When filmmaker John Waters played a gay character on The Simpsons, his episo eventually end up breakg down barriers for LGBTQ+ reprentatn.
Contents:
- ‘THE SIMPSONS’ LANDMARK GAY EPISO KEEPS THE FAY
- GAYT EPISO EVER: HOW JOHN WATERS HELPED ‘THE SIMPSONS’ GET LGBT REPRENTATN RIGHT
- SIMPSONS GAY CHARACTERS: WHO IS LGBT THE SIMPSONS?
‘THE SIMPSONS’ LANDMARK GAY EPISO KEEPS THE FAY
* lgbt simpsons episodes *
Cult in John Waters was the first openly gay character on The Simpsons, and the show's treatment of him signaled a tidal shift Amerin TV.
When a character was referred to as gay, the figure qutn almost always played as tragic or, more often, herently il.
The Simpsons mocked almost everythg (except Scientology) s Goln Age, but unlike most ss of the time, the seri didn’t treat s first openly gay character as a walkg joke. Beg gay was, and of self, seen as a punchle even for progrsive televisn of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, and few shows were terted challengg this.
GAYT EPISO EVER: HOW JOHN WATERS HELPED ‘THE SIMPSONS’ GET LGBT REPRENTATN RIGHT
"They thk they're better than jt bee their performance reviews reflect that fact..." - Lenny Flamg Moe is the eleventh episo of Season 22. Smhers helps Moe turn his tavern to a popular gay bar, but later on Smhers gets offend at Moe for pretendg to be gay. Meanwhile... * lgbt simpsons episodes *
However, the show was still subject to work censorship and, although the star of Ellen me out as a lbian two months later, “Homer’s Phobia” was one of the first attempts to break down the visible barrier faced by gay characters. While no one explicly stated that any characters were to be stereotyped, was all-but-unheard of for a character like John, who was picted as charmg, lm, and genial, to be gay.
The Simpsons rarely ma small-town Sprgfielrs the villas of the story, but this stance, turng Homer to the bad guy led Amerin dienc to intify wh a sweet, likable character who happened to be gay over the regnizable s dad they were ually expected to love and see as herently harmls spe his prejudice. However, “Homer’s Phobia” picked Waters not bee of his fame but bee his public image reprented the perfect tersectn between all-Amerin manners and the more outre, unfaiar aspects of queer culture, mp, and the gay experience. Castg Waters as a level-head, kd, and unrstandg face of the LGBTQ+ muny allowed The Simpsons to celebrate mp, queer culture, and outsir art whout makg the character himself a stereotype or offensive riture of what was perceived as “gay.
SIMPSONS GAY CHARACTERS: WHO IS LGBT THE SIMPSONS?
In ntrast, anyone unfaiar wh the director’s ovre got a funny, self-pretg look to LGBTQ+ culture a story where beg gay was neher a joke to lghed at, or an odd spectacle to be leered and jeered at. Waters had a sense of humor about John and ma him a funny figure whout treatg his gayns self as a joke. The fact that his character The Simpsons was both mp and ol pared to Homer and pany’s “normal” and nrotic reactn to him was one of televisn’s first attempts to see homophobia as the exceptn and not the norm.
And while ’s a historil moment for Smhers, ’s also a full-circle one for longtime seri wrer Rob LaZebnik, whose son, Johnny, spired Smhers’ big, gay g-out episo 2016.