# An Analysis of the Simpsons rake scene **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808 "2004-05-24T15:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/61 "2004-05-26T21:04:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Look, man - if you’re going to be a smartass, at least know what you’re talking about. It was NOT a random reference; it was a slam. Probably just a good-natured one, but it definitely was a slam. I knew the joke you were talking about without reading it, and I know both shows. So I do know what I’m talking about, thank you very much. The reason I came up with a different explanation is that it just doesn’t make sense to me that the Simpsons writers _just now_ thought to insult a show that’s been off the air for ten years. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/62 "2004-05-26T21:19:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I knew the joke you were talking about without reading it, and I know both shows. So I do know what I’m talking about, thank you very much. The reason I came up with a different explanation is that it just doesn’t make sense to me that the Simpsons writers _just now_ thought to insult a show that’s been off the air for ten years. No, that _wouldn’t_ make sense. It’s also not what happened. That episode aired quite awhile ago, when Dinosaurs was still on the air. Did you happen to notice that my link was from 1992? No, I guess you didn’t… ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/63 "2004-05-26T21:29:17Z")
And another thing, Marley: > [@](#): > > There’s no hypocrisy here. The very important point you’re missing is that the Simpsons makes fun of itself all the time for exactly the same thing. I missed nothing. MILLER is the one who brought up “hypocrisy”. He said he preferred to think them incapable of taking a shot at another show for imititating them, ostensibly because it would be hypocritical, and that they wouldn’t be hypocritical. That’s just wrong, and I pointed it out. I can’t for the life of me figure out how you guys are getting this so confused. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/64 "2004-05-26T21:44:29Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > I just have to mention another bit of cartoon timing genius: Wile E Coyote. > > Cut to: road. Pile of birdseed. > > Pan up: a wooden chute appears aimed directly at the birdseed. > > Pan up: the wooden chute continues up. > > Pan up: the wooden chute continues up, zigging left and right. > > Pan up: the wooden chute continues up in a complicated pattern. > > Pan up: Wile E Coyote stands at the top of the chute with a bomb. Wile E lights the match and lights the bomb, which _instantly_ explodes. 🙂 I don’t recall this bit, but there was a similar one that never fails to crack me up: As roadrunner approaches, a wire tied to a stake is seen. Wire angles upward, travels a long distance to nearby cliff. Coyote puts on helmet with small unicycle-like wheel attached to it. Coyote starts to balance on wire on his head, drumroll builds tension. Coyote carefully continues getting his balance, prepares to remove hand from cliff, putting all his weight on the wire. Drumroll continues. Coyote removes hand from cliff. Wire snaps. Coyote plunges 10,000 feet. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/65 "2004-05-26T23:24:46Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > No, I guess you didn’t… Nope, I didn’t. > [@](#): > > That’s just wrong, and I pointed it out. I can’t for the life of me figure out how you guys are getting this so confused. It’s not hypocritical for them to take shots at other shows for imitating them because 1) other shows do imitate them and 2) they don’t pretend to be the only program on TV that is totally original. I don’t think it’s hypocritical (or implied hypocrisy) to poke fun at others in the same way you poke fun at yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/66 "2004-05-27T00:08:21Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Whoah, calm down man. I don’t think anyone said anything about “ire”. Allow me to quote for the second time: > [@Nonsuch](#): > > BTW, apparently a recent Simpsons episode contained a dis wherein some girl insults Bart by calling him “Family Guy!”. Those Simpsons writers sure don’t like Family Guy, huh? > [@blowero](#): > > The point is that they _have_ taken shots at other shows for supposedly imitating them. Whether it was in jest or out of anger isn’t really the point. No, that would, in fact, be **the entire point**. > [@](#): > > The point is that you seemed to think them “incapable of such hypocrisy”. I merely pointed out that yes, they have taken a shot at at least one other show for imitating them. The implied hypocrisy did not prevent them from doing so. You know, it would help a lot if you were actually reading the stuff you’re replying to. > [@yours truly](#): > > The idea that the writers of The Simpsons **got upset** at FG for “cloning” Homer requires a level of hypocrisy of which I would prefer to think them incapable. See the bit in bold there? Upset. I never claimed that The Simpsons never made jokes about other shows having superficial (or deeper) similarities to themselves. My entire point has been that this doesn’t mean that Matt Groening, or any of the writers at The Simpsons, is _pissed off_ about it. Every creative work ever made by man has borrowed from its predecessors. As much as Family Guy borrows from The Simpsons, The Simpsons has borrowed from what came before it. And, if they’ve got brain one in their heads, the writers of both shows are entirely aware of this. So, it seems to me, that such jokes must be meant in good-naturedly, and are not evidence of any sort of feud or bad blood between the two shows. Is that clear, now? ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/67 "2004-05-27T00:37:07Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I’d say that the bit in Family Guy where Peter is fighting a chicken should also be included. It’s not just that he’s fighting a chicken (a fairly ludicrous idea to begin with) so much that the thing just goes on and on and on for like five minutes of screen time. > > “Chicken. Gave me a bad coupon.” That scene was the first thing I ever saw on “Family Guy” that got a genuine laugh out of me. They do the “it’s like the time I…” gag so many times on that series that it’s extraordinarily unfunny, but this one worked exactly because it went on entirely too long. I’m starting to wonder if something is happening to my sense of humor, since I’m finding myself laughing at “Family Guy” more often. The evil monkey in the closet in particular. And the scene of what Brian would be like after he’d been castrated. “I LOOOOVE chocolate! But I can’t eat it, or I’ll get fat. But it’s SOOOOO GOOOOOOD!” ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/68 "2004-05-27T17:24:25Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > \>Am I the only person who noticed the slam against DINOSAURS in this episode? > \>I took the comments of the Simpsons to mean that Matt Groening and gang felt > \>that DINOSAURS really _IS_ just like they took their lives and put them on > \>screen…as in dinosaurs plagarizes the simpsons, at least to a degree. > \>Or did I mis-interpret this? > > It’s definitely a slam. Note all the similarities mentioned “Look, Maggie, > they have a baby too!” and the fact that they used Nancy Cartwright’s > voice (and a prehistoric version of Bart’s motto “Don’t have a cow, man!”) > for the Bart-dinosaur. “Dinosaurs” isn’t all that blatant a ripoff of > the Simpsons, IMHO, but the fact that the writers obviously think so is > pretty cool. > > –Steve “It’s like they took our lives > and put it right on the screen” Stelter Oh, wow! two guys on the internet agreed on something, that MUST mean it’s right! ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/69 "2004-05-27T17:46:53Z")
Obviously some people here like to argue for the sake of argument. Good bye… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808/70 "2004-05-28T00:12:41Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Obviously some people here like to argue for the sake of argument. Good bye… 😕 Exactly what board do you think you’re posting to, anyway? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-analysis-of-the-simpsons-rake-scene/246808.md?page=3)