The SimpsonsThe animated Guide to Contemporary

Spirituality?

Matt Groening• Born 1954• Mennonite Religious background.• Currently self-described as

“agnostic.”• First cartoon strip “Life in Hell”

(1977) about his reactions to lifein Los Angeles - strip still carriedin some papers.

• Life in Hell credited with catchingattention of Hollywood producerJames L. Brooks, who contractedhim to do a series of “shorts” forThe Tracy Ullman Show.

Life in Hell Apple Ad, 1989

The Simpsons

• First aired as 30 second and 60 second shorts on “The TracyUllman Show” beginning April 1987.

• December 1989 - airing of Christmas special “SimpsonsRoasting on an Open Fire”.

• January 1990 - Season one launches.• Currently in 21st season (replacing Gunsmoke as longest

running American prime time television series. Season 22 alreadyauthorized).

• 1st Full length feature film released July 27, 2007.

Tracy Ullman short - Shoplifting

The Popularity of The Simpsons• Immensely popular - $two billion

in merchandise sold in first 14months!

• Consistent audience of 8-9 millionviewers.

• During the first week of school in1990, two thirds of the sixthgraders in the United Statesapparently wore Simpsonsparaphernalia. (Dale and Trich,43)

• Highest rated show on Foxrepeatedly, (credited with savingthe failing network). Oftenamong 10 highest rated shows onnetwork television.

• 25 Emmy awards to date.

Family Values Debate

• The Simpsons is “anassault on the familyand all humanrelationships.”

• It “discourages alarmat the decline of thefamily” and disparagesthe “earnest, oftenabject bonds of kin.”

• Bart as a poor rolemodel?“Underachiever” shirtsbanned in some schools.

The family-values debate

• George Bush Senior: his presidencywas aiming for “a nation closer toThe Waltons than The Simpsons”

The Simpsons and Religion• 1994 Study of religion on

prime time found fewerthan 6% of characters hadidentifiable religiousaffiliation; religion rarelycentral to plots.

• (although, above studyignores broader mythic,implicit religious content)

• 2001 study of the Simpsonsfound 69% of episodescontain at least 1 mentionof religion, and 11% focuson religious storyline

HostileCritic orSpiritualGuide?

• “[In the Simpson’s,] Christian faith and values are constantly viciously targeted atevery turn. The show is filthy and subversive. It only gets away with it because it's acartoon and knows how to occasionally act as if its mocking tone is playful. Anyonewho believes otherwise needs to see such episodes [as the one] where Homer has a crayonremoved from his brain thus rendering him a genius. One of the many revelations thatfollows is his proving that God does not exist. He presents this finding to NedFlanders and Ned has to agree that he is correct! This is not playful on any level. Avoidthe Simpsons at all costs.”

Path toAtheismor path

tofaith?

• “I’d like to credit my shift toward doubt and then atheism to the episodeof The Simpsons “Homer the Heretic.” In this episode, Homer quits going tochurch and as a result has the best day of his life. Homer doesn’t become anatheist, instead he sees God in a dream and creates his own religion and thenlearns about all religions being valid at the end, however Homer throws outsome good arguments the got me thinking. Such gems as “What if we pickedthe wrong religion? Every week, we're just making God madder and madder!”and “Why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going toHell?”

Frequently cited ReligionEpisodes

• “Homer the Heretic” (Homerstays home from Church andhas the best day of his life -Season 4)

• “Treehouse of Horrors IV”(Homer sells his soul for adoughnut- Season 5)

• “Bart Sells his Soul” (Bartdoesn’t believe in the soul,and sells his to Millhouse -Season 7)

• “Thank God its Doomsday” -The Rapture comes, and onlyHomer gets into Heaven… -Season 16)

Thank God its Doomsday

Homer the Heretic

Portrayals of Church

• What qualities does Rev. Lovejoydisplay?

• What is the “tone” of servicesat the Springfield CommunityChurch?

• What criticism of organizedreligion & clergy is implicit inthese portrayals?

• Does this make The Simpsonsanti-Christian? Anti-Church?Anti-Religion?

Evangelical Christianity• The Flanders - geeky Christian nerds?

– they have a satellite dish with over 200 stations lockedout (only religious shows are allowed)

– Ned doesn't have insurance because he considers it aform of gambling

– a punishment in the Flanders' house involves going tobed without a Bible story

– Ned's bible collection includes the Aramaic Septuagint,Holy Bible!, Good News Bible, Today's Family GnosticBible, The Living Bible, The Vulgate of St. Jerome, WhoBegat Whom, and The Bible According to Hoyle.

• Is the presentation of Evangelical Christianity in TheSimpsons offensive or ‘anti-Christian?”