The Simpsons and Wiccans

December 1, 2009 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 30 Comments

It figures that the one time The Simpsons have an episode centering on Wiccans I miss out. Luckily Hulu has it on-line, so I was able to catch up. You may remember me mentioning the episode “Rednecks and Broomsticks” some time ago, when it was announced that Neve “The Craft” Campbell was going to be one of the star voices of the episode.

So how was it? It was OK. The show just doesn’t have the heart it used to, and relies ever-more on “Family Guy” style gags that can be pretty hit-or-miss (thought I do agree with Idol Chatter that the “her Buddhism has led directly to witchcraft” line was pretty funny). As for the Wiccans, they came out looking about as good as any stereotyped group on a cartoon can look, which seems to be the consensus of television critics who’ve watched the show.

“Poor Wiccans, they’re so misunderstood. And the three girls representing them weren’t really representing Wicca so much as they were representing wayward teens looking for something to latch onto … The writers did a nice job of tying the two stories together with the town’s blindness being blamed on the Wiccans. Can we even really call them that, though? Pretentious kids trying to be cool by pretending they understand Wicca. Yeah, that feels better. I enjoyed the whole Salem witch trial tone of it, including the ridiculous witchcraft testing contraption. I’m with Homer on that one; it looks like a fun ride.”

The Pagan Mom Blog runs down the Wiccan stereotypes used in the show, but ultimately finds that it would be hypocritical to get outraged about any of the slights.

“As a pagan I would find it hypocritical to be upset about this one episode and not every single episode ever done. Take a look at the next door neighbor, Ned Flanders. A Christian man whom they make fun of just about every show. I mean he was in this one claiming Buddhism leads to witchcraft. Is it ok for us to take offense only at what affects us directly? Or should we be taking offense at everything that affects us indirectly? I may not be Christian but it is a religion. And if we can’t laugh at religion of any kind, including our (or my) own then I should be offended by it all.”

So Wiccans, while obviously caricatured, seem to escape The Simpsons spotlight relatively unscathed. Or at least no more scathed than any other mainstream show that mentions Wiccans, and it was certainly better than that horrible episode of The Mentalist from last year. What did you think? Good? Bad? Funny?

Filed Under: Paganism Tagged With: , , , , , 30 Comments
  • http://intensedebate.com/people/gorm_sionnach gorm_sionnach

    I wish the episode had been more even in terms of the laughs, instead of only having pockets. It was what I was expecting in terms of portrayal, the first quote you`referenced summed it up nicely. The show is satire, pure and simple, though Buddhism was treated with a bit more deference (although in later episodes Buddha himself is made fun of when ever he shows up) then again it was being practiced by adults as opposed to children. I do agree that it woudl be hypocritical to get bent out of shape about it, Christianity is a regular whipping boy on the show, but this seems to be the consensus among pagans I've talked with. Well that and "who still watches the Simpsons?" which I suppose is something which I can rightly be indignant about.

  • http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com Robin Edgar

    I am more of a South Park kind of guy myself but did see some snippets of The Simpson's Wiccan episode since someone else was watching it (or channel flipping) while I was busy with other matters. I did not even know that it was a new episode of The Simpson's. I didn't see anything that Wiccans should get *too* offended about, except perhaps the bit where Lisa says, "if magic *really* worked". . . ;-)

  • http://twitter.com/topazcat11 @topazcat11

    My family and I have been faithful Simpsons watchers since "day one" and I have to admit, I had a big sigh of relief when this episode was over. I agree with the Jason's (the blog author) comments and am happy that Wicca didn't get bashed as badly it could have been. I did totally LOL over the cat dipping in the cauldron moment (I don't know why, it was just funny). The most important thing, to me, was that when Chief Wiggum crashed the coven and arrested the 3 girls, it prompted my 15 yo son to ask if something like that could happen in real life – I told him it could. Hey, if a show opens up dialog between a parent and a kid, isn't it a good thing? *wink*

  • Miss Lynx

    The video can't be viewed outside of the US. :-(

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-31039-Berkeley-Paganism-Examiner Marie

    I think that it's really important to strike a balance between humour and seriousness when it comes to religion. If we, as pagans and witches, can take a gentle ribbing in stride, it means that we have enough rationality to see that spirituality is NOT rational…and can easily look silly to outsiders. People who are able to take a joke usually have more control of the situation than people who are easily offended, and it seems that the show did a fine job of avoiding major witchy faux-pas. No real reason to get all worked up about it.

    Of course, it doesn't behoove us to have the public come to know stereotypical pagans in place of the diverse community that actually exists, but it simply wouldn't be funny otherwise. And our community, of all people, should be able to see the humour in our own spiritual practices!

    I wrote a small article on this episode that you can find here:
    http://www.examiner.com/x-31039-Berkeley-Paganism…

  • http://ThePaganTemple.Blogspot.com/ patrickkelley

    The absolute worse I ever saw Wiccans portrayed was also on a cartoon, King of The Hill. I wanted to go somewhere and hide out for a month after I watched that, and I'm not even actually a Wiccan.

  • Heather

    Ever since Mike Judge got to make "King of the Hill," I've noticed the politics and humour of prime time cartoons getting more conservative & uglier in tone. Which shouldn't be too surprising considering most of them are on FOX.
    After "King of the Hill" there was the atrociously bad "American Dad" and now "Family Guy."

    Trust me, compared to the above, "The Simpsons" portrayed Wiccans in a fairly sympathetic light.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/JarredH Jarred Harris

      Actually, Family Guy came before American Dad.

      And I'm not sure I'd consider either of those cartoons to be particularly conservative. Yes, the main characters often express conservative views. But my impression has been that those views end up getting satirized or ridiculed more often than not.

  • Heather

    Personally, I love Lisa's initiation scene where they pour grape juice in the chalice while a boombox plays New-Agey music in the background.

    _Someone_ at Film Roman has been trolling the L.A. Wiccan scene and taking notes. : )

    • http://twitter.com/fallingwings @fallingwings

      i loved that part cause i admit i used juice n itunes in my home rituals. im a dorky wiccan like that:)

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/TeNosce TeNosce

    Wow! I just watched it on-line. No insult taken. If anything, I thought it was a great expose on how magick actually works. That, and I'm beet-faced over the fact that we had that exact i-pod/candle/grape juice configuration at our last circle…. he he! We're so busted.

    That wasn't satire, that was TRUTH! Thanks for going easy on us, Matt.

  • http://www.hecatedemetersdatter.blogspot.com Hecate

    I may be the last person in America who has never watched the Simpsons.

    • Sasha

      Your not alone. I actually thought it had gone off the air ;]
      I only watched that episode because someone called me it was about Wiccans.
      Frankly, it was really boring.

  • http://wachwurd.jimdo.com/ Malaz

    "Sorry Flanders, it's a meeting of gay witches for abortion…you wouldn't be interested"

  • Sasha

    One thing I didn't get…the stereotype I've always encountered was that Wiccans are either tubby or gothic-looking or both. What was with the third girl who looked like a pink-haired version of the Quaker Oats guy? (Slightly off-topic, but is the Quaker Oats guy really William Penn? Or is that just something 4th-graders assume when they learn William Penn was a Quaker?)

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/youngsoulrebel Ruadhan

    "The 'Quaker man' is not an actual person", but is instead a generic representation of a "man dressed in Quaker garb"
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_oats#Logo_and…

    • Sasha

      That's what I figured, I just remembered learning about Penn in 4th grade and everyone saying "He's Quaker?!?! Is he the guy on the oatmeal box!?!?" And my teacher (instead of admitting that she really didn't know) replying "Excellent observation! Of course it's him!" And me just sitting there, comparing the picture in the book to the picture of the Quaker Oats box in my memory :)

  • http://celluloidbough.blogspot.com Peg

    Loved the parallel to the Salem witch trials!

  • Heather

    Ned Flanders to Baal-worshipping Simpsons in Babylonian clip: "Hi-diddly-o, Pagarinos!"

    I have that audio on my desktop. :D

    It's a close second to the South Park teacher Mr Garrison quote: "Well that's what you get when you raise your child to be a Pagan."

  • Heather

    Yeah, where's your check, man! ; )

  • http://www.facebook.com/joseph.maxx Joseph Max

    But the un-fucking-believable thing about the episode is that when Lisa first discovers the witches, they're chanting this:

    "Dark is she, but brilliant! Black are her wings, black on black! She is Lilith, who leadeth forth the hordes of the Abyss…"

    *Ahem*

    "Dark is she, but brilliant! Black are her wings, black on black! Her lips are red as rose, kissing all of the Universe! She is Lilith, who leadeth forth the hordes of the Abyss, and leadeth man to liberation! She is the irresistible fulfiller of all lust, seer of desire. First of all women was she – Lilith, not Eve was the first! Her hand brings forth the revolution of the Will and true freedom of the mind! She is KI-SI-KIL-LIL-LA-KE, Queen of the Magic Circle! Look on her in lust and despair!"
    - from 'The Invocation of Lilith', by Joseph Max and Lilith Darkchilde (1994)

    http://home.comcast.net/~max555/rites/lilith.htm

    OK, we've had the the I.o.L. or parts of it end up in fan fiction, pagan/magick print magazines, published books, at least 1000 websites (I'm not exaggerating!), printed on commercial goth t-shirts, and a quoted in the Lilith article on Wikipedia. And on a half-dozen Fundamentalist websites as an example of black magick most foul.

    But on the fucking SIMPSONS???

    I am amused beyond belief.

    And I want my royalties!

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Lokisgodhi Lokisgodhi

      Sounds like you need to get a lawyer. You've hit the lottery and found a mark that has money. Sue Murdoch and Fox.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joseph.maxx Joseph Max
  • Rose

    I thought it was funny. Of course, I say that about every episode I've seen (which isn't nearly all of them…)

  • http://torispath.blogspot.com/ Tori

    It was what I've come to expect from The Simpsons, and I have to say that they were pretty nice about it compared to what they could have done. It was very amusing.

    People above mentioned that Family Guy, American Dad and King of the Hill all did episodes on Wicca. Does anyone have links to these episodes, or at least the names of them? I'd love to watch them.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/GreenWaySkull GreenWaySkull

    I actually thought most of the redneck jokes were funnier than the wiccan jokes, and was a little disappointed that the wiccans weren't rednecks as I had be lead to believe by Comcast little info blurb. However dying the cat was my favorite.

  • Don Meinshausen

    Have the Simpsons ever done anything on the religious use of psychedelics? Send me the links somebody.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joseph.maxx Joseph Max

    Season 8, episode 9, "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer", is the closest I can think of. It wasn't *intentional* religious use, but I actually think it qualifies.

    You can't easily find Simpson's episodes on the Web, they keep tight control over it. But here's the Wikipedia link:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Viaje_Misterioso_…

    "The episode sees Homer eat a "Guatemalan Insanity Pepper" and go on a mysterious voyage, which features surreal animation to depict the elaborate hallucinations. Following this he questions his relationship with Marge and goes on a journey to find his soulmate."

    Homer's "spirit guide" is the Space Coyote, voiced by Johnny Cash.

    The Simpsons Movie also depicts Homer, having lost Marge and the kids, being rescued and given a tea by a Native Inuit woman in Alaska, who tells him that he must reach an epiphany or he is doomed to spend the remainder of his days alone. She chants spells over Homer and he soon has a psychedelic vision where he is tortured by a forest of trees, and he reaches his epiphany. This I think *really* qualifies as reiligous use of psychoactives.

  • M.S.

    These are the Simpson's episodes you can watch – I'm not sure if it's all of them, but it looks pretty complete:

    http://www.surfthechannel.com/show/249.html

    The same site has Family Guy, American Dad, etc.