Homer and certain fears

Episode of the series The Simpsons
title	Homer and certain fears
Original title	Homer's Phobia
Country of production	United States
original language	English
length	approx. 22 minutes
Age rating	FSK 6
classification	Season 8, episode 15 ; 168th episode overall ( list )
First broadcast	February 16, 1997 on FOX
German-language ; first broadcast	November 11, 1997 on ProSieben
Rod
Director	Mike B. Anderson
script	Ron Hauge
music	Alf Clausen
Guest appearance (s)
	John Waters as John;
synchronization
	Homer Simpson : Norbert Gastell (Ger.); Marge Simpson : Elisabeth Volkmann (German); Bart Simpson : Sandra Schwittau (Ger.); Lisa Simpson : Sabine Bohlmann (German); ► Main article: Dubbing The Simpsons

Homer and certain fears ( English title: Homer's Phobia ) is the 15th episode of the eighth season and thus the 168th episode of the series The Simpsons . The episode is special in that it was the first in the series to explicitly address the issue of homosexuality . She received critical acclaim for her humor and anti- homophobia message, and in 1997 she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour) .

action

Since the Simpsons need money, they go to a shop that sells collectibles to sell a soldier figure from the American Civil War . However, the seller, a young man named John, explains to them that the supposed doll is just a bottle of liquor. Bart and Lisa quickly become fond of John for his kind and helpful personality, and Homer invites him to visit the family the next day. At the Simpsons house, John is enthusiastic about the facility, which he describes as " campy ". When Homer suggests to Marge that they go out for a drink with John and his wife at some point, she points out to her husband that John is gay. Homer, horrified by this information, is hostile towards John from this point on and refuses to take him and the other family members on a city tour.

After the rest of the family returns, Homer fears that Bart, because he likes to hang out with John, could be gay too . When Bart wears a Hawaiian shirt and dances with a wig on his head, his father interprets this as a sign of homosexuality. Homer then tries to get Bart interested in masculine things. First, he leaves his son for two hours in front of a cigarette - billboard , can be seen on the scantily clad women are. He then visits a steelworks with him , but all employees there are gay.

Then Homer goes with Bart, Moe and Barney on game hunting . Since they cannot find any deer , they go to a Christmas village and shoot the reindeer . They are attacked by the animals and at the last second they are rescued by John, Marge and Lisa. Homer ends his negative behavior towards John and assures his son that he can choose any lifestyle he wants.

production

The original concept of the episode emerged from a note by George Meyer . This summarized ideas for consequences in a few words. One of these ideas was "Bart the Homo". Ron Hauge was supposed to write a script from the three words. While writing, he combined Meyer's idea with the plot of an episode that was never created. In this Lisa should discover the camp style. Furthermore, a guest appearance by John Waters was planned in the unproduced episode , as many members of the writing staff and showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were fans of his films. This idea was retained for the episode that was just emerging.

Waters, who is openly gay in real life, immediately accepted the offer to cast a guest role on the episode. He said if a guest role was good enough for Elizabeth Taylor (who appeared in two episodes of season four), it would be good enough for him too. The figure, which also bears his first name, was designed relatively exactly in his likeness. Only his mustache was shown in a curvy instead of a straight shape, as the artists wanted to prevent viewers who are not familiar with Waters' appearance from mistaking the thin line above his mouth for an animation error.

According to Oakley, the station's own censors wanted to prevent the episode from being broadcast. Usually a sequence is sent to the agency, which sends a list of some words and phrases back to the authors that should be replaced. However, the Fox censors sent two pages in which almost every line of dialogue was objected to. They came to the conclusion that words like " gay " or the discussion about homosexuality in general did not make the episode broadcast. The authors asked Waters if the LGBT community would find the episode offensive. Waters replied that only the word "fag" (English for fagot ), which Homer uses in a scene, could lead to problems. The word was then replaced by “ queer ”. The problem with censorship resolved itself after the animation in South Korea ended. The station's president and censorship staff were dismissed and replaced. The new censorship authority simply sent the authors a slip of paper with the words “acceptable for broadcast” (“suitable for broadcast”).

Cultural references

The song Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) , which is relatively popular in the LGBT community, is played in the steel mill scene described above as well as in the credits. When the character John appears for the first time, plastic flamingos can be seen in the background, a reference to the film Pink Flamingos by director John Waters, who speaks the character in the original language. In one scene, John also claims that Lupe Vélez drowned in a toilet . This is a reference to a well-known but untrue rumor that the actress was found with her head in a toilet bowl on the day of her suicide . In the German dubbing, Ava Gardner is mentioned because she is much better known than Vélez in the German-speaking world.

reception

In the Internet Movie Database, the episode is one of the best-rated in the series with 8.9 stars.

Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood wrote in their book, I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, “ Only The Simpsons could treat this topic in a funny way that no one would get upset about it. Really good."

Catharine Lumby, a lecturer at the University of Sydney , cited the episode as an example of good satire because it deals with many of the aspects of homosexuality in a relatively in-depth manner without being overly political. This and the humor of the episode are the reason why the episode's anti-homophobic message is stronger than that of series like Queer as Folk .

On Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 best Simpsons episodes , Homer and Certain Fears was ranked fifth. In 2003 she was ranked tenth in USA Today's ten best Simpsons episodes . The appearance was also praised by John Waters, among others in TV Guide and by John Patterson, an editor of the Guardian .

A negative rating came from the two authors Steve Williams and Ian Jones, who listed the episode among the five worst episodes of the series due to Homer's extremely unsympathetic behavior. In their review, they wrote that the episode left a " bitter aftertaste" and that it showed a side of the series " that one had neither seen nor really wanted to see before."

In June 2003, Igor Smykov sued the television station REN in his home country Russia , alleging that The Simpsons and Family Guy , which can be seen on the station, were morally degenerate and promoted drugs , violence and homosexuality. As evidence, the judge was shown Homer and certain fears . The episode should no longer be broadcast due to the occurrence of homosexuality. The lawsuit was dismissed the following day.