Editing 1959: The Simpsons

This was the second [[:Category:Fun fact|Fun fact]] comic in three weeks following [[1950: Chicken Pox and Name Statistics]] after more than two years break from the series. It seems that [[Randall]] this month returned to his [[1960:_Code_Golf#Revitalizing_old_themes|old themes]].

''{{w|The Simpsons}}'' is an American {{w|animated sitcom}} centered on the lives of the fictitious {{w|Simpson family}}. It is a very long-running series, having started with {{w|Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire|a Christmas episode}} in 1989, with the rest of {{w|The Simpsons (season 1)|the first season}} airing in 1990. As of the publication of this strip, it is still in production, having been on the air for 28 years with the same characters and primary cast. The decision was made early in the series that the characters wouldn't age, meaning that the parents, {{w|Homer Simpson|Homer}} and {{w|Marge Simpson|Marge}}, remained perpetually in their mid-thirties. The three children, {{w|Bart Simpson|Bart}}, {{w|Lisa Simpson|Lisa}}, and {{w|Maggie Simpson|Maggie}}, have remained 10, 8, and 1 year old, respectively. One of the interesting impacts of this dynamic is that the audience and the world have significantly aged over the course of the show, but the characters remain the same age. A rather dramatic example is that many of the early fans were similar in age to the children, but have now grown up, many have married and had children of their own, and they are now closer in age to the parents. This is a commentary on the longevity of the show.  

The title text further relates this to the {{w|Harry Potter}} series, providing an explanation for why nobody has aged. Harry Potter is the protagonist in a series of young adult novels (later adapted into films) about the adventures of a boy wizard in his magical school, {{w|Hogwarts}}. The series begins when Harry is accepted to Hogwarts, at age 11, and the timeline implies that he was born in 1980. When "The Simpsons" began, Bart was 10, implying he was also born in 1980. Unlike Bart Simpson, Harry and his compatriots explicitly age over the course of the series. This strip ties the two series together, joking that the lack of aging in the Simpsons is a result of magic from the Harry Potter universe, intended to stop Bart from ever turning 11, for fear that he'd be accepted to Hogwarts.

 

:[A black frame containing a table of two columns and three rows, mostly in grey. The columns are titled 1990 and 2018, the rows are titled Lisa, Bart, and Homer & Marge. Lisa & Bart's ages now, as well as Homer & Marge's age in 1990, are in black, surrounded by a black jellybean-shaped loop visually grouping these three entries together.]

 

! 1990

! 2018

! Lisa

! Bart

! Homer & Marge

:[Caption below:]