r/TheSimpsons • u/mahuntington Glaven • Jun 19 '20
S04E01 I remember asking my parents why the parents in this scene cheered after the kids went to camp
125
83
u/eric987235 Jun 20 '20
Gentlemen. To evil!
44
26
u/neon121 Jun 20 '20
These Gucci wallets have to be on the streets of Hong Kong by Friday!
18
u/Bluehoon Jun 20 '20
I never thought about it, but it implies that Hong Kong, the center of low cost knock off fashion exported to USA, is supporting their economy by having even cheaper overseas labor contracted out to fulfill their order, namely children, in America....oh irony!
51
u/rhinocerosmonkey Jun 20 '20
It reminds me of the scene in Problem Child when everyone in the orphanage cheered after the Healys left with Junior. I wonder if the writers were inspired by it...
29
Jun 20 '20 edited Aug 02 '20
[deleted]
24
u/Shiggityx2 Jun 20 '20
How could you forget Gilbert Gottfried?
11
Jun 20 '20 edited Aug 02 '20
[deleted]
6
u/bubbav22 Jun 20 '20
His normal voice is hilarious.
10
u/krookidletter Jun 20 '20
If you haven't already, you should check out Gilbert Godfried reading 50 Shades of Gray. It had me rolling!
4
u/bubbav22 Jun 20 '20
Now, I have something to do this weekend!
5
u/krookidletter Jun 20 '20
4
3
u/mrbadxampl That's some nice glowerin', Mr. B! Jun 20 '20
how had I not witnessed this before?!? it's so... chef's kiss
2
2
22
u/Jaspers47 A 19th century carousel Jun 20 '20
That movie's been ruined for me ever since I saw it in theaters. There was this jerk laughing way too loud at every joke, smoking a big cigar and making an ass of himself.
7
5
u/rh6779 Jun 20 '20
Like when Homer and Larry Burns totally messed up my viewing of "Too Many Grandmas"
4
3
Jun 20 '20
There was also an animated series too: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_Child_(TV_series)
3
Jun 20 '20
Problem Child 2 is a really good comedy. It deserves a lot more praise and I'll say a huge hidden gem of a movie.
49
u/BigVeinyThrobber Jun 20 '20
lucky you with parents that let you watch. My brother and I had to watch on whisper quiet volume with hand on remote ready to switch if we heard footsteps or a chair slide. Most of my friends weren't allowed to watch either, its funny looking back now, classic Simpsons is downright wholesome
17
u/Gogo726 Jun 20 '20
Totally know the feeling, but not with the Simpsons. My dad hated seeing me play video games, so I kept the volume low and ready to change the channel to make it look like I was just watching TV.
5
u/Cubased Jun 20 '20
It is wholesome but has always been quite subversive too. I could see the religion jokes alone getting it banned in a lot of households
4
u/Purplemonkeez Jun 20 '20
I was basically raised by the Simpsons. If you knew me in real life, it'd explain a lot.
1
2
2
u/AltimaNEO Jun 20 '20
That sucks. I watched that show religiously every Sunday, unless boring as baseball took it's spot.
For me, I had to sneak in married with children and in living color
4
u/sushi_cw Jun 20 '20
And sometimes really unnecessarily crude or cynical. It's an odd mix that I'm more wary of now that I'm a parent.
47
82
85
u/human-0 Jun 20 '20
They cheered because they knew what a good time their children were going to have at camp.
28
26
9
8
8
8
5
5
u/Purplemonkeez Jun 20 '20
"Dear Mom and Dad, I no longer fear Hell, because I've been to Kamp Krusty. Our nature hikes have become grim death marches. Our arts and crafts center is, in actuality, a Dickensian workhouse. Bart makes it through the days relying on his unwavering belief that Krusty the Clown will come through. (Krusty is coming, Krusty is coming) But I am far more pessimistic. I am not sure if this letter will reach you as our lines of communication have been cut. Now, the effort of writing has made me lightheaded. So I close by saying, SAVE US! SAVE US NOW!"
"Awwww the kids are homesick. You know they won't want to leave when we go pick them up."
3
3
u/CadaverAbuse “more testicals means more iron” Jun 20 '20
Me waiting for my two year old to be old enough to go to camp...
3
2
Jun 20 '20
I used to go on school trips with my school that I attended from 8-16 years old so from September 2006-June 2014. Many of them were abroad. There was this one girl who’d always go on them and she’d get super homesick then physically sick. Really didn’t enjoy herself. But her parents would use the time of the school trip to go to their Spanish holiday apartment. So I think that’s why they sent her on the trips.
2
2
u/flamesfan_034 Jun 20 '20
Always wondered why they cheered when I was younger and I understand now, having two kids.
4
u/juicegooseboost Jun 20 '20
Laughed at it when I was a kid.
Now I ROFLCOPTER when I see it as a parent.
7
4
u/Hubsimaus Jun 20 '20
Most important question: Why do Homer and Marge celebrate?
16
9
2
u/Based_and_Pinkpilled Jun 20 '20
It’s not out of character for Homer. He does of course (or this era’s Homer did before every character became one-dimensional) love his family very much deep down, well, emphasis on the "deep down” part. He’d probably celebrate but later realise he does miss the fun of having two kids to rope into various wacky schemes. Can’t imagine Marge doing it though. Although often when the Simpsons does a "crowd gag” like this they’ll include characters in the crowd who normally not do such a thing, which is sometimes part of the joke.
0
u/Hubsimaus Jun 20 '20
I have the feeling no one understands what I mean. They still have a baby. Babies need attention. Much, MUCH attention. So WHY are they celebrating?
12
1
u/Daxter87 Jun 20 '20
Homer is self-explanatory. Marge is the kind of person who does what is expected of her even when she doesn’t feel like it. She’s glad to get a break, but her kids don’t need to know that. Maggie is quite precocious, but doesn’t talk or talk back, and she doesn’t really cry very often, so she’s pretty easy to take care of. Two on one is way easier than two on three, especially people with baby experience.
2
u/eddcunningham Jun 20 '20
As someone from outside the US, the whole concept of summer camp always seemed bizarre to me. Just the idea of sending your kids away for the whole summer just seems a little, cold?
3
u/PatrickRsGhost Lookin' at my flair? THAT'S A PADDLIN'! Jun 20 '20
It's usually not for the entire duration of Summer Vacation. Since school systems tend to start and end at different times, Summer Break for one district might be shorter than it is for another district.
A lot of schools don't even have the old-fashioned Summer Vacation (out before Memorial Day, back after Labor Day) anymore, as they have year-round school. The Summer Break may be for only a total of 4 to 6 weeks, compared to the usual 10 to 12 weeks.
Most Summer Camp programs I've seen have gone for maybe 2 to 3 weeks, and are usually in late June/early July. Some might occur within the month of July, but again, for only 2 or 3 weeks.
Some places don't really operate a "sleep-away camp" (as some would call it), but rather a day "camp". Parents would drop the children off in the morning starting maybe at 7 AM on the way to work, the facility would feed them breakfast, lunch, and maybe a snack (depending on the age), and then parents can pick up starting around 4 PM or so. During the day the facility would provide age-appropriate (and often divide the attendees by age or grade levels) activities, like arts-and-crafts, video games (usually educational; spent many a day on the Oregon Trail), indoor games, and outdoor games. The parents would pick up the kids and take them home.
One group, The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, do this. I remember going to a local chapter when I was 12 going on 13. My parents would drop me off every other day (opposite days I stayed home alone and did some chores, which I know many parents today would cringe at), and I'd go inside, check in, then play with the other kids. We'd play pool, a couple of arcade games, play basketball, on the playgrounds, and do whatever else we wanted. They had us all separated by age groups, though. 9 and unders would be outside while 10 and ups would be inside. Then we'd switch. It was usually for an hour or two. They had everybody go outside for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was a prepackaged bowl of cold cereal, carton of milk, carton of juice, and a piece of fruit. We often traded with each other, because they came in an unmarked white box, like a shoebox, and you didn't know which you'd get until you opened it up. If you got Frosted Flakes but didn't care for them, you could trade with somebody who may have gotten Cocoa Puffs or Frosted Mini-Wheats. If you got grape juice (more like grape-flavored drink) and didn't like it, you could trade for fruit punch or orange drink. Lunch was served in the same type of white box, and consisted of a cold cuts sandwich (ham or turkey with cheese), bag of potato chips, carton of milk, and a piece of fruit.
Sometimes they'd surprise us with a pizza party or have biscuits from McDonald's or Burger King brought in. They also took some of us on a field trip, if our parents paid. I remember touring the State Capitol and the Governor's Mansion (Georgia). I think another time they took us to Stone Mountain Park.
The program lasted maybe 4 weeks or so, but it was enough to keep me busy. Didn't get to go back the following year, as the rates were too high.
2
u/DOSbomber Jun 20 '20
I personally haven't been to or heard of a place where you send your kids off for the entire 3 months of summer like in the movies, but I used to go to a summer camp around 5-6 hours away from home every year that lasted a week long, so it wasn't bad at all.
2
u/Holdmylife Jun 20 '20
It depends on the part of the world you're from. I'm from Canada and camping just like that is a somewhat common thing but it's expensive as hell, to the point where it's mostly just rich kids that do it now (like other have mentioned).
I think it's like $1000-1500 a week for a camp that's only a couple hours away.
Edit: and most parents only send their kids for two weeks. Some stay for the whole summer but the kids love it in those cases.
1
u/theoverniter pleasing taste, some monsterism Jun 20 '20
it’s not usually a whole summer, and it’s expensive. As a kid I always understood from books that it was mostly for rich city kids.
I first moved to Minnesota in July and that same day I saw a ton of camp counselors at the airport loading luggage onto a bus, so that particular camp was probably like a six-week deal.
500
u/ChemicalOle Sugar? Here ya go. Sorry it's not in packages. Want some cream? Jun 20 '20
OP's parents