The Simpsons and Religion in Media

 Religion in “The Simpsons”

   The animated series The Simpsons is one of my favorite shows. I have been watching the show since childhood. The series has been on the air 26 years now. I sat down to watch a few of the newer episodes in a more objective approach in search of symbols, metaphors, and over all responses to religion. There is Most of the episodes do not speak directly of one religion or another. There are two characters known to be outwardly religious in the series; the left-handed neighbor Ned Flanders and The church leader Reverend Lovejoy.

 In one such episode from the current season Reverend Lovejoy also plays in a 80s style cover band with Homer Simpson and various other characters. At no point did his religious affiliation come into play or affect the story line in this case. The characters refer to 80’s hair bands and as well as themselves as “Lords of Rock” with no consideration of the definition of “Lords”. Sammy Hagar of the popular 80’s hair band Van Halen voice guest stars in this episode as well. Sammy Hagar makes mention of dying and returning back to life and uses terms like “Rock Heaven”.

 The newest Treehouse of horrors episode (an annual Halloween themed episode) the characters are aware and conscious of an afterlife. When a spirit is confirmed Homer pulls out book titled “The Car Sellers Bible”. There are key references to the film “The Exorcist”. There are multiple references in these treehouse episodes to Heaven and Hell. Satan, God, Buddha, Gandhi, Jesus, nuns, and a host of others have been seen throughout the seasons have been known to appear to the characters. Most of these occasions are short lived and humorous not often directly making any statements regarding the religion itself.

  The one exception I did see was actually in a crossover episode in which the Simpsons and another popular animated series Futurama came together for a recent episode. In this episode characters from the future or from Futurama came to Springfield the hometown of the Simpsons to stop a chain reaction that would end the world. When it seems all is lost the character Prof. Frink says “maybe they’re evil and deserve it” the Futurama character The Professor tells everyone to “make peace with our various deities”. He follows up with a statement of his own Atheism proceeds to kneel down to pray to “No one” to do “absolutely nothing” and “ignore him completely” and follows to end with “Jesus was just a man, Amen” to which everyone else responds with “Amen”. As if in total agreeance or as if this is common knowledge.

 This seems to depict a strong statement of the nonbelief in any religion. Atheism is clearly stated and supported. Ironically this is still an episode of the Simpsons but this anecdote was used by a Futurama character as if to keep the Simpsons from directly making a statement themselves. The Simpsons have been known to occasionally go to church services although they never quite give their religion a name. It assumed to be a form of Christianity. Also in the kitchen scenes in the background is a frame that states “God bless this mess”. That illustration would lead viewers to believe that the Simpson family is then in fact religious. Homer has been known to shout out “Save Me Jebus” when under duress. So by that understanding what the creators are saying is Religion exists now but in the future Atheism will be prevalent.

 The creators may already in fact be Atheist themselves and only include religion for entertainment purposes. There have been several episodes that include scenes from biblical stories none of which are accurate all for humor. Often times the moral of the story gets muddled as the plot veers off course and gets buried over and over again. This in turn doesn’t really give the viewer any lessons or opinions regarding religion one way or another. There have been instances of escalators to heaven that in turn drop to hell. This appears to be making a joke of the parallels present in religious literature.    

 In this years’ Christmas themed episode there were sparse references to religion. In the holiday themed introduction one may notice the sign in the background of Homer at work that states 30 days until Greek Orthodox Christmas. When the students are playing their instruments all are in various holiday costumes such as elves, Santa’s etcetera only one student Martin is dressed as the Little Drummer Boy whilst playing the drums. As Bart Simpson snowboards through the city streets he passes Apu the character of Indian descent putting his eight children into eight Christmas stockings hanging from the eight different arms of his deity Ganesh. When Homer is rebuked on Christmas and goes to the Kwik-E-Mart where Apu makes mention of his religion prohibiting him to take advantage of a fool more than ten  times when Homer goes overboard buying scratch lottery tickets.

 When Homer sees his religious neighbor Ned Flanders closing down his left handed mall kiosk he asks him how he stays so happy with all the bad luck he’s been having but then follows immediately telling not Ned he had better not say Jesus. Ned Flanders whose wife has died is the father of two sons and sole proprietor of hid left-handed supply business. He is also very religious to Homer’s annoyance. Ned replies to Homer’s question telling him that all he really has is the Lord and his boys. Homer then responds pityingly and buys a left-handed eyelash curler. The two characters embrace and Ned follows up to say that their relationship will transcend this lifetime and the next to which Homer then fled.

  When Homer finds himself at a holiday party he sees a woman biting into a giant gingerbread house he exclaims “Oh my God is she really doing that?” before he proceeds to eat the load bearing wall. Here is an example of Homer’s acknowledgement his spirituality even if it was coined in satire.

At the end of this episode Jesus is depicted sitting in the clouds a white Jesus in white robes long hair and beard with a halo ring atop his head with a Christmas tree in the background as a figure hands him a gift. The God character wishes Jesus a Merry Christmas to which Jesus replies “Don’t you mean Happy Birthday?” sarcastically. The God character explains it’s a two-in-one gift to which Jesus discovers them to be walkie-talkies and says that it doesn’t count. Jesus has a negative response and rolls his eyes while saying “God, meaning you”.  As the credits begin to roll the voice of Jesus can be heard referring to God as an idiot.

  The way religion is treated in this series is as if it is joke. Religion holds no levity in this animated world. It is safe to assume that the creators of the Simpsons are atheist or at least in support of atheist values. In the end the series is meant to be humorous and entertaining not educational or religious biest.