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Okay, I'll bite. Your supposed refutations don't work because you're missing the point of many of the jokes. I'll highlight a few: The names: myPod just soun

• unalone 18y ago
  No, I get the point. They're still not funny, and that's what I take issue with. Steve Mobs is a joke about Jobs' charisma. And it's a bad, unclever one. The Genius Bar: it's not parodying the attitudes of the actual Apple Geniuses, it's making fun of the ludicrous idea of calling your tech support guys geniuses. Again: that's not a funny joke. Powered by dreams and imagination: it's mostly parodying the way Apple users talk about their Apple products (I know Mac users that gush about how beautiful they are). It's also mocking Apple's marketing, like the iPod dance commercials, which are all style and no substance. I get that. But still: it's such a stupid no-brainer target, and they didn't do anything particularly clever about it. Glowing computer being turned off: it's parodying the glowing/pulsing light on Apple notebooks when they're in sleep mode. That's quite obscure. And that glowing light isn't exactly something mockable. It's a damn good design choice. iPhonies: it's parodying the white headphones being associated with iPods, not only in all of the iPod marketing, but in the minds of the public as well. For a discussion of the significance of the white headphones, see "The Perfect Thing" by Steven Levy. That I get. I just don't see why that's funny: I've never met somebody with the headphones who wasn't using a Mac. I don't think I know anybody who would think that was a good way to stand out and be cool. I'll check out the book: thanks for the recommendation! iPhonies are expensive: it's parodying the perception that you pay more for Apple products and all you get for the price premium is the status associated with having the products. "Parodying perception" isn't anything unless you're actively mocking the fact that perception is wrong. Until then, you're just taking popular parody and taking it because people who already don't like something are an easy target. If this clip had also parodied anti-Mac sentiment, I could see this as a more legitimate point. Steve Mobs calls himself "insanely great.": it's parodying the Steve Jobs is the Savior of the Computing World attitude some Apple Fanboys have, not how he sees himself. See, I see that as a lazy and unfunny joke. I get it, but I think that The Simpsons could have done better by actually showing Jobs as he reportedly sees himself. People don't get Mac products to look cool: this directly contradicts my anecdotal experience with an Apple fan. But, it doesn't matter. The show isn't parodying individual people's attitudes, but rather a certain perception of Apple users, whether it's true or not. But that's lazy! I'm sorry, I know I keep saying the same thing. But it's true. Lazy humor is the easiest and worst, and I can't stand it, especially not when it's a show that used to be so good. Finally, just naming something and calling it "not funny" doesn't make it not funny, and isn't a critique of it. No, it doesn't. What makes it not funny is the fact that it isn't funny. It's the fact that it's lazy and takes the easy way out with every single joke.
• jcl 18y ago
  Thank you. I thought the episode was pretty funny, but I couldn't think of how to explain that to someone so determined to dislike the episode that he had to explain joke-by-joke why he didn't think it was funny. I'll just add that I particularly enjoyed the 1984 parody. There is a fundamental difference between merely referencing the commercial (as Futurama did) and the irony of recasting Steve Jobs as the giant talking head.