After 34 years on the air, “The Simpsons” has decided to end with one of its most iconic jokes
After 34 years on the air and 750 episodes aired, The Simpsons has decided to retire one of its classic jokes and instead adapt to generational change. During the final episode of the series entitled McMansion & Wife (a reference to the 70s series McMillan & Wife), the protagonist Homer Simpson revealed that he has stopped strangling his son Bart.
Despite being one of the series’ most famous father-son dynamics, the move has been widely criticized in recent years for promoting violence. In this new episode, which has also caused a lot of conversation, Homer introduces himself to his new neighbor Thayer with a handshake, the new character underlines the strength of Homer’s grip, to which the head of the Simpson family replied: “Look, Marge, it was worth strangling that guy… Just kidding, I won’t do that anymore. “Time has changed”Homer said in a metareferential statement, indicating that many things in society have changed since the series premiered in 1989.
After 34 years on the air, Homer has finally stopped strangling Bart. Credits: X/@BabyLamb5
The episode first aired in late October, but Homer’s comment sparked an online conversation when a viewer posted the scene on X (formerly known as Twitter) in the early days of November.
“I knew my husband Homer would learn. “He’s a smart guy,” “Disney wants The Simpsons to be for the whole family.” Getting rid of old gags that would be considered insulting or insulting today is a very wise decision“, “It’s always been considered child abuse, even before the show started,” are some of the comments the episode elicited.
The last time Homer strangled Bart on the show was at the beginning of Season 31 in the episode “The Winter of Our Monetized Content.” In this case, Homer and Bart go viral after accidentally recording themselves in one of their classic fights, prompting a network expert to look for them to generate even more viral content.
The last time Homer and Bart had one of their classic fights was in the Season 31 episode “The Winter of Our Monetized Content.”
However, the topic of violence between parents and children has already been discussed several times. In the season 22 episode “Love is a Many Strangled Thing,” Homer attends a “parenting enrichment course” at his wife’s suggestion. margin. During class the basketball player Karim Abdul Jabbar He teaches Homer what it feels like to be “young, small, and scared” by strangling him and encouraging others to do the same.
Traumatized by his experience, Homer comes to the conclusion that he shouldn’t strangle Bart. However, in the season 24 episode “Love is a Many-Splintered Thing”, Homer resumed his method of punishment and strangled Bart in front of his friend. Milhousewho is horrified by the scene.
Although many network users applauded the decision to end the violence between Homer and Bart, the reaction wasn’t the same when Apu’s character exited the show (Courtesy of Fox Television).
Although all indications are that the vast majority of the show’s fans believe that Homer shouldn’t strangle Bart again, the show’s handling of Bart’s character hasn’t been all that well received Apuwhich they wanted to eliminate completely.
Apu was an Indian character played by the white actor Hank Azaria and the series was criticized for this casting choice and its stereotypical characterization. As of 2018, this character was quietly removed from the series, and although all fans blamed the creators, it was Azaria himself who admitted that he no longer felt comfortable playing Apu.
“What I have created in Hollywood through my character Apu – who is a great reference in this country and in the world – has helped create a very marginalizing and dehumanizing stereotype“, explained the voice actor in 2023.