The Simpsons: The Craziest Theories About The Simpsons

With over 30 years on air and almost 700 episodes, The Simpsons is a series full of strange details that are often contradictory. But that's where the fans come in, tirelessly trying to reconcile and balance multiple factors through the craziest theories. Is Homer really stupid? How serious are his money problems? Are some episodes canon and others not? Could some characters be dead and not know it? Many doubts to explore... and get completely lost.

Eternal Simpsons and Flanderization

No matter how many people on the Web ask about the definitive ending of The Simpsons, no one can deny its status as a cultural phenomenon. Entire generations have grown up with The Simpsons, and although one day it will have to leave the screen, its influence will most likely never disappear. In fact, even today we can find extensive discussions (some of them very heated) about certain aspects of the series, its overall quality, and radical changes in certain characters.

A large part of these conflicts are associated with an effect that emerged from the series itself: Flanderization, or in other words, a character turned into a parody of himself. The case of Ned Flanders is conclusive. In the early seasons we had a kind of anti-Homer, so to speak: a generous, kind, and polite neighbor, a devoted husband, a model father, hardworking, enterprising, honest to the core, and always willing to turn the other cheek, all based on his religious beliefs. Today, Ned is essentially a person obsessed with God, and we laugh at that.

Of course... there are also other possibilities. Crazy theories and hypotheses that squeeze the canon to the maximum, or discard it completely. With more than 30 years on screen, fans of the series continue to make remote connections and compare details, trying to find logic and coherence in a city (and its inhabitants) that apparently resists any analysis. Below we will share some of them, and needless to say, everyone is welcome to add their own ideas in the comments.

The Simpsons: Extreme theories and the craziest ideas

Homer and Mr. Burns have an “agreement”

We all know that the conditions at the Springfield Nuclear Plant are deplorable, and that Mr. Burns has no intention of fixing its problems. Instead, what “Monty” does is bribe his safety inspector, Homer Simpson, so that he doesn't report the irregularities. The most interesting thing is that Homer is not aware of this “arrangement”: His incompetence is what allows Burns to get away with it (who believes that Homer simply “looks the other way”), and Homer thinks the extra money is for doing a good (and legitimate) job as an inspector.

The Simpsons have much more money than they let on

Some even argue that Homer is actually a millionaire. How can that be true, when we have seen over and over the problems the family has paying debts? Not to mention Burns' aforementioned bribe, one possibility is that Homer still receives royalties from his two musical projects, Los Solfamidas/Borbotones and Dolorgasmo/Sadgasmo. The other comes from his experience as an employee of the supervillain Hank Scorpio, who as a thank you gave him the Denver Broncos. If we consider that the Broncos have won three Super Bowls since then, including the historic Super Bowl 50... maybe Homer isn't doing so badly.

The Simpson family is made up of pure geniuses

The superficial facts of the series suggest that Lisa is the smartest of the Simpson family, followed by Marge, with Homer and Bart far below, displaying stupidity and ignorance. However, one hypothesis indicates that it is a farce. Over the years we have noticed that Maggie is absolutely brilliant, with impressive physical and mental aptitude (perhaps more than her own sister), leadership ability, and extensive skill in using weapons.

As for Bart, there is no doubt that he is a trouble-making machine, but he has also managed to solve problems with intelligence and determination, not to mention that he can speak several languages, detect patterns, and discover certain elements that adults completely ignore (like Bob Patiño's plans, or the evidence in the Itchy & Scratchy copyright trial). He is skilled in sports, drives very well for his age, and except for a few exceptions, he usually quickly assumes leadership positions. The story is very different when he goes to school, where he keeps collecting Fs on his exams. Bart uses his apparent stupidity as camouflage so that he is not bothered, and it generally works.

And as for Homer, well... we cannot forget the crayon in his head. Putting that aside, Homer is a polyglot like Bart, has notable musical talent (once again, Los Solfamidas/Borbotones and Dolorgasmo/Sadgasmo), chilling physical resistance, and is a great fighter. His skills as a gymnast in his youth do not go unnoticed either, and part of his failures is attributed not to personal faults, but to the negative effects of a toxic father and a mother who abandoned him at a very early age.

Homer dies every time, always

Homer should have lost his life on multiple occasions. This hypothesis suggests that he actually does die, and what we see in later episodes is a new reality created by his brain. At the same time, his brain cells begin to die, causing Homer to become increasingly stupid in alternate realities. Every continuity error or flanderization is the result of Homer's mind deteriorating, and the series will end when the last of his cells dies.

Homer is a “quantum immortal”

On the other side, this hypothesis indicates that every time Homer should have died due to his stupidity, the series jumps to an alternative reality in which he manages to survive. Because of this, Homer keeps ignoring all the warnings and alerts he receives, for the simple reason that everyone was wrong in the past (the Homer we see always survived despite everything). From a certain point of view, this hypothesis would justify the flanderization of Homer and the rest of the characters. Springfield is a place without negative consequences, therefore, nobody changes their behavior... ever.

Everything we see in Springfield is through Maggie's eyes

One of the most interesting, this theory proposes that everything we see in the series is actually an interpretation of the little Simpson. The time that does not pass (or passes very slowly), the lack of details about the geographic location of Springfield, Maggie herself being gifted, unusual elements like Marge's hair (which Matt Groening himself supposedly declared as “a normal hairstyle, from the perspective of a small child”)... the list goes on, and everything fits better than we expected.

In summary

We are barely scratching the surface, we know. Moreover, I think it is no longer appropriate to talk about a Simpsons “universe,” but rather the series directly falls into the realm of the multiverse, with infinite connected planes, and paths that lead nowhere. Anything can happen in The Simpsons, and there will always be a theory to try to explain it.