15 Worst Episodes Of The Simpsons (And What They Represent)
10. Homer Vs Dignity
What It Represents: The new style of humour/The Homer Show.
There are so, so many episodes with Homer as the lead character either acting unpleasant or being put into ridiculous situations, but Homer Vs Dignity is a fitting nominee from a crowd of hundreds.
The post Golden Age era is sometimes called the Jerkass Homer period, named after what Homer once sarcastically called himself. These episodes are characterised by Homer taking the lead far more frequently, acting without thought or consequence and generally making life miserable for his friends, family and fellow Springfieldites.
Homer Vs Dignity is not an absolutely perfect example of this in the way that Homer Simpson In: Kidney Trouble is. There’s definitely some Jerkass in there, but he’s been worse.
The fact he gets raped by a panda in a scene played for laughs though more than qualifies it here though.
It’s not, after all, just representing Jerkass Homer as an entity, but also the shift to less grounded humour which coincided with it. Homer Vs Dignity sees him doing all sorts of weird stuff as Burns’ ‘prank monkey’.
Oh, and Homer is heavily implied to have been raped by Marge in The Strong Arms Of The Ma, too. Classy.