The Simpsons: The Surprising Influences of Treehouse of Horror
On the season 3 episode of Twilight Zone, cryptographers work hard and long to decipher the title, but they are halfway through the third course before they realize they are reading a cookbook. Lisa, the most progressive member of the family, exposes her own family as a bunch of xenophobes. Surely, there were monsters on that alien ship, and they over-ate and under-tipped. Hey, whether you’re cooking four humans or 40, Marge is a “quite a dish” in any galaxy.
6 Literary Lacerations
The Simpsons throws the book at their “Treehouse of Horror” chapters like pranksters toss toilet paper rolls into trees on the night before Halloween, the scariest of all nights because that’s when all the last-minute candy grabs are made. The very premise of the annual event is the telling of spooky tales in the limbs of an uncaring twig. Books are made from trees, and every member of the Simpson family has contributed to deforestation. Even Bart Simpson has finished novels. Most of them horror classics, which makes these six picks all the more, and yet much less, literary.
The Island of Dr. Hibbert
Homer can be quite gentle, when he wants to be, but his true nature comes out among the beasts. This “Treehouse of Horror XIII” segment is a parody of The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells. In, and on, “The Island of Dr. Hibbert,” Springfield’s resident physician sticks a scalpel into animal husbandry, and Marge is the first bride. “Think what Shakespeare might have accomplished if he had the eyes of an eagle,” Dr. Hibbert enthuses over a sumptuous dinner of hybrid turkey/Professor Frink meat, with chestnut stuffing, rare enough to scream in agony. This is a perfect setup for a discussion about the frightening opportunities in time-shares.
Other than a few Darwinian mishaps, it seems the secret island getaway is an unnatural paradise, as The Simpsons find possibilities untold in Mr. Wells’ story. Homer scratches Marge’s blue panther itches, and questions his humanity. In an animalistic society where all anyone has to do is eat, mate, sleep, mate, eat, wallow in filth for a while, and then eat, mate and sleep again, why is missing out on all the fun?
Easy-Bake Coven
Easy-Bake Coven,” from “Treehouse of Horror VIII,” was rated TV-666. It is vaguely based on Arthur Miller’s 1952 play The Crucible, and its 1996 film adaptation, but is more of a commentary on the times. During a trial scene, Edna Krabappel is wearing a big red letter “A,” which is a nod to the era’s most representational novel The Scarlet Letter. I can’t decide whether the mayor of the town of Sprynge-Fielde, circa 1649, was more or less lenient than the Salem witch trial officiators. Quimby orders the hags burned at the stakes until they are deemed fit to re-enter society. Not precisely a death sentence, but somehow so much worse. “That ought to show God who’s side we’re on,” Ned enthuses at the burning.
When Marge is accused of witchcraft, she gets due process: She’s given a broomstick and shoved off a cliff, if she falls to an honorable Christian death, it proves she’s innocent. If she saves herself by deviltry, she has to return for beheading. Lisa throws the good book at them, pleading for the passage that says “judge not.” Chief Wiggum points out “The Bible says a lot of things.” Upon rising as a witch, Marge vows revenge. Patty and Selma consider stealing everyone’s shoes, but when Ned and Maude fret that witches eat children, the three witches set off to sack Rod and Todd. When the Flanders trade sweets for tots, it becomes the story of the first caramel cod. It’s too bad the Bouvier sisters filled up on children. One historical note, Hasbro’s Easy-Bake Oven was not available in the new world in 1649.
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