HAPPY ST PATRICK’S DAY!
Mar 15th, 2008 by Conor McCabe
During the entire day the state of the city was remarkable for the appearance of tranquillity and order which the streets presented. There was no fighting, and not even the most trifling disturbance was reported. In this respect the day will bear a favourable comparison with previous anniversaries. At night there was little drunkenness and disorder observed; the streets were almost empty at midnight, and very few prisoners were made by the police.” (Irish Times, 19 March 1866)
I´ve just been reading the Irish Times´vox pop on Irishness. apparently, we’re friendly, funny, and like a drink. And at the same time, the interviewees said that the image of the Irish as liking a drink is not true. So there you have it. We like to drink, except we don’t. All clear?
The St. Patrick’s day parade is as much an American tradition as an Irish one, so they’ve got rights when it comes to taking the piss out of it. And nobody does it better than the Simpsons. Drunkenness, violence, world-standard literature, and terrorism. All in four minutes.
Enjoy.
One real oddity was that Police float with a head with features not a million miles away from Punch caricatures from the 19th century. I wonder how that snuck in… also, got to love the brilliant cynicism of the NINA sign at the back of Moe’s bar… still, the fighting Irish. Interesting. I blame the diaspora…
I love the John ‘O’ Bull´s fish and chip shop that’s destroyed by a bomb, kicking off the riot.
The thing about the Punch cartoons is that at the time they were syndicated around the world, so you have newspapers using them in pretty much all the English-speaking countries - Australia, America, Canada, etc. Punch cartoons were not just printed in Punch.
On my previous looks over this clip, I managed to miss the bit (about 3 mins. in) where Homer, with a barrel over his head, says : ‘I’m the prime minister of Ireland’. My reaction now is ‘Naw, ye couldn’t be - far too much credibility’.
Can’t complain about the national Saint though. This year, I get to play (among others) a song written by Bobby Sands in front of a shower of rich shaggers having paid about a quarter of an average monthly wage for the privelege of eating dinner. We might be able to blame the diaspora for the resulting ‘kerfuffle’ alright ;->
I missed that as well. Man, they pack so much into each episode. You’d need the footnotes of finnegan´s wake to get through each section.