Oh Irony, Where Art Thy Sting?

I can’t be the only one a wee bit put off by the much-lauded Banksy-directed opening to the Simpsons last night [embedded video apparently no longer works] can I?

I know the token reaction today is “I can’t believe Fox aired it!” But, aired it they did, and we’re left to pick up the pieces of what that decision means for telling the truth. In this instance, we’re dutifully rewarded for being “in on the joke” that we’re all a part of the process of commodity production & consumption. And yet, of course, as has become customary by now to point out, the joke is itself now a part of that same process, leaving us  mostly with either a feeling of smugness or despair. Either way, you’re still dutifully treated to a reasonably funny episode of the show you intended to watch. It seems to me the better way forward, albeit a way that would not have been aired at all, would’ve been, following the opening credits, to cut to random bits of Married With Children instead, or perhaps an old Maoist cartoon.