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TV Thoughts

 My son makes choices that are sometimes exasperating to me; he can hit, can throw things across the room, and can race toward the street without looking both ways (really, without looking anywhere).


So I'm moved by Marge Simpson, in "Marge Be Not Proud." This is the second "Simpsons" Christmas special; writers waited approximately six years, after the first one, because they were intimidated. In MBNP, Bart is determined to make his own mistakes. He is drawn to a particular video game--"Bonestorm"--and, though Marge understands this is just a flashy piece of junk, Bart won't listen. He must have the game. He willfully misinterprets a sign at a GameStop, then tries to cope with a broken heart. He attempts to "borrow" the game from his friend Milhouse. (Lazily groping for an expedient solution, Milhouse encourages his own mother to send Bart back to Evergreen Terrace. "He's swearing again....")

It's surprising and inevitable when Bart simply steals the video game from a local Target.

At the same time, Marge struggles in her own way. First, she ignores Bart's pleading for independence. Then, she opts for the silent treatment; in one cruel scene, she leaves Bart to scoop up dirty snow from under a car-tire, so he can frantically try to add a "Bart Snow Statue" to an incomplete family of snowmen. Marge also deliberately misreads a moment of "acting out"; when Bart disguises himself with a putty nose and silly glasses, Marge briskly chooses to gloss over this as stupid clownish behavior (when Bart's eyes tell a different story, and the story seems difficult to miss).

I think the resolution of this Christmas special is just a bit rushed--but I like how the parent and child awkwardly tango through the episode, lurching toward progress. I really admire the script.
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