Somethingdegrees

An under-appreciated category of Simpsons joke: the riff on genre cliches that *feel* like they should be referencing a specific piece of media but aren’t. They are just spoofing a “vibe” commonly associated with a particular genre. In this case, it’s every “evil demonic creepy child” horror story. Another great example: Joey the sick boy from “And Maggie Makes Three.” It’s kind of a ‘Dickens by way of Steinbeck’ gag about every “sickly child in a heartbreaking social commentary about the depredations of poverty.”