When the adjustable rate on Homer and Marge's mortgage resets at more than they can afford, they must put their home up for sale. Good Samaritan Ned Flanders buys the house and rents it out to them at an affordable rate. But Homer pushes his luck too far when he takes advantage of Ned's generous land lording duties.
Like I had mentioned in the previous blog, I am not an avid Simpson’s watcher, but Homer not being able to pay bills seems to be a running theme. Ned, being the good neighbor he is despite how Homer treats him, offers to purchase the home again for them and rent it to them so they could still live in their home at an affordable price. I think Homer and Marge are being completely unreasonable by asking him to do all those chores they could easily be doing themselves. They should be so gracious considering they are not living on the streets where they would be if it wasn’t for Ned. However, after being so fed up, Ned does just that and kicks them out. After realizing that he does in fact miss the Simpsons he lets them move back in. I’m not sure if they ended up re-purchasing their home, but I guess we’ll find out the next episode! I feel as though this episode identifies with the current economic situation. With how bad the economy is doing, it is making life a hell of a lot more difficult for people to keep up with their payments and having to cut back on numerous things. Luckily for the Simpsons, their neighbor is extremely kind and I guess forgiving for having helped them out in such a big way.
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Your right, it was a gracious act for Ned to purchase the Simpson home. Its sad that there are millions of people who may end up on the street behind foreclosed properties. A recent episode of 20/20 focused on the economic crisis and showed a man and his family struggling to keep their home. Up until about a yr ago, he had a 6 figure income. He now delivers pizzas, making 7.29/hr. They have an extremely high mortgage along with 2 private school tuitions to pay for. They are getting ready to lose their home and the children dont know. If nothing else, they wanted their children to stay in the school where they have been students their entire lives. Unable to afford the tuition, a neighbor and friend is covering the 60,000 bill. So its cool that these people have a real live Ned Flanders!
ReplyDeleteI am not an avid Simpson's watcher either, in fact, I don't think I have seen an entire episode until we had to watch it for this class.
ReplyDeleteThis episode reminded me of neighbors in real life. When you live next to someone for long enough and form a relationship with them, it really is hard to let them go. This is why Ned had such a hard time renting to another family, even though they portrayed the image of the "perfect neighbors". This stuff happens in real life, and there are good people like Ned Falnders out there. There are people who are truly your friends, and they do their best to help you through whatever you may encounter. Quashia- that is a great example of a real life Ned Flanders. I agree that it is so great that there are people out there who are willing to help people in need make things work. Everybody deserves a good life, with a roof over their head, food on their plate, good company and a good education.
I agree. This episode is totally a commentary on the US’ economic state. But also I think the Simpsons writers are commenting on the 'average' American’s view of kindness. The Simpsons exploit Ned’s generosity. This could possibly be poking fun at the idea of manners and goodwill being rare things to see these days; The Simpsons are confused by Ned’s goodwill and, not really realizing what they are doing, they completely take advantage of him. I’ve lived in a lot of places and it does seem that the majority of people tend to actually be this way. Of course, there are rare people, like in the comment above, who are amazing and do things like Ned Flanders did. But in general, I am always amazed at the rare occasions when someone holds the door for someone else, at least outside of Quinnipiac.
ReplyDeleteThe Simpson’s actions were obviously exaggerated, but, of course, Simpsonean (yes, I did say Simpsonean, hah) hyperboles, unlike general kindness, are not rare.
This episode was one of the few that really hit home for me. I grew up in a small town that is facing extinction. It was home to the original IBM facility, and when it left, it destroyed a lot of our community financially and socially. This is because all my friends parents had worked for IBM, duel income family's suddenly without income.
ReplyDeleteThe economic decline is something were all facing. Even if you feel that your financially secure like Ned Flanders, its painful to watch others feel the squeeze. Ned had given up a lot of money to bail out the Simpson family; even through all the rough times that Homer and his family had put Ned in. This may not be everyone's ideal way to help a struggling friend, but it was an act of kindness that shouldn't be taken for granted like the Simpson family had done. The episode may have been focused on fiscal irresponsibility, but I think the underlying commentary is to be a good neighbor even if your not always treated fairly or with the respect you should have earned.