EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK: Everybody Can Eat My Shorts Together

It seemed nothing could bring all of my roommates together. We are four completely different individuals--each with our own interests, religions, sleep patterns and music. It seemed that we shared nothing but living space, had nothing in common but our room. All that changed this past month, with the season premiere of "The Simpsons." At 8 p.m. we all squeezed onto our futon and simultaneously tried to adjust the reception. We laughed together, and repeated to one another the punch lines we missed: "Do you want things done right, or do you want them done fast?"

By the first commercial, we were all fed up with the fuzzy picture and crackled sound of our seventeen-inch screen. We entered the Straus common room, and found ourselves amongst a large group of first-years. This prime episode had attracted Harvard students from across the yard--by my estimation a larger group than had assembled for both Game 5 of the World Series and the presidential election returns.

The phenomenon is similarly spread across campus. By producing the students that created "The Simpsons," the Harvard community has a particular interest in the show. Whether we like it or not, we are all connected by the Harvard history of "The Simpsons." There are Ivy League jokes seasoned throughout the various episodes (Lisa is terribly depressed at the thought of going to Brown), and more directly, the characters on the show potentially walk amongst us. I can't sit through an hour of "Justice" without thinking, "Is Montgomery Burns modeled after Professor Michael Sandel? Yes--look--he's doing the finger thing." I am not the only student asking myself this question. In a straw poll of a "Justice" class this year about 85 percent of the students voted "The Simpsons" a higher form of pleasure than Shakespeare. One of my roommates claims that the Simpsons is one of two things that make him proud to attend Harvard--and hes always working when "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" is on.

Don't just look at Harvard students, or even college students. "The Simpsons" has a widespread age appeal. The cartoon side of the show attracts younger viewers. But unlike most cartoons, "The Simpsons" has a "high level" of comedy and parody that keeps old viewers tuned in. Watching Homer trip over the curb can be funny to a nine-year-old, watching him trip with Gerald Ford is funny to anyone who knows anything about Gerald Ford. Essentially, viewers are weaned on "The Simpsons." They are hooked at a very early age, and keep coming back. Every time I watch a rerun episode "I get" a joke I had missed the last time, and "The Simpsons" earns a fresh laugh. Not until I had taken a few months of physics did I get Homer's joke: "Lisa built me this perpetual motion machine--it just keeps getting faster and faster...LISA! In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

The show is smart and educational; it is political, historical, literary, scientific and cultural. For example, this season premier featured a giant wall that cut Springfield in half. (Fortunately, by the end of the episode it was torn down by the great British tunes of "The Who"). Like many viewers, I get smarter with the show; sometimes the show leads the way.

Not only does "The Simpsons" cross age boundaries, the show has an appeal that spreads across geography, and manages to exclude nobody. The show is set in Springfield, USA. With 121 Springfields in the United States, viewers have no regional or urban bias (some Springfields are more city-like than others). Meanwhile, "The Simpsons" is not only an American cultural fixture; it is an international phenomenon. It is syndicated in multiple dozens of countries worldwide. It may be no surprise that my roommates and I come from a Boston suburb, the deep Midwest, rural Germany and New York City. Despite our geographic diversity, "The Simpsons" still manages to bring us together on the cramped futon.

There is no question why "The Simpsons" is the longest running half-hour comedy on television. It transcends differences of personality, age and geography. It even seems to have the ability to transcend time, presently starting off its twelfth full season. As a series, it has brought us together, as a room, a dorm, a college, a country and a world.

We truly watch "The Simpsons" as a world community, and the show reminds us of this fact as it continues to pull us together. We all learn a lesson--together--as Homer prepares Bart for a foreign exchange program: "Always remember that you're representing your country. I guess what I'm saying is, don't mess up France like you messed up your room."