The Simpsons have been known to ‘predict the future’ in their episodes, despite it being aired years before the event happens.
For starters, users on social media this week could not help but think about the current coincidence between the outfit of Vice President Kamala Harris during the inauguration and the outfit of Lisa Simpson in an episode from 2000.
In “Bart to the Future,” Lisa assumes the presidency and asks the now-viral line, “As you know, we’ve inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump.”
Lisa wears a purple jacket and pearls in the episode. Harris wore a black jacket and pearls at Wednesday’s inauguration. With Harris serving shortly after the presidency of Donald Trump, parallels were readily made by audiences. For Simpsons viewers, the comparisons to the inauguration did not end there.
During a simulated concert on Wednesday night, actor Tom Hanks acted as a host aimed at keeping up with President Joe Biden’s theme of national unification in a time of crisis.
In “The Simpsons Movie” 2007 Hanks pitches a new Grand Canyon at Springfield, the hometown of the Simpsons, in a cameo appearance.
“Hello. I’m Tom Hanks. The US government has lost its credibility, so it’s borrowing some of mine,” he says.
At the end of the scene, he says, “If you’re gonna pick a government to trust, why not this one?”
Speculation about the prescient skills of the show is nothing new. Fans say that the show expected smartphones, “murder hornets,” and Disney purchasing 20th Century Fox, among other examples.
In other comedies, including the “South Park” episode, “The Simpsons Already Did It.” the show’s popularity and its exhaustion of potential sitcom situations have also been cited.
In 2016, when asked about forecasting the presidency of Donald Trump so far in advance, writer Dan Greaney told The Hollywood Reporter, “It was a warning to America.”
“And that just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom. It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane,” he added.
Source: CNN
