Well, they may not like Harry Potter or Twilight, but they like the Simpsons. Those crazy guys at L’Osservatore Romano have, according to the Catholic News Service, described “The Simpsons” as simultaneously a:
“tender and irreverent, scandalous and ironic, boisterous and profound, philosophical and sometimes even theological, nutty synthesis of pop culture and of the lukewarm and nihilistic American middle class.
High praise indeed! So, Fraser Pearce, when are you going to publish your “Simpsonian theology” ?
Mmmm. I’ll consider it.
A few years ago I was given a book called ‘The Simpsons Philosophy’ looking at all the various interpretations of Simpson’s episodes and characters and relating them back to various philosophers. Homer was linked to Aristotle and a description of the virtuous and vicious character (Homer was found to be incontinent, instead of vicious), Bart was linked to Nietzsche (who was apparently the ‘bad boy of philosophy’) etc. etc. As a HUGE Simpsons fan I like this very much :)