Last week something went viral on social media and I kind of hate it.
The film is a fake trailer for a “live-action” movie adaptation of “The Simpsons,” starring a series of famous actors as the main characters of “The Simpsons.”
Adam Sandler plays Homer Simpson and Kristen Wiig plays Marge. Jacob Tremblay “plays” Bart, McKenna Grace plays Lisa, and Will Ferrell plays Ned Flanders.
Steve Buscemi stars as Montgomery Burns, Neil Patrick Harris stars as Smithers, Ben Stiller stars as Moe, and John C. Reilly stars as Barney. Steve Carell as Principal Skinner, Zach Galifianakis as Chief Wiggum, Kumail Nanjiani (Kumail Nanjiani) serves as Apu.
I hate a lot of things about this.
For one thing, that’s not true, although many on social media seem to think otherwise. It uses artificial intelligence technology (not very good) while stealing likenesses of celebrities without their involvement or consent.
According to Snopes, the video comes from the YouTube channel “The Multiverse of AI.”
And, nothing interesting happens. This “trailer” is a far cry from what The Simpsons is — from its tone to its visual style — and what makes it engaging and entertaining.
It’s also an insult to Adam Sandler.
In short, there are plenty of reasons to hate that fake trailer.
this is fake
With the collapse of content moderation on social media, especially Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), there are fewer and fewer guardrails about what is real and what is not.
This issue is often pointed out when it comes to politics and other matters of national importance. However, truth standards also break down for lower-stakes matters like entertainment news.
There have always been “viral” posts on social media about alleged sequels and other film projects that simply aren’t true. That was the case even before we saw the fake Simpsons trailer.
Meanwhile, various news sites refer to it as a “concept trailer” in the second half of the title, but that doesn’t help matters. In some cases, they were coy about whether the trailers were real.
Among other issues, the video isn’t structured like a movie trailer. On one hand there is no comedy and on the other hand no one talks.
In recent months, AMC Films’ fake poster for “Heisenberg,” the sequel to “Breaking Bad,” has gone viral.
This was obviously created by someone who forgot that Walter White died at the end of the show and that there was already a Breaking Bad sequel movie on Netflix in 2019 called El Camino.
There’s also “Fred,” the purported Freddy Krueger origin series starring DJ Qualls and developed by Rob Zombie.
Not to mention the “sarcasm” posted on Facebook pages about members of The View being fired, Mel Gibson, Mark Wahlberg and other actors forming an “anti-woke production company” or other such lies.
Artificial intelligence sucks
Another reason The Simpsons trailer sucks is its use of artificial intelligence. It’s bad because artificial intelligence is generally bad.
First, there is the moral and intellectual property dimension. Neither Adam Sandler nor any of the other actors agreed to have their likenesses used in the footage, nor did the creators of “The Simpsons.”
For all the impressions it’s garnered online, the video may have already made money. But the people inside didn’t see a dime.
Also, the AI rendering is terrible. “John C. Reilly” looks more like Jack Black than Reilly. One day, generative artificial intelligence may be more realistic, but we’re clearly not there yet.
it doesn’t understand the simpsons
The film is not “The Simpsons” in any way. For one thing, these characters aren’t even yellow. Nor does it have any particular understanding of the show’s specific pacing and humor.
With a long history that began in 1989 and a history of short films that go back even further, The Simpsons is a great feat of world-building, with hundreds of characters and an incredibly deep lore.
For most of its history, the show was written by writers who grew up watching and loving the show.
Additionally, the show’s animation is an integral aspect of its nature.
It just doesn’t make sense to use live action to tell its story. Plus, the fake trailer doesn’t take any chances to be funny – or, for that matter, let the characters do the talking.
Begun in 1989, “The Simpsons” has aired for 35 seasons.
it doesn’t understand adam sandler
Adam Sandler may never star in a live-action version of The Simpsons . While they are both comedic figures, his style of humor doesn’t have much in common with the show.
Additionally, Sandler is not a good candidate for a remake or reboot. Of his popular projects over the years, only one, Mr. Deeds, was a remake of a previous film or TV series.
Of course, Sandler has done some ill-conceived projects in his time. But I don’t think Adam Sandler would do such a thing.
It’s not even an original idea
“The Simpsons” aired a live-action title sequence as early as 2006.
The video was actually produced by Sky One to promote the show.
But the show’s producers used it in actual episodes, including couch jokes and more. It’s titled Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife.
If it was a live-action version, that version actually tried to look like The Simpsons, as opposed to the AI version, which looked nothing like it.
Lessons from fake trailers
In an age of rampant artificial intelligence and reduced content moderation, we can become better at discerning authenticity and inauthenticity in online content.
But other than that, the fake trailer for The Simpsons was pretty bad.
