We all know the classic TV show The Simpsons. But did you know that The Simpsons can predict the future? Blogger Evan looks back on this show to see what’s coming in 2021. “D’oh!”
By Evan Spry
As 2020 came to an end, many of us found ourselves rushing as fast as possible to leave the year that none of us will forget. We all felt like somehow, just because the year would no longer be “2020,” that we would get a clean slate to start working on and we wouldn’t have to worry about the problems we faced so recently. The level of haste in the transition to the new year caused most of us to skip over necessary precautions that would prepare us for the future. One of these extremely important precautions that we must take before entering the new year is checking the forever-wise and accurate animated oracle, The Simpsons. Over the years, fans of the legendary animated series have spotted clues/hints in certain episodes that uncannily predict the future. This year was no exception.
Inauguration Day 2021
As recently as last year, The Simpsons made some pretty bold predictions about the beginning of 2021 that would remind any American about the current situation we’re in. Popbuzz.com describes, “In The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXI, it’s US election day in 2020 and Homer sleeps right through it. We’re then shown Inauguration Day, 20 January 2021, and full-on chaos has ensured[sp]. The series depicts a Doomsday apocalypse in which the US has turned to war.” Now, fortunately, none of these things have actually happened, but many similarities ring true. It’s pretty interesting seeing an episode from a year ago predict that we would be in some sort of political crisis that would lead to chaos and war by Inauguration Day, 2021. A year ago obviously doesn’t sound like that long ago, but we both know that it feels like it’s been half-a-decade since then. Below is a picture from last year’s Simpsons episode.
Animated Insurrection
Unsurprisingly, this is not the only instance of a prediction relating to our current situation. In The Simpsons’s 1996 episode, I’m an Amendment To Be, Bart and Lisa watch an episode which appears to be a parody of SchoolHouse Rock. Instead of a bill, the protagonist is a singing amendment that is trying to make it illegal to burn the American flag. If the amendment passes, “police can beat them [flag burners]” (The Simpsons). By the end of the amendment’s song, a politician opens the door to the Capitol Building for the amendment character, and the amendment yells out, “Door’s open boys!” This was followed by a crowd of gun-toting and bomb-throwing yokels in amendment/paper form storming up the Capitol steps. Even though the scene isn’t 100 percent parallel to what is happening today, it is still crazy to see these images, which were made in 1996.
As we all start to heal from the countless hardships 2020 threw at us and then the embarrassment that happened on the 6th of this year, we should look back at The Simpsons and try our hardest to take after them. Because, even though they may fight, argue, and even hate each other at some points, they always come back together in love because . . . they’re a family.
https://www.popbuzz.com/tv-film/news/simpsons-predictions-2021/
2021 Predictions Editor: Sara Habibipour
Evan,
I love articles that make me think beyond the words.
Response to Simpson animated “themes” have ever been controversial.
We either laugh with wise understanding of the ignorantly stupid childishness of human behavior
or
we cringe with fear and shock….fighting to protect our children from art that attempts to expose it.
Each person is forced to evaluate the benefit of laughing at human folly.