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| Homer sits in front of a statue of Podae Hwasang in Jogye Temple in the latest episode of "The Simpsons." Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation |
By Jon Dunbar
Popular animated sitcom family The Simpsons have been all around the world. They went to Japan where Bart and Homer became fluent in Japanese in prison and they nearly died on a game show, Australia where Bart escaped the country's supposedly brutal justice system, and Brazil in an episode that had the local tourist board threatening a lawsuit over its depiction as a crime-ridden slum. Now in their 30th season, the Simpsons have finally made it to Korea, the country where they are animated.
In the episode aired March 17 U.S. time, Bart goes to Seoul to participate in an esports tournament. The whole family comes along after Lisa, a practicing Buddhist, expresses interest in visiting Jogye Temple for its salt mandalas. On arrival, they drive past the "Simpsons Animation Studio and Casino" and stay at the "Courtyard by DMZ."
At Jogye Temple, parents Homer and Marge both achieve "zen" by making salt mandala portraits out of salt and destroying them. Monks, including one voiced by Korean-American actor Ken Jeong, admire Homer's sudden enlightenment and compare him to a portly Buddhist statue at the temple.
The episode ends with the esports match at Sangam World Cup Stadium broken up by riot police and robots as the theme to "M*A*S*H" plays.
Like past Simpsons vacation episodes, the story is entertaining if not examined closely. But The Korea Times got David A. Mason, a professor at Sejong University, and history researcher Matt VanVolkenburg to watch the episode.
"The Simpsons Animation and Casino is a rather lame joke, but recalls the 1992 episode Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie, where a news program reviewed the history of the animation Itchy & Scratchy and showed the studio where it was made in South Korea, which featured soldiers with bayonet-fixed rifles prodded animators in the back to make them work faster, a scene which angered The Simpson's Korean animators," VanVolkenburg mentioned.
He also singles out the use of the M*A*S*H theme.
"The robot grief counselor is sufficiently reminiscent enough of the plan to have English-teaching robots replace foreign English teachers to elicit a smile ― accidently ― but the playing of the M*A*S*H theme ruined the effect," he said. "While young Koreans would not remember it today, the show left a bad taste in the mouths of Koreans of that generation because, when it bothered to depict the country at all ― the movie was actually about Vietnam, after all ― it portrayed it as poor and war-torn."
He added, "Thank god they put in a bad kimchi "joke."
Mason, who focused on the spiritualism aspect of the episode, was most bothered that the artwork excluded Jogye Temple's whitebark pine tree gifted from the Chinese Ming Dynasty.
The salt mandalas, he said, are from Vajrayana Buddhism, only recently seen in Korea. Jogye Temple is hardly known for it, and Lisa's dream to travel to Seoul for it is unrealistic.
The monks comparing Homer's physique to Buddha are looking at a statue not of Buddha but of Podae Hwasang, a Chinese medieval monk often incorrectly considered "the fat happy Buddha," according to Mason.
Mason also singles out the frequent mentions of zen instead of the more Korean seon, "which Koreans won't like."
He identifies the music heard as much more Japanese and Chinese than anything Korean.
Falling short of "Worst. Episode. Ever," Mason concluded, "A whole lotta careless Orientalism, I'd say..."
VanVolkenburg said, "I loved seasons 3-7 of the Simpsons so much I wrote my undergrad thesis on the show, but I haven't watched a single episode in five or more years. This episode reminded me of the correctness of that decision."
Mason sums up, "I don't think it helps our tourism, nor hurts it... a missed opportunity, a big zero."
"Did Seoul even need to be in the episode?" VanVolkenburg asked. "Whereas the classic seasons of the Simpsons the humor and references felt organic to the story ― or at least funny ― today the references feel shoehorned in, and the depiction of Seoul in this episode feels the same way. In the end, it could have been just about anywhere, with Jogye Temple adding a bit of Buddhist icing to the episode."
Previously, the characters of "Family Guy" visited Korea. VanVolkenburg compared the two episodes on his blog, Gusts of Popular Feelings.
Next time: perhaps the Simpsons join a Young Pioneers tour to North Korea, which ends badly after "El Barto" graffiti appears around the city.
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