Wombat's World <small>(a blog for writer K. A. Laity)</small>: Medieval Simpsons

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Medieval Simpsons

Thanks to Gene, I got to see the latest Simpsons which aired Sunday. While most of the excitement on line seems to be about the Wiggum '08 campaign, I was thrilled by the couch gag, which referenced the Bayeux Tapestry. This 11th century tapestry tells the tale of William of Normandy's defeat of Harold in 1066 at the battle of Hastings, which spelled the end of the Anglo-Saxon era and the beginning of the infusion of French language and culture that changed the tongue to Middle English (the language of Chaucer and the Gawain-poet). Some of the images follow below (tip o' the hat to Gene):

Labels: comedy, medieval, popular culture, Simpsons

8 Comments:

ohmigosh, I LOVE those Simpsons images. Going to war over a couch is such a Simpson thing to do.

By Elena Steier, at January 10, 2008 12:37 AM
LOL -- indeed it is. I am mulling over how one might read it (even as I try to quash my irritation over the superfluous colons in the first two panels [although extra colons in the Simpsons' world are probably useful]). If the original holders are the Anglo-Saxons, then this story returns ownership to them, so perhaps a piece of pro-Saxon propaganda...

By K. A. Laity, at January 10, 2008 8:38 AM
OMG! That is TOO funny!

Good one, Gene!

By Cranky Yankee, at January 10, 2008 10:21 AM
AHA...that's it exactly...It's like in political cartooning, there's the obvioius reading of the cartoon, and then there's the real story.

By Elena Steier, at January 10, 2008 7:22 PM
thank you thank you so much for these images! i teach an intro to world art course, and i'm teaching the bayeux tapestry tonight, and i have been looking for images since i saw the ep myself last sunday!

By FrauFinch, at January 16, 2008 1:11 PM
Hurrah! Glad I could be of help, though I should credit Gene with the bulk of the work. There are a few more he sent, if you should need them (email me).

By K. A. Laity, at January 16, 2008 5:50 PM
I'm now expecting someone in the SCA to have these as part of a sheetwall at Pennsic War...

By Anonymous, at March 20, 2008 9:43 AM
I saw this episode! I loved the couch gag! The episode was boring.

I had been reading about the Bayeux tapestry being a new medievalist (gosh that sounds funny!)

By Briana the Magnifi-can't, at March 20, 2008 3:06 PM