posted by Breeeegs

I was watching a best-of reel on YouTube this afternoon, the Best of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. I was in stitches, naturally, but what occurred to me most profoundly was the way in which the show has marketed their message in the person of the wretched, despicable, and, yes, hysterical, Mr. Burns.

I think one of the things that makes Burns such a fascinating and disturbing character is the way he seems to represent an ageless evil, which, though amazingly decrepit and on the verge of collapse, will always exist to plague humanity. Indeed, the makers of the show have implied as much, in a scene set in the far future, where Burns lives on as a humanoid-cyborg of sorts, still accompanied by his lick-spittle Smithers (now in the form of a grotesque "robot-dog").

Burns is one of the strongest political statements the creators of the Simpsons have made against corporate greed and hypocrisy...and if you're going to use the Web to propel a message, what better message to send?