Climbing the Simpsons' 'Treehouse of Horror'

“You know, Halloween is a very strange holiday. Personally, I don’t understand it.” 

Marge Simpson uttered these words in the first “Simpsons” Halloween episode in October 1990. While Marge failed to understand the haunted holiday, the writers of the show have made sense of Halloween through the quintessential “Simpsons” combination of mockery and horror ever since. 

For 21 years, the show has churned out Halloween episodes in the “Treehouse of Horror” series. With the 22nd installment of the series looming, let’s look back at what makes “Treehouse” one of the best and most important traditions of holiday television.  
A fan favorite since its 1990 debut, the series parodies horror films (although there was once a failed attempt at a “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” parody).

The episode always opens with a special Halloween introduction, such as the above quote from Marge. The introduction is followed by three unrelated segments, which have parodied everything over the years from “The Shining” to the 1996 presidential election.

“The Simpsons” still embraces the humor and the haunt with its usual dose of irreverence and adds a splash of holiday gore. With Halloween as its backdrop, the writers can implement darker and more violent themes and images than a normal “Simpsons” episode. 

However, what is most important to the success and longevity of the “Treehouse of Horror” series is the break in plot line continuity and reality.

While other writers dress their characters up, writers of “The Simpsons” dress the whole show up. “Treehouse” allows “The Simpsons” to do whatever they want, regardless of the season plot lines or constraints. The show assumes the identities of other famous cultural hallmarks like “The Twilight Zone” and from behind that mask, it makes the snide and astute societal remarks “The Simpsons” always makes.
 
In the first “Treehouse of Horror,” the family traversed the depths of outer space when they were abducted by the staple alien duo Kang and Kodos. In the Emmy-nominated 1996 episode, Groundskeeper Willie attacks schoolchildren in their sleep when parodying Freddy Krueger. Last year, Lisa fell in love with a vampire named Edmund, mocking the unexplainable cultural phenomenon “Twilight.” This year, audiences will watch the family man Flanders become a psychopathic killer inspired by Showtime’s “Dexter.” 

Normally, Flanders is not a killer, but that’s irrelevant to the freedom in the character arc that the writers take simply in the name of a little Halloween humor.  “Treehouse” has become such a staple to the “Simpsons” franchise that it has spawned its own merchandise, such as a Game Boy game and a special edition of Monopoly.

This merchandise production speaks not only to the cultural relevance, but also to the show’s importance in TV’s celebration of the holiday. What other TV show has a specifically Halloween edition of Monopoly? Not even the classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” does.   

Marge still might not understand Halloween, but luckily for us, the writers and the rest of America do.