Short Film Showcase: Simpsons Inspiration "The Big Snit" Brings Sweetness to the Apocalypse this Inauguration Day

Already, inauguration day has me feeling nostalgic for yesterday.  We were so young and so naive.  So full of life and, you know, healthcare options.  Instead of wondering what kind of hellish dystopian wasteland we're about to find ourselves in, today, I'm feeling a bit more constructive.  I find solace in the little (actually big) bits of happiness I can look to in my life rather than the crumbling negativity shouted at no one in particular throughout the 24-hour news cycle.  As mindlessly destructive idiots on the left leave a trail of broken windows and overturned mailboxes in their frustrated wake, and the mindlessly destructive idiots on the right would rather burn down the house than share what's on their plate, I can't help but think of a subversively sweet little cartoon short from 1985.  What "The Big Snit" illustrates so perfectly, and what I can't stop thinking about, is how it's the little things that make up a life rather than the big so-important worldly issues.

Take a look, before I dig in a little deeper below.

Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, openly cites this short as the inspiration for the opening Scrabble scene in the second episode of his perpetually-running landmark sitcom, titled "Bart the Genius."  But, I think the inspiration cuts a little deeper.  When I watch "The Big Snit," I see The Simpsons everywhere.  I see it in coyly nihilistic details like Santa outrunning the nuclear holocaust, or the hilarious non-sequitur humor of the log-sawing television show or the skeleton-ized newscaster which both seem like bits ripped straight out of Springfield.  More importantly, though, I see it in the authentic details of the mildly dysfunctional marriage at the center of the zaniness.

The husband and wife in this short are so wrapped up in their small quibbles that they don't realize the world around them is devolving into World War III.  If the short had simply shown the couple at each others throats in micro, and then the world ending in macro, this would be a very different film.  The cynicism would wallop us over the head, and as a result the short wouldn't land nearly as hard.  What really makes this special, and what is undoubtedly the main lesson Groening borrowed for The Simpsons, is how a small bit of sweetness can add a recognizable and comforting hope among the dysfunction.  When the hard feelings begin to subside and the couple makes up, embracing in quiet apology, we realize that the point isn't that the couple is too closed off from the outside world to realize what matters, it's that when it comes down to it, our closest relationships and loved ones actually are all that matters.

This is why I keep coming back to this short tonight.  As the bigger picture becomes more depressing and seemingly insurmountable, I remind myself to lean in and look a little closer at the details around me, like my wife and my daughter, and the rest of my friends and family.  In micro, everything still feels like it will be okay, and that gives me some hope for the macro.