NOTE: this article contains discussion of mental health and suicide
In but a few short months Disney+ will be on our TVs giving access to (almost) all of The Simpsons, which means many of us will binge the whole lot and go “hey, this joke about Homer deciding to commit suicide in season one kinda hits the wrong note about depression, huh?”
And sure, the show was finding its feet back in 1990, and also it was 1990 and attitudes about mental health were even less sophisticated than they are now. And Homer’s Odyssey isn’t one of the timeless classics beloved by the quoteratti.
Sure, it does contain Smilin’ Joe Fission, the nuclear plant mascot, Blinky the three-eyed fish and the first on screen appearance of Smithers looking… um, not quite what we’d recognise later on.
But it’s most notable because the first act involves Bart’s class getting a tour of the facility and Homer crashing his cart while waving to Bart, getting fired, being laid out with depression, writing a note for his family and deciding to jump off a bridge.
And then when his family rush to save him and have to cross a busy thoroughfare to do it, he decides to become a safety campaigner. Hilarity, presumably, ensues.
And it’s not a small thing, since animated shows can do a surprisingly important job of addressing mental health issues. Fortunately, we have a lot of particularly thoughtful ones right now: most notably Bojack Horseman, which occasionally gets it way too right.
Anyway, there’s an episode of The Simpsons where Homer being depressed and suicidal is played as a joke. That’s just weird to remember.
Or it would be, except that they did it AGAIN in 1999, in the episode Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder where Homer jumps off a building after become despondent over bowling a perfect game.
…and then they go the Simpsons depression joke YET AGAIN in 2007 with Eternal Moonshine of the Simpsons Mind. You’re really overestimating the hilarity of suicide attempts there, everyone involved in this series.
And there’s really no need for it. Although this is a good opportunity to link to some information about what you should do if someone close to you does attempt to end their life.
Spoiler: it’s not as hilarious as The Simpsons might have suggested.
If you need to talk to someone right now, please call Lifeline on 131114.