27 Times The Simpsons’ Fans Noticed Small Details In The Show And Created Whole Theories About Homer

In episode 9 of season 5, Homer is introduced to Mindy Simmons, a new worker at the plant after the United States Department of Labor orders Mr. Burns to hire at least one woman. She is so beautiful that men can’t keep their eyes off of her and eventually Homer falls in love with her. Later, the man finds out that the two of them have so much in common, which makes Homer like Mindy even more. On top of that, Marge gets sick, so she is not as attractive to her husband. 

They both go to the National Energy Convention in Capital City as representatives of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and this is when Mindy confesses to Homer that she loves him. They kiss and the scene cuts to Marge laying in the same bed that the two coworkers have just been seen on.

Most people interpreted the scene as Homer remaining faithful to his wife, but Reddit user lawangel thinks that Homer gave into the temptation after all and Marge’s presence can be explained by an active imagination. The redditor believed that “Homer, wrestling with both strong attraction and guilt throughout the episode, either imagined Marge in her place, or subsequently chose to pretend it was Marge in the hotel, not Mindy, a memory he could live with.”

For the redditor, it doesn’t make sense that it was actually Marge, because why would Homer take her to the Capital City, how would she get there so quickly and where would she have left the children? Also, they felt it would have been weird if Homer took his wife to the room where he almost cheated on her, thus their conclusion was that Marge’s image was his imagination.

None of the characters in the Simpsons age except for Matt Groening, also excluding the flashback or flash forward episodes where characters are seen as younger or older. Funnily enough, the technology they use still develops and there are references to current pop culture. 

Also, it seems that Homer lives as if he will never have to face any consequences, he tries out different crazy career paths and is never actually severely punished for being lazy at his job.

A Reddit user speculates that it might be “because the state of Springfield is an alternate reality controlled by none other than Homer Simpson,” also citing the fact that nobody knows where Springfield in the cartoon is actually located and compares it to the Westview anomaly from WandaVision.

In season 10, episode 8 Homer buys a baby lobster so he can raise him to grow bigger and have a fancy dinner. But over time, the man grows fond of the lobster, declares him a part of the family and names him Pinchy.

However, in the end, Homer does boil him, which appears to be done by accident, and then eats the lobster by himself. Reddit user dogs_playing_poker suspects that Homer knew exactly what he was doing and put the lobster into boiling water on purpose so he could pretend to be grieving and would be allowed to feast on it alone.

The evidence is in Homer’s knowledge of food preparation and the fact that he has already eaten lobster before. Also, in the episode, Marge told Homer to put the lobster in the boiling water which means he knew how it can be cooked. 

Lastly, dogs_playing_poker speculates that Homer would know how to not burn himself in the shower and that he probably poured boiling water in the tub, as they doubt that tap water could become hot enough to cook a lobster. In conclusion, “Homer was not stupid, he was selfish.”

In season 9, episode 17, Homer’s older daughter Lisa finds out that the Simpsons have a genetic defect that makes them become very stupid starting at the ages of 8 or 9. That really scares the girl as she prides herself in being a good student and a smart kid overall, but she is relieved to find out that the defect only affects males in the family.

Later, in the 12th season, episode 9, we find out that Homer is so dumb because he has a crayon stuck in his brain and once it was removed, the character became incredibly intelligent, but chose to put it back. This contradicts the fact that all males in the Simpson lineage start mentally degrading.

To explain this logical gap, Reddit user Lvl1bidoof suggests that Homer is intersex, meaning he is an intersex cis man with XX male syndrome, which would explain why he doesn’t have the Simpson gene and is naturally intelligent.

Sometimes cartoon characters are interpreted as more than just a person but have more symbolism. For example, a widespread theory is that the main 7 characters of SpongeBob SquarePants represent the 7 deadly sins.

Reddit user Cnidaria45 suggests that each of the Simpson family members can be attributed a decade leading up to the show’s release. Homer is given the '80s because “He's the stereotypical crass consumer standing in for that era, and is usually an absolute idiot, yet has a genuine love for his family nonetheless.”

Episode 14 of the 11th season was unusual because one of the quite well known characters died. Ned Flanders’ wife Maude was killed in an accident during the races. In real life, Maude’s voice actress quit after not being able to negotiate a satisfactory salary.

KingOfVIP thinks that Maude’s death in the cartoon also has a hidden reason. They suggest that Homer meant for Maude to die because he didn’t want her to belong to Ned, but at the same time, he knew he couldn’t have her either. So he purposefully parked in the ambulance zone so that Maude couldn’t get any help. 

The redditor also thinks that because Homer was jealous of Ned, that is why he was always so rude to him as they noticed that after Maude’s death, the neighbors grew closer as according to them, now there was no jealousy poisoning Homer’s judgment and maybe there was a little bit of guilt of leaving two children without a mother as well.

People in the Simpsons universe have a very distinct shade of yellow as their skin color. Maggie, Lisa and Bart also have hair of the same shade. But it might not be skin at all, but fur instead. Redditor samx3i noticed that in season 7, episode 21, when Lisa gets gum stuck in her hair and has her hair shaved off, her scalp is revealed, which is of a light skin tone.

In episode 13, season 22, the kids are all very concerned that they don’t have a visible hairline and can’t understand where their hair starts. So the Reddit user believes that “The only logical explanation is that they are Caucasian with a thin coat of yellow fur which blends in with their yellow hair, or the hair on top of their heads may just be longer yellow hairs and styled.”