Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
King-Sized Homer
Its been a long road for me. In 2018, my parents asked me to get a blood test for cholesterol, as my dad had an issue they worried could be genetic. The good news was that wasn't an issue. Unfortunately, they also mentioned I was prediabetic. This was something of a scare for me, who was used to being overweight. After 3 months of a super spartan diet, I kept to a more reasonable one and eventually lost 60 pounds over the course of a year and a half. I'm still slightly overweight but I am within spitting distance of what is considered to be my ideal weight range (I've gained some back in the last few months due to a mix of being stuck inside and a mix of holiday eating and political stress eating). Last I talked to my doctor, he told me I wasn't near diabetic. It made me happy and made healthy living seem obtainable. Losing all that weight makes me happy and people were genuinely surprised how lean I looked compared to before. Frankly, as someone who loves to eat more than anything, it isn't always easy but it can be done (so far. We'll see what happens when my metabolism goes into decline).
In this episode, Homer decides to try to get on disability to work from home. After learning hyper-obesity is a disability, Homer becomes determined to gain enough weight to achieve his goal. He does but this puts him at odds with Marge and Lisa, who are worried about his health. Homer enjoys working from home at first but soon finds the work monotonous and simplistic, even for him and is constantly looking for distractions. He soon becomes a laughing stock amongst people, much to his chagrin. During an outing, Homer discovers he's endangered the plant and it will soon explode. Homer rushes to the plant and manages to save it in time with his girth. Homer then asks Mr. Burns to make him thin in return.
This is kind of a weird one. The episode has a lot of jokes about Homer's new weight but it is also clear that it is trying to say something more serious about obesity and also something about working from home, I guess. As someone trying to be less ableist, its interesting to look at. Yep, lot of fat jokes in this one but it is also trying to make the point that Homer intentionally trying to give himself a disability is rather upsetting. The episode seems genuine about wanting to have sympathy for Homer when Lisa defends him or when Homer is upset after a crowd of people mock him. Lisa knows that Homer is doing damage to himself but she thinks Homer being mocked is unfair and cruel and is upset by the prejudice of others. But then each time its followed up with a fat joke. Yeah, I feel like the 90s weren't ready to handle this one. Its far from the most offensive take on this but its not super great in that regard.
The other thing I give a weird side eye to in the episode is its fear of someone taking advantage of workman's comp. I feel like this was a think I kept seeing in comedies like the Simpsons and Kids in the Hall. Was this concerned justified? I don't know enough about the subject but I suspect not. Despite that the writers of those comedies are largely liberal (with at least one libertarian in the mix), I feel like a paranoia about was being put out there by more conservative elements in the media, probably saying "workman's comp is bad because people will just try to get disabled to make money." Am I right? I mean, I'm just blue skying because while I feel like something was going on in the culture, I don't know what it really stemmed from. I feel like Lisa, however, does have the right attitude that the program exists to help others and that Homer's plot is despicable.
The episode does make Homer doing damage to his body joyous as Homer reaches his goal but having more genuine emotion when the show returns its focus to Marge. Marge telling Homer that his choice to gain weight has damaged her sexual attraction to him and it is not played for any sort of laugh, instead treating this element in their marriage with real gravity. This is the strongest part in the episode to me. I think the element of Homer becoming bored with working from home is somewhat interesting, too, though will also probably age weird too considering the current era. Of course, it isn't problematic at that angle, but I think a lot of people are finding working from home not so bad (though I have no doubt not being able to leave the house causes a number of frustrations. So I feel like this is a mixed bag and I should probably come back to it when I have a more clear-eyed and informed view of ableism, so for me, this is one that I still kind of like but with some definite caveats.
Jokes I missed before:
Other great jokes:
Homer's exchange with Burns after he slides into the room is good.
"I'll have no part of it."
"Can you recommend a doctor who will."
"...yes."
"Normally your father's crackpot schemes fizzle out after he finds something good on TV. But this season..."
"According to daddy's will, I inherit the entire plantation."
"I'll see to it that you won't get apricot one!"
"To obtain a special dialing wand..."
"Heck, I can't decide without the pictures."
Other notes:
A lot of the Homer on his computer gags are very cheesy but Castellaneta sells a lot of them. The "tab" joke is dumb but it works for me. Also, I love that he calls what he is doing "hacking".
Second appearance of Joan Kenley this season, the lady famous for being "the number you have reached..."
Its been a long road for me. In 2018, my parents asked me to get a blood test for cholesterol, as my dad had an issue they worried could be genetic. The good news was that wasn't an issue. Unfortunately, they also mentioned I was prediabetic. This was something of a scare for me, who was used to being overweight. After 3 months of a super spartan diet, I kept to a more reasonable one and eventually lost 60 pounds over the course of a year and a half. I'm still slightly overweight but I am within spitting distance of what is considered to be my ideal weight range (I've gained some back in the last few months due to a mix of being stuck inside and a mix of holiday eating and political stress eating). Last I talked to my doctor, he told me I wasn't near diabetic. It made me happy and made healthy living seem obtainable. Losing all that weight makes me happy and people were genuinely surprised how lean I looked compared to before. Frankly, as someone who loves to eat more than anything, it isn't always easy but it can be done (so far. We'll see what happens when my metabolism goes into decline).
In this episode, Homer decides to try to get on disability to work from home. After learning hyper-obesity is a disability, Homer becomes determined to gain enough weight to achieve his goal. He does but this puts him at odds with Marge and Lisa, who are worried about his health. Homer enjoys working from home at first but soon finds the work monotonous and simplistic, even for him and is constantly looking for distractions. He soon becomes a laughing stock amongst people, much to his chagrin. During an outing, Homer discovers he's endangered the plant and it will soon explode. Homer rushes to the plant and manages to save it in time with his girth. Homer then asks Mr. Burns to make him thin in return.
This is kind of a weird one. The episode has a lot of jokes about Homer's new weight but it is also clear that it is trying to say something more serious about obesity and also something about working from home, I guess. As someone trying to be less ableist, its interesting to look at. Yep, lot of fat jokes in this one but it is also trying to make the point that Homer intentionally trying to give himself a disability is rather upsetting. The episode seems genuine about wanting to have sympathy for Homer when Lisa defends him or when Homer is upset after a crowd of people mock him. Lisa knows that Homer is doing damage to himself but she thinks Homer being mocked is unfair and cruel and is upset by the prejudice of others. But then each time its followed up with a fat joke. Yeah, I feel like the 90s weren't ready to handle this one. Its far from the most offensive take on this but its not super great in that regard.
The other thing I give a weird side eye to in the episode is its fear of someone taking advantage of workman's comp. I feel like this was a think I kept seeing in comedies like the Simpsons and Kids in the Hall. Was this concerned justified? I don't know enough about the subject but I suspect not. Despite that the writers of those comedies are largely liberal (with at least one libertarian in the mix), I feel like a paranoia about was being put out there by more conservative elements in the media, probably saying "workman's comp is bad because people will just try to get disabled to make money." Am I right? I mean, I'm just blue skying because while I feel like something was going on in the culture, I don't know what it really stemmed from. I feel like Lisa, however, does have the right attitude that the program exists to help others and that Homer's plot is despicable.
The episode does make Homer doing damage to his body joyous as Homer reaches his goal but having more genuine emotion when the show returns its focus to Marge. Marge telling Homer that his choice to gain weight has damaged her sexual attraction to him and it is not played for any sort of laugh, instead treating this element in their marriage with real gravity. This is the strongest part in the episode to me. I think the element of Homer becoming bored with working from home is somewhat interesting, too, though will also probably age weird too considering the current era. Of course, it isn't problematic at that angle, but I think a lot of people are finding working from home not so bad (though I have no doubt not being able to leave the house causes a number of frustrations. So I feel like this is a mixed bag and I should probably come back to it when I have a more clear-eyed and informed view of ableism, so for me, this is one that I still kind of like but with some definite caveats.
Jokes I missed before:
Other great jokes:
Homer's exchange with Burns after he slides into the room is good.
"I'll have no part of it."
"Can you recommend a doctor who will."
"...yes."
"Normally your father's crackpot schemes fizzle out after he finds something good on TV. But this season..."
"According to daddy's will, I inherit the entire plantation."
"I'll see to it that you won't get apricot one!"
"To obtain a special dialing wand..."
"Heck, I can't decide without the pictures."
Other notes:
A lot of the Homer on his computer gags are very cheesy but Castellaneta sells a lot of them. The "tab" joke is dumb but it works for me. Also, I love that he calls what he is doing "hacking".
Second appearance of Joan Kenley this season, the lady famous for being "the number you have reached..."