helen of Troy and how her face launched a thousand ships, the other way. They also joke around about each god and their responsibilities such as when Zeus tells Poseidon that he is responsible for Odysseus.

Anonymous said...

The way that The Simpsons uses satire to illustrate the Odyssey is they used comical themes to explain why some of the things happened that they did in the story. In the end, it is clear that those things did not actually happen in the Odyssey, but that is the point of satire.

Anonymous said...

One thing that the short clip targets as a satire is the many times that Odysseus gets close to his home in Ithaca, and then is sent far away again.This connects the heroic code because, it is the hero getting a punishment equal to his crimes. The gods may be harsh but they are fair. Along with this the Simpsons poke fun at gods themselves, giving them very human like traits, and having the viewer like Odysseus more.

Anonymous said...

The Simpson's skit depicted the Odyssey in a way. It was similar to the Odyssey in the fact that it was a very long journey home. It was also true in the fact that many men died on the return home. Another element that was true was how the gods intervened. The gods were the main reason why the return home took so many years.

On another aspect, the fact that the Simpson's made fun of the Odyssey shows how instrumental the writing was with the world because it was one of the earliest pieces of recorded writing, written by Homer. Not everyone may know what it is about, but they have heard of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons version of the The Odyssey pokes fun at the concepts within the Iliad by overexaggerating them to stupidity. One element within the Heroic Code that is satirized in this is the element to pursue prizes, fame, and a division of spoils. Their hopes for "prizes" and their ridiculous means of getting them is portrayed in this in instances such as when the army hears the sirens and says "lets sail aimlessly toward that!"

Anonymous said...

The simpson clip is more of a satire than a parody. Even though the clip had some accurate information about the odyssey it was more sarcastic than an actual parody to the odyssey itself. The clip was leaned more towards humorous than a parody to give it that hilarious aspect to it.

Anonymous said...

How is The Simpsons' video clip is a parody of The Odyssey and heroes in Greek Mythology, is that it shows many moment that we had read about in the Odyssey such as how the Gods were angered with Odysseus and sent him off course. A heroic code that was shown was that Homer or Odysseus did not want to lose face he wanted to come back and take back what was his.

Anonymous said...

The parody shows the gods playing the ship and men like a pawn and doing it for the joy of it. It also shows the sirens luring the men in on "Crazy Island." All of the dangers seem somewhat obvious to us for the comedy of it. And instead of him shooting an arrow through a hole he shoots it through all of the suitors.

Anonymous said...

The Simpson's made a lot of satires about the The Odyssey, such as when the gods were controlling things from up above. The gods in the video were carelessly controlling things on Earth, making fun of the idea that the gods sometimes ruin things by mistake. In the heroic code, you must have a good guest host relationship, which was not the case in the video. People got turned into pigs, killed, and many other things. Overall, many things were made fun of, especially the way they acted.

Anonymous said...

This clip makes Odysseus' crew look like idiots. This pointed out how the gods seem to play with man. This parodied the guest/host relationship. When the Simpsons go to the island of the sorceress, she provides drink that turns them into pigs. This then becomes the meal for Odysseus. Inadvertently, she provided the meal for him as well. This clip was a good parody. It explained why the crew was gone for so long, but in a silly way. For example, the real Odysseus had to cross the river Styx. The river in this clip was full of music, which is funny because Styx is a rock band, and adults don't always like rock music.

Anonymous said...

In the Simpson's show they are playing around with the Gods. After turning the the crew into pigs, instead of Homer saving them, he eats the men.

Anonymous said...

In both the clip and the written story, Odysseus' main goal is to get home to his wife and child. This upholds the heroic code because one of the ideas is that a hero will fight for the spoils of war and returning to his family could be one of those spoils. The clip and the story also are portraying the heroic code because the gods help and hider the success of the hero. The clip was satirical in nature towards the story because of how it showed the gods and how the main character is not really a hero.

Anonymous said...

They were showing the gods as something that they were childish and they weren't gods. They showed Odysseus as someone that was not really a hero and that he wasn't the hero he is in The Odyssey.

Anonymous said...

In the simpsons version of the odessey Odysseus did not have excessive pride. Hubris is a part of the heroic code that talks about excessive pride. In the parody Odysseus wasnt very glorious. He wasnt very intelligent either.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons version of The Odyssey makes fun of the story and exaggerates what happens and how things play out. They make fun of how the different characters/people act and react. The video satirizes the heroic code with the pursuing, attention, and fame. They make the story more humorous and light.

Anonymous said...

It is a satire of the odyssey because it makes fun of the events that happened. for example they were being lured in by the sirens but turned around instantly when they saw how ugly they were. Or circe how homer was told that his friends were transformed but still ignored it and ate them. I thought the Zeus and Poseidon parts were quite funny and making fun of how the gods were thinking. over all homer using lots of points in the heroic code to make it home. although some not as efficient as others

Anonymous said...

The Simpson satire on the Odyssey was quite entertaining. I enjoyed it. It also didn't go into great detail of the actual things that Odysseus had to endure during his travels. It however shows that he had perseverance and continued to go on even when he "ate" all of his friends.

Anonymous said...

This episode of The Simpson satirized many things in The Odyssey. They made a lot of fun of Odysseus by having Homer eat his friends and struggle on a long journey. They made fun of the reference for Helen's face launching a thousand ships by saying she launched them away. They made fun of Hell as well by depicting it as a place of party and annoying music. Another main idea that was satirized was Penelope and her suitors waiting 20 years to try to win her over.

Anonymous said...

The Simpson's video clip is a parody of The Odyssey in the fact that it is a very long journey. It makes fun of the guest/ host code and having the hole concept of the Odyssey being over exaggerate it to an extent.Making fun of the gods and goddesses.

Anonymous said...

there is humor, when on one of the islands his friends get turned into pigs and instead of saving them like odysseys would have, he ate them

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons use of satire to illustrate the Odyssey is there application of comical themes that are used to glorify and or take in to account the comedy that was put into the story, as we know most of the things that did not actually happen in the Odyssey were given the Simpson touch which makes the satire based show that much more humorous.