Homer's Phobia
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"Homer's Phobia" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season, which originally aired on the Fox network on February 16, 1997. It was the first episode written by Ron Hauge and was directed by Mike B. Anderson. John Waters guest-starred, providing the voice of the new character John.
In the episode, Homer dissociates himself from new family friend John after discovering that John is homosexual. Homer fears that John will have a negative influence on his son, Bart. "Homer's Phobia" was the first episode to revolve entirely around homosexual themes, with the title being a pun on the word homophobia. Originally, due to the controversial subject, the Fox censors found the episode unsuitable for broadcast, but this decision was reversed after a turnover in the Fox staff. It won four awards, including an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) and a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding TV - Individual Episode".
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Plot
Needing money to pay for the gas repair bill, the Simpson family visits "Cockamamie's", an offbeat collectables shop, hoping that it will purchase one of the family's heirlooms. Homer meets John, the antiques dealer, who explains that much of the merchandise is there because of its camp value. Bart and Lisa are impressed with John, and Homer invites him to the Simpsons' house to see the campy items that the family owns. The next morning, Homer tells Marge that he likes John and suggests they invite him and "his wife" over. Marge hints repeatedly to an oblivious Homer that John is homosexual, and when Homer finally understands, he is horrified. Homer's attitude towards John changes completely, and he turns against him, refusing to join his tour of Springfield. The rest of the family joins John and has a good time, but Homer is upset with the family upon their return. The rest of the Simpsons continue to enjoy John's company, especially Bart, who starts wearing Hawaiian shirts and dancing in a woman's wig. This makes Homer uneasy, and he begins to fear Bart is gay.
Homer endeavors to make Bart more masculine by forcing him to look at a cigarette billboard featuring scantily clad women in hopes Bart will be attracted to girls, but instead Bart gets the urge to smoke. Homer then escorts him to see a steel mill’s muscle-bound workforce, only to find that the factory in question moonlights as The Anvil, a homosexual disco. A desperate Homer insists on taking Bart deer hunting with Moe and Barney. When they cannot find any deer, they decide instead to go to Santa's Village and shoot the reindeer in the corral. This backfires when the reindeer attack them. John, with the help of Lisa and Marge, uses a Japanese Santa Claus robot to scare off the reindeer and save the hunting party. Homer accepts John, more or less, and tells Bart, who is still unaware of his father's concerns, that any way he lives his life is fine with him. After Lisa informs Bart that Homer thinks he is homosexual, Bart is horrified. The episode ends with everyone driving off in John's car.
Just before the end credits a dedication to the steelworkers of America is shown, reading "Keep reaching for that rainbow!"
Theme
"Homer's Phobia" is a significant part of The Simpsons' exploration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes. The series had made several references to homosexuality before the episode aired.[1] In the 1990 episode "Simpson and Delilah", the character Karl (voiced by Harvey Fierstein) kisses Homer, while the recurring character Waylon Smithers is often shown to be in love with his boss, Montgomery Burns, initially suggestively and finally overtly. However, "Homer's Phobia" was the first episode to revolve entirely around homosexual themes. Two later episodes that explored LGBT issues were "Three Gays of the Condo" and "There's Something About Marrying".
Production
The original concept for the episode came from a few lines of show ideas written by George Meyer on a piece of paper.[2] As thanks for his performance, the show's staff sent Waters an animation cel from the episode which he now has hanging in his office.
Cultural references
Numerous cultural references were made during this episode. The song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory is played twice during the episode; the steel mill workers dance to it, and it is played in the background of the credits.[3] Homer's record collection includes music by the New Christy Minstrels, Loony Luau, The Wedding of Lynda Bird Johnson and the song "Ballad of the Green Berets" by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler.[3][4] The song that John picks out and he and Homer dance to is "I Love the Nightlife" by Alicia Bridges, and the song that Bart dances to is "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" by Cher.[3] Also, when John is introduced there is a plastic pink flamingo lying in the background, a reference to John Waters's film Pink Flamingos.[4]
Reception
The episode won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) in 1997. Mike Anderson won the Annie Award for Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a TV Production, and the WAC Award for Best Director for Primetime Series at the 1998 World Animation Celebration. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation called it "a shining example of how to bring intelligent, fair and funny representations of our community onto television"; and awarded it the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV - Individual Episode.
It was placed fifth on Entertainment Weekly's top 25 The Simpsons episode list. In 2003, USA Today published a top 10 chosen by the webmaster of The Simpsons Archive, which had this episode listed in tenth place. It was again placed tenth on AskMen.com's "Top 10: Simpsons Episodes" list,[5]