Homer Vs. Dignity (The Simpsons)

Homer vs. Dignity is the 5th episode of Season 12 of The Simpsons. It aired in the United States on November 26, 2000.

Plot
Mr. Burns hires a cash-strapped Homer as his "prank monkey", paying him to play pranks on others and humiliate himself in public.

Why It Has No Dignity

 * 1) One of the reasons as to why this episode is hated is because of the infamously disturbing "Panda Rape" scene, which caused a lot of controversies from fans and critics of The Simpsons due to its outlandish nature as well as the fact it feels very out of place for a Simpsons joke.
 * 2) *The joke could work for shows like Family Guy, American Dad!, and even South Park, because those shows are meant to have inappropriate jokes similarly to the panda rape scene, but having a joke like this on an episode of The Simpsons feels very out of place because the show is normally supposed to have more light-hearted and tame jokes.
 * 3) Mr. Burns is extremely unlikable and very out of character in this episode, rather than being portrayed as the evil, mean old man like he usually is as he is a complete jerk who enjoys other people's suffering.
 * 4) * To make matters worse, he isn't punished for his evil deeds and gets off scot-free.
 * 5) Aside from the infamous panda scene, many of the other jokes in the episode are disgusting and unfunny, like Homer acting like a baby in the men's bathroom.
 * 6) The episode feels like a rehash of the episode "Homer the Smithers".
 * 7) * This is not the last time they would recycle the plot, as the season 13 episode "Homer the Moe" would also use a very similar plot.
 * 8) * Not only that, but The Simpsons had already had episodes about Lisa worrying about someone's soul being sold, Homer having to dress up as Santa Claus for extra money, and the family's financial problems. These elements were all recycled from previous episodes into this one.
 * 9) Terrible ending: Mr. Burns bribes Homer $1,000,000, but Homer chooses to not accept the bribe. Despite this, Mr. Burns replaces the Santa on the parade anyways and throws fish heads at everyone, including the Simpson family.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) It at least has an interesting concept of Homer willing to go through such humiliation to provide for his family (even though it wasn't executed well here).
 * 2) There are some funny scenes:
 * 3) *Mr. Burns mistaking a vending machine for a "candy shop"
 * 4) *The cafeteria scene where Homer throws pudding in Lenny's eye
 * 5) *The scene where Homer eats a rare Spider-Man comic in front of Comic Book Guy, making him cry.
 * 6) *Homer, forgetting to say the word "Christmas" in "Merry Christmas!"
 * 7) *The "financial panther" scene.
 * 8) There are also a few funny lines:
 * 9) *Lenny: "Ow, my eye! I'm not supposed to get pudding in it!"
 * 10) *Mr. Burns: "Not even for, FOUR DOLLARS!?"
 * 11) *Mr Burns: "What are you doing man? That's Carl!"
 * 12) *A man in the theater's: "This is better than a movie, why?"
 * 13) *Mrs. Vanderbilt: "Oh good lord, what a week!"
 * 14) *Santa Burns: "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Fishmas!"
 * 15) The song "Sold Separately", which was sung during Smithers' Malibu Stacey musical, is great (despite being short).
 * 16) The first act was decent, along with a few parts of the second act.

Reception

 * The episode was panned by television critics and met with harsh reviews.  It is often rated high on lists of "Worst Simpsons Episodes Ever" due to its blatant self-plagiarism from previous episodes and the scene wherein Homer, dressed as a panda, is implied to be sexually assaulted by another panda at the zoo. Homer vs. Dignity is the 13th worst episode on the 2011 NoHomers worst episodes list.

Trivia

 * Mike Scully stated that he believed this episode only had so much negativity directed toward it because the viewers had never watched the movie The Magic Christian, which was the inspiration for this episode.

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