Treehouse of horror IV

Hello again! We are here to talk about the fourth Halloween episode of the Simpsons. If you want to watch it, click here.

Apparently, this episode does not have much to do with Halloween  despite its title. It only tells three horror stories that are not related to the way Americans celebrate this festivity. However, the third story may be considered to have some relationship with the American culture because of the rising interest in vampires seen recently.

Nowadays, Twilight has made vampires popular and even fashionable. It is not strange to hear about teenagers dreaming of getting married with a sparkling vampire however strange it may sound (for more information about the impact Twilight has had on popular culture, click on http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/304171/Vampires-Just-a-Recent-Teenage-Fad-or-More/.

Despite this tendency, there was a time when vampires were so horrifying that people did not even dare to mention them. Therefore, people were fascinated by them but they kept being respected and feared. Some of the most popular vampires are:

Taken and adapted from : http://www.cracked.com/funny-69-vampires/

Dracula might be the most remembered and feared vampire in history because of the fear it raised in society in the 19th century when his book was written by Bram Stoker. In fact, it is usually consider as the stereotypical vampire, which explains why at Halloween parties people who are disguised as vampires usually go for Dracula and not for a Twilight character.

The, it should not surprise us that it is Dracula the vampire that inspired this segment of the Simpsons episode This time, it is Mr Burns the one chosen to play his part.

Given the time vampires have played a role in (scaring) society, we can assume that they will stay with us in the foreseeable future. Everybody seems to identify Dracula and his colleages and the character is popular among the young and the old. If you don't believe us, just take a look at Grandpa Simpson.

See you next time!

Treehouse of horror II

It seemed that we had forgotten to post the second Simpsons Halloween episode, didn't it? Well, here it is! If you want to watch it, take a look at this website

 The first thing we see on the episode apart from Marge's warning not to watch the episode and the opening credits, is this scene:

There is possible to see some children in disguises who must be trick-or-treating. What this picture tells us is that children usually go in groups to ask for candies. What a problema it must be for people to have enough candies for everyone!

Then we see some unwelcome children knocking at the Simpsons door. even Homer complains that they are too old to be trick-or-treating, which gives us an idea that it is little children who knock at doord, not teenagers or adults.

These guys actually threaten Homer to get the candies and don't care if he says that they don't have a disguise even if that's the custom. in the end Homer gave them the candies but anyway they threw eggs at his door.

The fact is that vandalism on Halloween is on the increase and it can go from minor offenses such as toilet paper attacks to broken windows, graffiti or arson. In order to make sure Halloween is nothing but an enjoyable celebration, some measures are advisable, for example:

• Be nice to other people - even if it didn't work for Homer, it may do ir for you.
• If you don't want to receive trick-or-treaters, draw your curtains and pretend you are not at home (but you would look like a Halloween Grinch).
• Tape-up your letter-mail slot.
• Remember to have a clear visión though masks or hair.
• Walk in groups (like the Little children at the beginning of the episode).
• Some other suggestions can be found on http://www.wikihow.com/Protect-Your-Home-from-Halloween-Pranks-and-Vandalism

Just keep in mind that Halloween pranks are aceptable to some extent and that the purpose of this celebration is to have fun, even if it implies washing your door the next day.

After this scene, we can see that Bart, Lisa and Maggie have been trick-or treating and obtained a large amount of candies which they immediately proceed to eat along with Homer, despite Marge's warning to have only a piece unless they want to have nightmares

 Remember, when you celebrate Halloween, do not eat to many candies or you will end up having nightmares, too!

Treehouse of Horror III

You can watch this episode by clicking on this website

This episode starts by showing a carved pumpkin which is called Jack-o’lantern  and is usually made at Halloween.  The origin of carving pumpkins dates back some centuries and it is related to the story of an Irish man nicknamed ‘Stingy Jack’.

According to the story, Stingy Jack and the Devil were having a drink but Jack did not want to pay for it, so he asked the Devil to turn into a coin to pay. Once they had tricked the barman Jack decided to keep the money so he placed the coin next to a silver cross in order to avoid the Devil returning to its original form.

At some point, the Devil got hungry and Jack accepted to feed him on the condition that he would not bother Jack for a year and that he would not claim his soul after his death. After the year had passed, the Devil was tricked again to pick up a piece of fruit by climbing into a tree but he could not get down because Jack had carved sign of the cross into the tree’s bark. The result of this was that the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for another ten years.

Years later, Jack died but he was not allowed to enter heaven nor hell because the Devil kept his word. However, he sent Jack to Earth into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved turnip hand has been wandering since then. Later, he began to be known as ‘Jack of the Lantern’ or ‘Jack O’Lantern’.

Later, people began to put their own versions of the Jack-o’lanters to frighten away Jack and other spirits. When the Europeans arrived in the United States, they started using pumpkins, a fruit native to America, to carve their lamps (http://urbanext.illinois.edu/pumpkins/history.cfm) .

Nowadays people still carve pumpkins for Halloween but they use a variety of designs that do not necessarily resemble Jack O’Lantern. Take a look at this design!

Taken from: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/c.m.%20burns?language=es_ES

 If you want to carve your own lantern, we recommend that you visit this site http://www.halloweenpumpkins.be/en/makeyourown.html.

 Then, we can see is the that the Simpsons decided to throw a Halloween party wearing costumes and preparing funny food in order to fit the Halloween traditions. Costumes are a very important trait in this celebration no matter the place it’s being celebrated. Did you know that the first use of costumes on a Halloween celebration was around 1895 in Scotland, and it wasn’t until 1900 when the USA and England joined the new tradition? 

We can usually see that costumes such as Dracula, the Mummy, Frankenstein, or witches are the most common in parties and on Halloween day but nowadays people have “lost” some of the Halloween magic and use the occasion to wear any kind of costumes like pirates, superheroes like Superman, Batman, Catwoman, nurses, princesses or even zombies. (http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-halloween-costumes-20121010-photos,0,7497664.photogallery?index=la-fi-mo-halloween-costumes-20121010-photos-009)

As all the Simpsons take turns telling some scary stories, comes one that talks about black magic, spells and… ZOMBIES! Let’s begin with black magic. Black magic had always existed by the tie people associated it with Halloween. Supposedly Halloween talks about the undead and how they can come to communicate with the living ones. For people it was so easy to link this to black magic and start thinking about spells and the appearance of ghosts. In this episode the main story talks about Bart finding a book of spells and reciting the one to relive their cat but instead they bring dead people back as zombies! Then he has to chant a spell to undo his little mistake. 

And talking about zombies… Have you noticed how they have become a new trend in society? If you are thinking about this costume for this coming Halloween here´s a make-up tutorial on zombie make up and you can find many other tutorials for your next Halloween: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xm5rq1_how-to-do-zombie-makeup_lifestyle#.Uaag0pyDDDM.

Well, that's all for now! See you next episode!

The Simpsons Halloween Special

 You can watch the firts Simpsons' Halloween special episode on this site.

 

This is the first episode of the Simpsons completely dedicated to Halloween and it starts with Marge telling us that it is a strange celebration which she doesn’t really understand and we can’t help thinking that more often than not, the members of a society are not aware of their own culture. Fortunately, this is a trend we are willing to bring to an end.

The episode starts with Homer looking into his candy bag after he has been given some treats by his neighbours. Here it is posible to see that on Halloween people knock doors and when they are opened they yell 'Trick or treat' and expect to receive candies while holding out their bags. However, it the homeowner refuses to give candies, tricks can be played on them. Some popular tricks are throwing eggs at the house, covering it in toilet paper.

Some of the most popular candies in the United States are "chocolate, lollipops, candy corn, cotton Candy, hard candies, sugar sticks, toffee, nougats, bubble gum, gummy candy, cupcakes, doughnuts, pumpkin pie, apples, nuts, popcorn balls and apple cider (http://www.tartanplace.com/hcustom/trickortreat.html).

Immediately after this scene, we can see Lisa telling Bart a scary story, which is another typical Halloween custom along with pranks. What about reading some stories before next Halloween to scare your friends? Some of them can be found on

http://www.scaryforkids.com/scary-stories/ 

http://www.americanfolklore.net/spooky-stories.HTML

 

At some point in the episode, Homer appears preparing a barbecue grill to cook on it, however, as it is only one of the scenes in the horror stories being told, we don't see the actual connection of barbecuing and grilling with Halloween. In fact, some people in the United States prefer to feed their children before they go to ask for candies in order to avoid them overindulge and to do so grilled foods are a favourite.

Hamburgers are typical as well as pizzas, sometimes decorated as pumpkin faces, not to mention small treats such as buffalo wings. Besides, cooking outdoors allows parents to keep an eye on their children while they are on the street (http://bbq.about.com/od/seasonal/a/aa1022chil05a.htm).

These were the most important aspect of this episode, it is just the first, so we will see many others soon.

Hi, everyone!

In Mexico, we are all familiar with the concept of Halloween and even some of us disguise ourselves to go to parties on October 31^st, but are we aware of what the actual celebration is like in the United States and England? Possibly not, as we have only borrowed some of the most popular aspects of the celebration and adapted them to ours.

However, if somebody asked us the reason behind the pumpkins or where witches come from or why we disguise ourselves, it is highly likely that we will be unable to answer such questions. This is the reason why this blog has been created!

The authors believe that it is important to understand the actual celebration of Halloween in order to adopt it and adapt it most appropriately in our country. Still, as we are not fond of theory, we have decided to examine Halloween in the light one of the most successful series in American history: The Simpsons. In our opinion, this will make everything more interesting and also more realistic, given that we will analyse specific aspects portrayed on the TV programme and try to explain them one by one to get a better understanding of them.

After all, for better or for worse, The Simpsons have had a great influence on Mexican society and the possibility that they help it to understand such a popular celebration better than an essay on the subject does not seem far-fetched.

Then, let us start out journey into Halloween and the Simpsons. We hope you enjoy it as much as us! :)