This parody of the Simpsons opening credits is as bleak as you'll see

The Simpsons is one of the most important works of art of the 20^th Century, a show which redefined animated comedy in the 1990s and changed television forever.

Matt Groening’s masterpiece no longer defines the zeitgeist and these days people are more likely to ask when the show will finally come to an end than when the next season is airing. Despite this, Homer and company’s exploits are so much a part of the public consciousness that they are now parodied and referenced like the Hollywood classics The Simpsons paid tribute to during the golden age.

The latest parody, from a Russian animation account known as Lazy Square, has shades of the recent miniseries, Chernobyl. A haunting soundtrack accompanies grey skies as Bart is knocked off his skateboard and robbed in this Russian art film version of the credits sequence.

There is a general air of misery and despair with Lisa busking on the streets with her saxophone before being approached ominously by two policemen wielding batons. The spectre of violence seems to lurk in every frame and Lisa, hauntingly, fails to make it onto the couch for the closing moments.

Blood spatters on the television as Marge and Homer have the kind of violent confrontation you might expect to encounter in an episode of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson’s Bottom.

The show should probably have ended a while ago but it clearly still has the capacity to inspire perfectly cromulent art.

HT The Poke

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