Simpson sermon
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 1, 2001 9:00 p.m.
BOOK INFORMATION Â
Westminster John Knox Press
“The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life
of the World’s Most Animated Family” discusses
spirituality as viewed on TV.
By Chris Young
Daily Bruin Reporter
Five nights a week, around dinnertime, millions of Americans
turn on the television and get a dose of spirituality, sometimes
unwittingly.
They aren’t watching a televangelist but a situation
comedy based on a bunch of humanoid, yellow-colored people ““
the Simpsons.
Mark Pinsky, author of the new book “The Gospel According
to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World’s Most
Animated Family,” argues that “The Simpsons” has
a spiritual dimension that people may not be aware of; “The
Simpsons” is critical and satirical toward all institutions
in modern society, one of those being organized religion.
“”˜The Simpsons,’ more than any other show on
commercial television, reflects the spiritual and religious lives
of people on the other side of the screen,” Pinsky said in a
telephone interview.
“The Gospel According to The Simpsons” cites a
research study by a California State University that sampled 30
percent of all the episodes. Seventy percent of those sampled had
religious content and 10 percent were constructed around religious
themes.
The show alludes to God, the Bible, the Ten Commandments and
other parts of organized religion, although it is not based around
religion like shows like “7th Heaven” or “Touched
by an Angel.” Most TV shows and sitcoms avoid religious
subjects altogether.
“You don’t see much religion in
“˜Friends,’ for example,” said Pinsky.
“The Simpsons” is unique among situation comedies in
that the show cannot develop episodes incorporating the physical or
emotional growth of the characters, being cartoons, and must get
plot lines elsewhere.
“The writers told me that they looked around for ideas and
stumbled upon religion as an aspect of American life which has
rarely been treated in situation comedies. It could be both the
center of an episode, or elements of peoples’
characters,” Pinsky said.
In one episode, Homer remarks, “I’d sell my soul for
a doughnut.” The devil appears in the form of Ned Flanders
and signs him the deal. But Homer doesn’t quite finish the
doughnut, making the devil leave and saving Homer’s soul.
Then he unwittingly eats the last of the doughnut as a midnight
snack and goes straight to Hell. Lisa gets a quick trial for him,
and he is saved in court by Marge’s presentation of their
wedding picture, with a message from Homer on the back pledging his
soul to her forever.
A definition of spirituality yields different interpretations.
Pinsky’s definition of faith is a belief in things unseen,
what a person can sense and experience beyond the rational.
“I think spirituality is the idea that God himself wants
to be with you,” said Ben Wang of Bread of Life, an on-campus
Christian group. “It’s a relationship just like any
relationship you may have with your family, friends, girlfriend or
boyfriend.”
People will find different meanings to the religious allusions
depending on their definition of spirituality.
“Some people have ties to specific organized
religions,” said Tracy Shyr, staff member of Bruin Christian
Fellowship. “I think our generation is more disillusioned
with all that and so the label “˜organized religion’ has
a bad connotation, that believers are mindless, brainwashed or fed
what to believe.
“I’m finding people have a general sense that there
is a God, but organized religion is not as big as it used to
be,” Shyr added.
Evidence for religious themes are sprinkled throughout the
cartoon; even the opening sequence has a religious undertone: the
clouds part as a heavenly choir sings “The
Siiiimmpsonnnns,” and a harp plays, as mentioned in
Pinsky’s book.
Each of the main characters in “The Simpsons” has a
different spiritual side.
Homer is almost a pagan man, whose religious beliefs are hazy.
He calls on God with prayer when in dire straits, but only then. He
avoids going to church as often as possible, watching television
and eating doughnuts instead.
Pinsky says that Lisa’s words and actions parallel those
of Jesus. She questions conventional wisdom. Her voice always
defies the mob of angry Springfielders and the masses, usually with
no effect.
“Lisa speaks for the poor and the powerless; she is a
vegetarian, environmentalist, steward of natural resources, and she
is that still, small voice of conscience that can’t be turned
away. She’s a skeptic,” Pinsky said.
Sometimes entire episodes have religious themes. In one episode
Bart believes that the soul doesn’t exist, and decides to
test his theory by selling his soul to Milhouse for $5.
Suddenly his life changes: automatic doors don’t open for
him, his breath doesn’t form a cloud near a freezer door, and
he gets no joy from pulling pranks. He tries to buy his soul back
from Milhouse but learns that the price went up to $50, and the
comic book store guy now owns it. Bart prays feverishly to God to
return his soul and gets it after Lisa buys it back with her piggy
bank money.
While the Simpsons family encounters religion occasionally, the
show has two main religious characters, Reverend Lovejoy and Ned
Flanders.
Reverend Lovejoy is a sanctimonious man who spouts garbled
scripture and doesn’t practice what he preaches.
“The Reverend spouts religious talk, but has no substance
in his life,” said Shyr regarding the cartoon character.
Lovejoy’s character, as Pinsky mentions in his book,
actually shows neither love nor joy, a sort of foil to Ned
Flanders.
“Flanders represents evangelical Protestantism in its
excesses and in its basic goodness,” Pinsky said.
“He’s sometimes overzealous, sometimes narrow-minded
but at base, he has a good heart and while Homer heaps scorn on
him, he always returns it with love, which makes the satire
believable.”
For as much analysis as Pinsky uses, it may be that “The
Simpsons” is just a funny show, as demonstrated by its
staying power ““ it is in its 12th season on TV.
“I don’t watch it to get a deeper understanding of
religion. I just watch it for entertainment. It’s just a
cartoon,” said Julie Chung, a second-year international
economics and political science student from UCLA Kyrie, an
on-campus Korean Catholic group.
