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The original was posted on /r/thesimpsons by /u/Rstanz on 2023-09-01 16:17:00+00:00.

Maybe it’s a nostalgic thing, I’m not sure. But when the Simpsons was traditionally animated & colored(before they changed the production process to all digital) it just looked and felt better. Back in the old days animators would accidentally go “off model” which is why Homer’s eyes change sizes from time to time in those early years. And to me that adds so much. That is the Simpsons to me. Some would called it an imperfection, but that imperfect aesthetic is more…inviting. It’s warmer, the colors more natural looking. It’s hard to put your finger on. But it adds something. Right? Or is it just nostalgia goggles I’m seeing thru?

Simpsons has been on for such a long time now that there are fans who were born well after the show was in it’s typically agreed upon “prime”. So the digitally animated & colored version of the show might be how they associate with The Simpsons. To those people I ask…do you see what I’m talking about? Or does none of that matter to you?

For me? Everything done on the computer, it’s all too perfect and organized. The animation is too “clean” and uniform. You don’t get the character variations. Again, it’s hard to describe exactly what it is that’s different.

I realize the show has been done digitally now for more years than it ever was done in the old ways. But to me the look of those old shows are what I think of when I think “The Simpsons”. Imperfections reminds us a human hand touched pencil to paper(err acetate)at one point to make this happen. It’s more charming. I don’t know. As I said, it’s hard to describe. But there’s a quality to it, outside of how great the writing & jokes were, just visually, that’s the quality Simpsons aesthetic.

Some may disagree but the closest I feel they’ve got to, on a writing level at least, to the prime era of the show is with The Simpsons movie. (One look at the writing credits will tell you why). But tho the movie does a pretty decent job of feeling like The Simpsons in its prime via the script, it was all done on the computer and has that too perfect & clean look. If they had animated that movie like how they use to, actual ink and paint, and I guarantee it starts feeling like classic Simpsons(which is messed up when you think I’m talking about a movie that is itself 16 years old. Oh god. 16 years! How is that even possible?)

Anyways, am I crazy? Is all just the writing that differentiates the quality Simpsons era or do you agree it’s the visuals as well? That analog, imperfect way.