Season Analysis

The Simpsons

Season 33 Analysis

Season Woke Score

out of 10

Season Overview

No specific overview for this season.

Season Review

Season 33 of *The Simpsons* demonstrates a commitment to topical, progressive themes, often using the plot as a vehicle for cultural commentary and moral instruction. The narrative focuses heavily on contemporary social issues such as cancel culture, economic inequality, and identity, rather than classic character-driven comedy. The show explicitly frames its parody in a progressive light, addressing its own history of humor and pivoting to a more politically correct standard. Homer is frequently positioned as the inept white male foil to progressive forces like Lisa or the digital mob, and the show's focus shifts from broad satire to pointed political commentary. While one episode positively reinforces the Homer-Marge marriage, the season overall foregrounds political identity and systemic critique.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics8/10

The plot of one episode directly centers around the dynamics of 'cancel culture,' showing Homer being publicly shamed for a viral video of a perceived slight. Another episode explores Bart realizing his 'privileges and pay' as the son of a white male worker, suggesting an intersectional lens is applied to family dynamics. The finale features a musical number that explicitly labels the historical post-WWII American middle class foundation as 'racist,' linking economic commentary to identity group critique.

Oikophobia7/10

The season finale's musical number frames the American middle-class foundation as being built on something 'racist' before being 'sucked dry by the greedy wealthy class,' which serves to deconstruct the Western/American Dream and heritage. Homer's mother, a radical hippie on the run from the FBI, returns, which continues the framing of anti-establishment ancestors in a positive, romantic light. The show criticizes contemporary American political groups, calling them 'lunatics' and climate deniers.

Feminism6/10

One episode is explicitly highlighted and celebrated as being created by an 'all-female creative team' (writer, director, etc.), indicating a clear focus on gender-based representation in media production as a narrative triumph. In the 'cancel culture' episode, a traditional female character, Helen Lovejoy, is 'reframed' into a 'Karen' archetype as part of the critique, using a contemporary progressive critique against an established maternal figure. However, another episode is noted for positively reaffirming Marge and Homer's complementary love and marriage, which counterbalances the overall score.

LGBTQ+7/10

Commentary on the season explicitly notes that it includes 'celebrating the LGBTQ. plus community in a doting. but fun Springfieldian way'. While no single episode plot detail focusing on a character transition is widely reported for this season, the public celebration and consistent insertion of the community as a theme places the show high on the scale for centering alternative sexualities as a virtue.

Anti-Theism7/10

Religious figures and institutions are treated with cynicism and mockery. Reverend Lovejoy is depicted as 'self-righteous' and offers Homer cynical advice like considering 'any other religions'. A joke about Homer knocking the Reverend out of a church window occurs, using religious setting for slapstick and disrespect. The concept of God is also joked about in the context of therapy, where a medicinal product is shaped 'like every version of God,' reducing the transcendent to a consumer commodity.