After 28 seasons on air, “The Simpsons” is probably the closest thing we have to a modern-day saga. “The Simpsons” is as historically imbedded in the culture of this world as were dinosaurs in the Mesozoic era. Name one person in the English-speaking world who hasn’t heard of “The Simpsons,” and I will drop out of school.

But “The Simpsons” possess a power beyond making us laugh our asses off, or getting famous celebrities to voice ridiculous cartoon versions of themselves. They can predict the future.

Hear me out. I know a lot of times, it turns out to be but there have been legitimate instances where “The Simpsons” was the animated equivalent of an oracle. This needs to be taken seriously because the University of Glasgow has even started a philosophy course on why “The Simpsons” can predict the future. Syracuse, catch up.

Let’s have a look at the predictions of these trademark yellow, wide-eyed, comedy driven characters that have come true.

They predicted Lady Gaga’s halftime show at the Super Bowl this year. Maybe not all of it, but certainly a few, very essential elements of the show. And by that, I mean her flying around like a glorious little bat.

In 2012, the show aired an episode called “Lisa Goes Gaga,” which showed Gaga performing in Springfield and then taking flight on wires, mid-way through her show, while her boobs shoot fire. I was disappointed that real-life Gaga didn’t bother with the pyrotechnics. But was Gaga inspired to do this because of “The Simpsons,” or was it fate? I say it was a prediction, but the truth may never come out because Lady Gaga is immortal. Moving on.

The show predicted the Rolling Stones touring again. Way back in the prehistoric year of 1995 in an episode called “Lisa’s Wedding,” our lovely little prophets struck again. The episode, which is set in the future, shows a poster of the Rolling Stones with
“Steel Wheelchair Tour 2010” on it. Flashback to real-life 2012 — all this time-travel is making my head hurt — the Rolling Stones celebrated their 50th anniversary with their “50 & Counting” tour. Not a coincidence.

“The Simpsons” was also responsible for predicting one of the most unstable movements in political history in this past year. Yes, I’m talking about the Donald Trump presidency. In 2000, the show aired “Bart to the Future” which showed Trump running for president, with the aptly used campaign slogan “America you can be my ex-wife” — yikes.

In the same episode, Lisa succeeds Trump to become the first “straight female” President — Hillary 2020 — and has to deal with the economic devastation that the Trump presidency brought. From all the episodes that “The Simpsons” predicted, this one was by far the most realistic and the scariest, and mind you, this is the show that also makes Treehouse of Horror.

On a more lighthearted note, “The Simpsons” also forecast a number of technological milestones, from watches you can talk into to artificial intelligence that does not understand anything you say. Maybe this is where Apple gets its innovation from.

“The Simpsons” also predicted Star Wars episode seven. In a 2009 episode, we get a brief glimpse of a studio entrance with posters for “Star Wars: The Apology” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: Gettin’ Rabies.” Anyone remember the Chipmunks movie and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” being in theaters at the same time? Apparently, my 10-year-old cousin does, which makes “The Simpsons” right again. And to blow your mind a little more, “The Simpsons” predicted Farmville.

Maybe next “The Simpsons” will predict robotic librarians. Oh, wait. They did that already, too.

Malvika Randive is a freshman writing and rhetorics major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. She can be reached at mnrandiv@syr.edu.

Published on February 15, 2017 at 10:06 pm