Banksy tags 'The Simpsons' opening sequence

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/11/banksy-tags-the-simpsons-opening-sequence

October 11th, 2010
Banksy tags 'The Simpsons' opening sequence
Mark Marino

British street artist Banksy brought his vision to Springfield last night by directing the opening sequence for "The Simpsons," but his work might not necessarily have everyone laughing.

The sequence opens with the camera traveling through the streets of the Simpsons' fictitious hometown, past a billboard tagged with "Banksy" graffiti and landing in Springfield Elementary School, where bad boy Bart is scrawling "I will not write all over the walls" on a blackboard – and on the walls, of course.

Bart journeys via skateboard to the Simpson home and joins parents Homer and Marge and sisters Lisa and Maggie on the couch to watch TV – and then things take a dramatic turn.

Suddenly, the family appears on the giant screen of a grim animation factory, where Asian workers drearily draw the "Simpsons" cartoon while haunting music plays (a reference to the Seoul, South Korea, animation studio where the Fox series is created, perhaps?).

"Simpsons" T-shirts are wheeled through the cavernous factory, which is filled with rats and human skeletons, and cats are thrown into a woodchipper to make stuffing for Bart Simpson dolls, which are then carted off by a panda bear.

The Banksy sequence ends with a malnourished unicorn - which is chained to a wall and used to puncture holes in the center of "Simpsons" DVDs – collapsing before an image of the 20th Century Fox logo is shown surrounded by barbed wire, searchlights and a watchtower.