The Simpsons: "Springfield Splendor"

The Simpsons: "Springfield Splendor." Matthew Faughnan, dir. Tim Long and Miranda Johnson, script. #29.2, through-number 620. Fox-TV, first aired 8 October 2017.

Relevant for opening dream sequence: Lisa's recurring surreal/horrific nightmare of being trapped in the midst of threatening school lockers while she's unable to work her combination. As the dream moves toward its climax, mechanisms threaten to engulf her and possibly rip her to pieces, as in a shredder. Cf. and contrast Charlie trapped in the machine in MODERN TIMES and other instances of the motif of entrapment in a mechanism (a Modern horror, potentially in contrast to visions of freedom and mobility in cyberspace in postmodern works such as Neuromancer).

For a side note and keyword searches: The fear of being torn to pieces is ancient, and artistic appeals to it are widespread. Note in Greek tragedy and Dionysian rites "sparagmos"; in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, the rite is called "Particicution," related to scientific uses of "particulate." The fear of being torn apart by women or sharks or other living things has been supplemented by "sparagmos" by mechanisms, especially in modern times — but the ancient saying "the mill of the gods grinds slowly" can include grinding up people.

RDE 08Oct17, 24Nov19