"There's no disgrace like home"/early Homer

I was watching "There's no disgrace like home" earlier today and I realized that Homer has really gone downhill. In this episode, Homer was as close to being a loving father as he's ever been in this one.

JMHO, Robin:) NRobin1027

Agreed I think the loss of Homer as an emotional character in general has turned him into a flat character and been part of the problem as the show moves along.

I accepted the dumbing down of Homer...it made him an entertaining character...but early on it seems he always fell back on the family...no matter how much he choked Bart, or hated Lisa's sax playing he still loved his kids.

But now Homer is simply a helpless victim of intertia. Like a professional wrestler thrown into the ropes, he goes through the motions with no thought or ability to stop.

You mean he's nothing more that, Gasp!, a cartoon character??!!

My argument never had anything to do with whether or not Homer should be able to escape the confines of his animation...he is, was and always will be just a cartoon character.

But even among cartoon characters there is a level of quality It took a while for the character of Homer to hit his stride, but I believe a good Homer is one that balances his stupidity with a small dose of compassion or humility.

This effects the stories too. Examples : at Lisa's wedding Homer's saddness at Hugh not wanting to wear the family tradition cufflinks actually adds a nice emotional dimension to the story. But too often hardships are just contrived plot devices to see the rats run through the maze... Do we really care whether the carnies actually keep the house or not?? I think any sort of emotional depth to any of the Simpson's characters would have made Homer's winning the house back a wonderful victory. Instead, its simply a trick no better than the flat characters that the one shot carnies are.

Now get on the trolley.

Your comment seems to imply that a cartoon character and a one dimensional character are analogous.

This isn't necessarily true. many cartoon characters are three dimensional characters as well, though they may also contain elements of caricature or comic exaggeration. The majority of the Looney Tunes characters and a few of the characters from the Disney features would fit into this catagory.

You mean like in Homer 3, the Halloween episode??

Yes, exactly. Finally, someone gets it.