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Banksy
Simpsons asks Banksy for couch gag, gets slammed
Fox asks the British graffiti artist to design an opening sequence – and gets portrayed as a greedy corporate machine.
THE SIMPSONS has been condemned as a corporate machine that sacrifices the welfare of underpaid workers in east Asia in the pursuit of capitalist greed – by its own opening sequence.
The makers of the United States’ longest-running primetime show invited British graffiti artist Banksy to design the couch gag for last night’s episode entitled ‘MoneyBART’.
In return, the artist – known for his stinging guerilla social commentaries – portrayed the Asian factories that produce the show’s animation cels, DVDs and other merchandise. And let’s just say this: it’s not pretty.
Though he begins with a simple enough idea – that Bart’s lines on the chalkboard (“I must not write all over the walls”) are, in fact, all over the walls – it quickly descends into a dark commentary on western capitalism and all its evils.
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