MoneyBART
Encyclopedia
"MoneyBART" is the third episode of The Simpsons
' twenty-second season
that premiered in the United States on October 10, 2010, on the Fox network. In this episode, Lisa
coaches Bart
's Little League
baseball team to a record winning streak
by using her book smarts in statistics
and probability
. However, when Bart questions Lisa’s coaching tactics and accuses her of taking the fun out of baseball
, Lisa benches him from the championship
game.
The episode was written by Tim Long
and directed by Nancy Kruse
. It features an opening sequence and couch gag written by British
graffiti artist
and political activist Banksy
, who stated he had been "inspired by reports that Simpsons characters are animated in Seoul, South Korea
."
The episode was watched in a total of 6.74 million households, the ratings decreasing from the previous episode. Critical reception was generally favorable, with praises towards the story and jokes but criticism towards the episode's use of celebrity cameos.
college, gives Lisa a severe inferiority complex
because she is involved in very few extracurricular activities. When Ned Flanders
resigns as coach of Bart's Little League team, the Springfield Isotots, Lisa seizes the chance to extend her resumé and takes the position. Since she knows nothing about baseball, she seeks advice from the patrons of Moe's Tavern, who direct her to Professor Frink
and his scientific colleagues. She learns about sabermetrics
from them and uses this science to organize the Isotots' strategy; as a result, their record quickly improves and they rise in the league standings. However, Bart eventually rebels against her management, saying that she has taken all the fun out of the game, and hits a home run
despite her orders to let the pitcher walk him. The Isotots win the game, but Lisa throws Bart off the team for his insubordination.
The dismissal raises tension at the Simpson household, with Homer
and Marge
siding with Lisa and Bart, respectively. Homer believes that Lisa needs to do what is good to the team, while Marge thinks she should reconsider, since the family comes first. Under Lisa's leadership, the team advances to the championship against Capital City. On the day of the game, Marge takes Bart to an amusement park; while they ride the roller coaster
, Lisa calls Bart to beg for his help, but he brushes her off. Mike Scioscia
, manager of the Los Angeles Angels
, pops up in the seats behind Marge and Bart and tells him that the best players listen to their managers, pointing out his three World Series
wins — two as player, one as manager. Marge takes Bart to the game, which is now in its last inning with the Isotots down 11-10. Bart puts aside his differences with Lisa and offers to pinch-run
from first base, then ignores her signs and steals both second and third. As he begins to steal home, Lisa realizes the odds are vastly against him, then decides to ignore the numbers and cheer him on anyway. He is tagged out at the plate, costing the Isotots their championship bid, but Lisa thanks him for helping her learn to love baseball as a game, and the team cheers them for resolving their differences.
, his second writing credit of the season after "Elementary School Musical
", and was directed by Nancy Kruse
, her first directing credit of the season. This marks the second appearance of Mike Scioscia
on The Simpsons. His first appearance was the season 3
episode "Homer at the Bat
" in 1992, which is referenced in the episode. Baseball sabermetrician Bill James
also makes a guest appearance, being used as a reference when Professor Frink points out to Lisa that "baseball is a game played by the dextrous but only understood by the poindextrous."
s (first seen on "Take My Life, Please
", but this had "Banksy" on it). The chalkboard gag ("I must not write all over the walls") is written all over the classroom walls, clock, door, and floor.
After the Simpsons arrive at home, the camera cuts to a shot of them on the couch, then zooms out to show this as a picture hanging on the wall of a fictional overseas Asian
animation
and merchandise sweatshop
. The animation color quickly becomes drab and gray, and the music turns dramatic à la Schindler's List
. A large group of tired and sickly artists draw animation cel
s for The Simpsons among piles of human bones and toxic waste
, and a female artist hands a barefoot child employee
an animation cel, which he washes in a vat of biohazard
ous fluid.
The camera tracks down to a lower floor on the building, where small kitten
s are thrown into a woodchipper
-type machine to provide the filling for Bart Simpson
plush dolls. The toys are then placed into a cart pulled by a sad panda
which is driven by a man with a whip
. A man shipping boxes with The Simpsons logo on the side uses the tongue from a decapitated dolphin
head to fasten shut the packages. Another employee uses the horn of a sickly unicorn
to smash the holes in the center of The Simpsons DVD
s. The shot zooms out to reveal that sweatshop is contained within a grim version of the 20th Century Fox
logo, surrounded by barbed wire
, searchlights, and a watchtower
.
graffiti artist
and political activist Banksy
is credited with creating the opening titles and couch gag for this episode, in what amounted to the first time that an artist has been invited to storyboard
the show. Executive producer
Al Jean
first took note of Banksy after seeing his 2010 film Exit Through the Gift Shop
. According to Jean, "The concept in my mind was, 'What if this graffiti artist came in and tagged our main titles?'" Simpsons casting director Bonnie Pietila was able to contact the artist through the film's producers, and asked if he would be interested in writing a main title for the show. Jean said Banksy "sent back boards for pretty much what you saw." Series creator Matt Groening
gave the idea his blessing, and helped try to make the sequence as close to Banksy's original storyboards as possible. Fox's standards and practices department demanded a handful of changes, but, according to Jean, "95 percent of it is just the way he wanted."
The Simpsons is storyboarded at Film Roman
, a company based in California. The storyboards, voice tracks and coloring instructions are then sent to AKOM
, a company in Seoul
, South Korea. According to Nelson Shin
, the founder of AKOM, they received the storyboard for the sequence in August 2010. Believing the sequence to be "excessive and offending" he pushed for some of the darker jokes to be removed. He was successful, though "not nearly as much as he had pushed for." For example, in the storyboards, the workers were wearing conical Asian hats, but these were removed.
Banksy told The Guardian
that his opening sequence was influenced by The Simpsons long-running use of animation studios in Seoul
, South Korea
. The newspaper also reported that the creation of the sequence "is said to have been one of the most closely guarded secrets in US television – comparable to the concealment of Banksy's own identity."
BBC News
reported that "According to [Banksy], his storyboard led to delays, disputes over broadcast standards and a threatened walk out by the animation department." However, Al Jean disputed this, saying " [The animation department] didn't walk out. Obviously they didn't. We've depicted the conditions in a fanciful light before." Commenting on hiring Banksy to create the titles, Jean joked, "This is what you get when you outsource." Although conceding to the fact that The Simpsons is largely animated in South Korea, Jean went on to state that the scenes shown in titles are "very fanciful, far-fetched. None of the things he depicts are true. That statement should be self-evident, but I will emphatically state it."
book Moneyball, which examines the 2002 Oakland Athletics
' use of sabermetrics
to build a competitive baseball team. Moe laments his decision to advertise his drink specials in Scientific American
magazine, which led to Frink and company coming in.
, receiving a 3.0 rating/8% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, beating The Cleveland Show
and American Dad!
in the demographic and total viewers and ranking third in its timeslot. The episode received a 29% drop in the demographic from the previous episode, "Loan-a Lisa
".
The episode received favorable reviews. Brad Trechak of the TV Squad said of the episode: "In the end, the episode was really good at the beginning and the ending, but the middle kind of dragged." Eric Hochburger of TV Fanatic criticized the Mike Scioscia
cameo, although he said that "[w]hile this week's installment will never replace our favorite Simpsons baseball episode, "Homer at the Bat," there [was] certainly plenty of great jokes and a strong enough story with heart to keep us entertained." Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club
compared the episode favorably to "Lisa on Ice
" although he also criticized the Scioscia cameo, calling it "awkward". In conclusion he gave the episode an A-, the best grade of the night.
The opening sequence received a generally mixed response. Nelson Shin
, the founder of AKOM
, the Korean company that animates The Simpsons, said that he and his staff did protest being asked to animate the sequence. Shin said that the sequence suggests that animators work in sweatshops, but they actually work in "high-tech workshops." He added, "Most of the content was about degrading people from Korea, China, Mexico and Vietnam. If Banksy wants to criticize these things ... I suggest that he learn more about it first."
Colby Hall of Mediaite
called the sequence "a jaw-dropping critique of global corporate licensing, worker exploitation and over-the-top dreariness of how western media companies (in this case, 20th Century Fox) takes advantage of outsourced
labor in developing countries." Melissa Bell of The Washington Post
felt Banksy's titles had helped revive The Simpsons "edge", but after "the jarring opening, the show went back to its regular routine of guest cameos, self-referential jokes and tangential story lines." Marlow Riley of MTV
wrote "as satire
, [the opening is] a bit over-the-top. What is shocking is that Fox ran Banksy's ballsy critique of outsourcing, The Simpsons, and the standards and human rights conditions that people in first world nations accept. It's uncomfortable and dark, and not what's expected from the modern Simpsons, which mainly consists of 'Homer hurts himself' jokes."
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 22)
The Simpsons twenty-second season began airing on Fox on September 26, 2010 and ended on May 22, 2011. The Simpsons was renewed for at least two additional seasons during the twentieth season leading up to this season. The cast is currently signed through the 25th season. On November 11, 2010, the...
that premiered in the United States on October 10, 2010, on the Fox network. In this episode, Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
coaches Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
's Little League
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...
baseball team to a record winning streak
Winning streak (sports)
In sports, a winning streak refers to a consecutive number of games won. A winning streak can be held by a team, as in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, or by an individual, as in tennis...
by using her book smarts in statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
and probability
Probability
Probability is ordinarily used to describe an attitude of mind towards some proposition of whose truth we arenot certain. The proposition of interest is usually of the form "Will a specific event occur?" The attitude of mind is of the form "How certain are we that the event will occur?" The...
. However, when Bart questions Lisa’s coaching tactics and accuses her of taking the fun out of baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, Lisa benches him from the championship
Championship
Championship is a term used in sport to refer to various forms of competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.- Title match system :...
game.
The episode was written by Tim Long
Tim Long
Tim Long is a comedy writer born in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Tim calls Exeter, Ontario, Canada his home town and has written for The Simpsons, Politically Incorrect, Spy Magazine and The Late Show with David Letterman. Currently credited as a consulting producer on The Simpsons, Long was - until...
and directed by Nancy Kruse
Nancy Kruse
Nancy Kruse is a former animation director on The Simpsons. She started working on the show during the first season as a background clean-up artist. After that she did background layout and character layout for several years on the show before becoming an assistant director...
. It features an opening sequence and couch gag written by British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
graffiti artist
Street art
Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...
and political activist Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
, who stated he had been "inspired by reports that Simpsons characters are animated in Seoul, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
."
The episode was watched in a total of 6.74 million households, the ratings decreasing from the previous episode. Critical reception was generally favorable, with praises towards the story and jokes but criticism towards the episode's use of celebrity cameos.
Plot
A visit by Dahlia Brinkley, the only Springfield Elementary graduate ever to enter an Ivy LeagueIvy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
college, gives Lisa a severe inferiority complex
Inferiority complex
An inferiority complex, in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person...
because she is involved in very few extracurricular activities. When Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
resigns as coach of Bart's Little League team, the Springfield Isotots, Lisa seizes the chance to extend her resumé and takes the position. Since she knows nothing about baseball, she seeks advice from the patrons of Moe's Tavern, who direct her to Professor Frink
Professor Frink
Professor John Nerdelbaum Frink, Jr., or simply Professor Frink, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the 1991 episode "Old Money". Frink is Springfield's nerdy scientist and professor and is extremely...
and his scientific colleagues. She learns about sabermetrics
Sabermetrics
Sabermetrics is the specialized analysis of baseball through objective, empirical evidence, specifically baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research...
from them and uses this science to organize the Isotots' strategy; as a result, their record quickly improves and they rise in the league standings. However, Bart eventually rebels against her management, saying that she has taken all the fun out of the game, and hits a home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
despite her orders to let the pitcher walk him. The Isotots win the game, but Lisa throws Bart off the team for his insubordination.
The dismissal raises tension at the Simpson household, with Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
siding with Lisa and Bart, respectively. Homer believes that Lisa needs to do what is good to the team, while Marge thinks she should reconsider, since the family comes first. Under Lisa's leadership, the team advances to the championship against Capital City. On the day of the game, Marge takes Bart to an amusement park; while they ride the roller coaster
Roller coaster
The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...
, Lisa calls Bart to beg for his help, but he brushes her off. Mike Scioscia
Mike Scioscia
Michael Lorri Scioscia is a former Major League Baseball catcher and current manager for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He has worked in that capacity since the 2000 season, and is the longest-tenured manager in Major League Baseball....
, manager of the Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
, pops up in the seats behind Marge and Bart and tells him that the best players listen to their managers, pointing out his three World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
wins — two as player, one as manager. Marge takes Bart to the game, which is now in its last inning with the Isotots down 11-10. Bart puts aside his differences with Lisa and offers to pinch-run
Pinch runner
A pinch runner is a baseball player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing a player on base. In the typical case, the pinch runner is faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been substituted...
from first base, then ignores her signs and steals both second and third. As he begins to steal home, Lisa realizes the odds are vastly against him, then decides to ignore the numbers and cheer him on anyway. He is tagged out at the plate, costing the Isotots their championship bid, but Lisa thanks him for helping her learn to love baseball as a game, and the team cheers them for resolving their differences.
Production
The episode was written by Tim LongTim Long
Tim Long is a comedy writer born in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Tim calls Exeter, Ontario, Canada his home town and has written for The Simpsons, Politically Incorrect, Spy Magazine and The Late Show with David Letterman. Currently credited as a consulting producer on The Simpsons, Long was - until...
, his second writing credit of the season after "Elementary School Musical
Elementary School Musical (The Simpsons)
"Elementary School Musical" is the season premiere of The Simpsons twenty-second season. It aired on the Fox Network in the United States on September 26, 2010...
", and was directed by Nancy Kruse
Nancy Kruse
Nancy Kruse is a former animation director on The Simpsons. She started working on the show during the first season as a background clean-up artist. After that she did background layout and character layout for several years on the show before becoming an assistant director...
, her first directing credit of the season. This marks the second appearance of Mike Scioscia
Mike Scioscia
Michael Lorri Scioscia is a former Major League Baseball catcher and current manager for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He has worked in that capacity since the 2000 season, and is the longest-tenured manager in Major League Baseball....
on The Simpsons. His first appearance was the season 3
The Simpsons (season 3)
The Simpsons third season originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991 and May 7, 1992. The show runners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt...
episode "Homer at the Bat
Homer at the Bat
"Homer at the Bat" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons third season, which originally aired February 20, 1992. The episode follows the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team, led by Homer, having a winning season and making the championship game. Mr. Burns makes a large bet that the...
" in 1992, which is referenced in the episode. Baseball sabermetrician Bill James
Bill James
George William “Bill” James is a baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics...
also makes a guest appearance, being used as a reference when Professor Frink points out to Lisa that "baseball is a game played by the dextrous but only understood by the poindextrous."
Opening sequence
Approximately the first half minute of the opening sequence remains the same, with a few oddities: the word "BANKSY" is sprayed onto a number of walls and other public spaces; Krusty's billboard advertises that he now performs at funeralFuneral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
s (first seen on "Take My Life, Please
Take My Life, Please
"Take My Life, Please" is the tenth episode of the twentieth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 15, 2009...
", but this had "Banksy" on it). The chalkboard gag ("I must not write all over the walls") is written all over the classroom walls, clock, door, and floor.
After the Simpsons arrive at home, the camera cuts to a shot of them on the couch, then zooms out to show this as a picture hanging on the wall of a fictional overseas Asian
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
and merchandise sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
. The animation color quickly becomes drab and gray, and the music turns dramatic à la Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
. A large group of tired and sickly artists draw animation cel
Cel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
s for The Simpsons among piles of human bones and toxic waste
Toxic waste
Toxic waste is waste material that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It spreads quite easily and can contaminate lakes and rivers. The term is often used interchangeably with “hazardous waste”, or discarded material that can pose a long-term risk to health or environment.Toxic waste...
, and a female artist hands a barefoot child employee
Child labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
an animation cel, which he washes in a vat of biohazard
Biohazard
Biohazard may refer to:* Biological hazard* Biohazard , a book by Ken Alibek* Biohazard , a New York hardcore punk band** Biohazard , a self-titled album from Biohazard...
ous fluid.
The camera tracks down to a lower floor on the building, where small kitten
Kitten
A kitten is a juvenile domesticated cat.The young of big cats are called cubs rather than kittens. Either term may be used for the young of smaller wild felids such as ocelots, caracals, and lynx, but "kitten" is usually more common for these species....
s are thrown into a woodchipper
Woodchipper
A tree chipper or wood chipper is a machine used for reducing wood into smaller parts, such as wood chips or sawdust. They are often portable, being mounted on wheels on frames suitable for towing behind a truck or van. Power is generally provided by an internal combustion engine from to...
-type machine to provide the filling for Bart Simpson
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
plush dolls. The toys are then placed into a cart pulled by a sad panda
Panda
Panda or Panda bear most often refers to:*Giant panda, an animal in the Bear familyPanda may also refer to:*Red panda, the only living member in the Ailuridae family-In biology:* Species related to the Giant panda...
which is driven by a man with a whip
Whip
A whip is a tool traditionally used by humans to exert control over animals or other people, through pain compliance or fear of pain, although in some activities whips can be used without use of pain, such as an additional pressure aid in dressage...
. A man shipping boxes with The Simpsons logo on the side uses the tongue from a decapitated dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
head to fasten shut the packages. Another employee uses the horn of a sickly unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
to smash the holes in the center of The Simpsons DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s. The shot zooms out to reveal that sweatshop is contained within a grim version of the 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
logo, surrounded by barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
, searchlights, and a watchtower
Watchtower
A watchtower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military, and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to provide a high, safe place from which a sentinel or guard may...
.
Creation
BritishBritish people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
graffiti artist
Street art
Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...
and political activist Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
is credited with creating the opening titles and couch gag for this episode, in what amounted to the first time that an artist has been invited to storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
the show. Executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
first took note of Banksy after seeing his 2010 film Exit Through the Gift Shop
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Guetta happily accepts the assignment, adopting the name "Mr. Brainwash", putting up street art in the city and six months later, re-mortgaging his business to afford renting copious equipment and a complete production team to create pieces of art under his supervision...
. According to Jean, "The concept in my mind was, 'What if this graffiti artist came in and tagged our main titles?'" Simpsons casting director Bonnie Pietila was able to contact the artist through the film's producers, and asked if he would be interested in writing a main title for the show. Jean said Banksy "sent back boards for pretty much what you saw." Series creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
gave the idea his blessing, and helped try to make the sequence as close to Banksy's original storyboards as possible. Fox's standards and practices department demanded a handful of changes, but, according to Jean, "95 percent of it is just the way he wanted."
The Simpsons is storyboarded at Film Roman
Film Roman
Film Roman is an animation studio founded by Phil Roman, best known for producing the animation for The Simpsons, King of the Hill for 20th Century Fox, as well as the Garfield and Peanuts animated TV specials....
, a company based in California. The storyboards, voice tracks and coloring instructions are then sent to AKOM
AKOM
AKOM Productions is a South Korean animation studio in Songpa-gu, Seoul that has provided much work since its conception in 1985 by Nelson Shin. Its biggest claim to fame is the overseas animation for 200 episodes of The Simpsons, to which that number is consistently rising...
, a company in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South Korea. According to Nelson Shin
Nelson Shin
Nelson Shin is an animation director who is the founder and president of Akom Production Co., Ltd., in Seoul, South Korea. He founded Akom in 1985....
, the founder of AKOM, they received the storyboard for the sequence in August 2010. Believing the sequence to be "excessive and offending" he pushed for some of the darker jokes to be removed. He was successful, though "not nearly as much as he had pushed for." For example, in the storyboards, the workers were wearing conical Asian hats, but these were removed.
Banksy told The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
that his opening sequence was influenced by The Simpsons long-running use of animation studios in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. The newspaper also reported that the creation of the sequence "is said to have been one of the most closely guarded secrets in US television – comparable to the concealment of Banksy's own identity."
BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
reported that "According to [Banksy], his storyboard led to delays, disputes over broadcast standards and a threatened walk out by the animation department." However, Al Jean disputed this, saying " [The animation department] didn't walk out. Obviously they didn't. We've depicted the conditions in a fanciful light before." Commenting on hiring Banksy to create the titles, Jean joked, "This is what you get when you outsource." Although conceding to the fact that The Simpsons is largely animated in South Korea, Jean went on to state that the scenes shown in titles are "very fanciful, far-fetched. None of the things he depicts are true. That statement should be self-evident, but I will emphatically state it."
Cultural references
The title is a play on the Michael M. LewisMichael Lewis (author)
Michael Lewis is an American non-fiction author and financial journalist. His bestselling books include The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, Panic and Home Game: An...
book Moneyball, which examines the 2002 Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
' use of sabermetrics
Sabermetrics
Sabermetrics is the specialized analysis of baseball through objective, empirical evidence, specifically baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research...
to build a competitive baseball team. Moe laments his decision to advertise his drink specials in Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
magazine, which led to Frink and company coming in.
Reception
In its original American broadcast on October 10, 2010, "MoneyBART" was viewed by an estimated 6.74 million viewers, according to the Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, receiving a 3.0 rating/8% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, beating The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show is an American animated television series that premiered on September 27, 2009, as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox in the United States...
and American Dad!
American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
in the demographic and total viewers and ranking third in its timeslot. The episode received a 29% drop in the demographic from the previous episode, "Loan-a Lisa
Loan-a Lisa
"Loan-a Lisa" is the second episode of The Simpsons twenty-second season. The episode aired October 3, 2010. It guest starred Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hansen and Muhammad Yunus...
".
The episode received favorable reviews. Brad Trechak of the TV Squad said of the episode: "In the end, the episode was really good at the beginning and the ending, but the middle kind of dragged." Eric Hochburger of TV Fanatic criticized the Mike Scioscia
Mike Scioscia
Michael Lorri Scioscia is a former Major League Baseball catcher and current manager for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He has worked in that capacity since the 2000 season, and is the longest-tenured manager in Major League Baseball....
cameo, although he said that "[w]hile this week's installment will never replace our favorite Simpsons baseball episode, "Homer at the Bat," there [was] certainly plenty of great jokes and a strong enough story with heart to keep us entertained." Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
compared the episode favorably to "Lisa on Ice
Lisa on Ice
"Lisa on Ice" is the eighth television episode of The Simpsons sixth season. It was first broadcast on Fox in the United States on November 13, 1994. In the episode, Principal Skinner hands out academic alerts to the Springfield Elementary students, and Lisa discovers that she is in peril of...
" although he also criticized the Scioscia cameo, calling it "awkward". In conclusion he gave the episode an A-, the best grade of the night.
The opening sequence received a generally mixed response. Nelson Shin
Nelson Shin
Nelson Shin is an animation director who is the founder and president of Akom Production Co., Ltd., in Seoul, South Korea. He founded Akom in 1985....
, the founder of AKOM
AKOM
AKOM Productions is a South Korean animation studio in Songpa-gu, Seoul that has provided much work since its conception in 1985 by Nelson Shin. Its biggest claim to fame is the overseas animation for 200 episodes of The Simpsons, to which that number is consistently rising...
, the Korean company that animates The Simpsons, said that he and his staff did protest being asked to animate the sequence. Shin said that the sequence suggests that animators work in sweatshops, but they actually work in "high-tech workshops." He added, "Most of the content was about degrading people from Korea, China, Mexico and Vietnam. If Banksy wants to criticize these things ... I suggest that he learn more about it first."
Colby Hall of Mediaite
Mediaite
Mediaite is a news and opinion blog covering politics and entertainment in the media industry as well as other issues. It is the flagship blog of Abrams Media, a ring of blogs run by ABC legal analyst Dan Abrams and also featuring Gossip Cop, Geekosystem, Styleite, Sports Grid, The Mary Sue and...
called the sequence "a jaw-dropping critique of global corporate licensing, worker exploitation and over-the-top dreariness of how western media companies (in this case, 20th Century Fox) takes advantage of outsourced
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
labor in developing countries." Melissa Bell of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
felt Banksy's titles had helped revive The Simpsons "edge", but after "the jarring opening, the show went back to its regular routine of guest cameos, self-referential jokes and tangential story lines." Marlow Riley of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
wrote "as satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, [the opening is] a bit over-the-top. What is shocking is that Fox ran Banksy's ballsy critique of outsourcing, The Simpsons, and the standards and human rights conditions that people in first world nations accept. It's uncomfortable and dark, and not what's expected from the modern Simpsons, which mainly consists of 'Homer hurts himself' jokes."
External links
- YouTube - Banksy - Simpsons Opening Sequence last access 20 September 2011