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Since 1993, The Simpsons has not taken place in the real world, but in the deteriorating mind of a vegetative Homer Simpson. Reddit user Hardtopickname formulated his theory from a throwaway line in the classic Season Four episode "Homer The Heretic," which aired on October 8, 1992. The story ends with Homer talking to God in a dream sequence. When Homer asks God about the meaning of life, the Supreme Being tells him that he'll find out when he dies. When Homer complains that he can't wait that long, God asks, "You can't wait six months?" Flash-forward six months, to April Fools' Day, 1993, and the episode "So It's Come To This: A Simpsons Clip Show." As the title suggests, this is a fix-up episode of scenes from earlier episodes, with a new framing device in which one of Bart's pranks puts Homer in the hospital with a dangerous concussion that renders him comatose. The clips are stories that the family members tell the catatonic Homer in the hope that he'll wake up. At the end of the episode, Homer recovers, and goes on to resume his wacky adventures. ("Me lose brain? Why I laugh?") Or does he? Writes Hardtopickname: "I propose that Homer didn't actually wake up from his coma. He is still in a vegetative state and every single Simpsons episode afterwards is in Homer's imagination. This is why the characters don't age. Homer remembers Bart, Lisa, and Maggie as 10, 8, and 1 year old, so they will always appear that way in his dreams. He is subconsciously aware of time passing, so his mind will often "update" his memories so that the year they occurred matches up with the age he thinks he is (eg. That 90's Show contradicting other flashback episodes)." Beyond this point, The Simpsons got progressively weirder and less realistic. Homer went into space, helped Mr. Burns capture the Loch Ness Monster, and went to work for a supervillain. Where before the show might have dealt with more mundane subject matter, like Bart cheating on a test or Homer trying to give up drinking, the newer episodes presented a more cartoon-like reality. As Hardtopickname explains it: "This is clearly Homer's imagination running wild. With no real world restrictions, Homer's mind is able to dream up scenarios of him and his family in fantasies involving him winning a Grammy, his father fighting his boss for buried WW2 treasure, his wife getting breast implants, his infant daughter saving him from drowning, etc." The massive amounts of celebrity appearances are easily explained as well. People in comas can sometime hear what people in the same room are saying. While Homer wouldn't physically react, his mind processes that information and includes it in his dreams. The theory also explains how Homer is aware of post-1993 events, as well as modern public figures and technology. His barely-functioning brain would pick up cues from his family's conversations, as well as snippets of radio and TV playing in his hospital room. On some level, he'd be aware of stuff like Lady Gaga and iPhones, and would incorporate them into his increasingly bizarre hallucinations. But Hardtopickname's theory shouldn't be seen in an entirely negative light. "Going back to Homer's conversation with God, what is the meaning of life? ... Well life can have different meaning for different people and a purpose or reason for one's existence can be as unique as their fingerprints. For Homer, his grand purpose is obvious – he is here to entertain. His dreams, his imaginative adventures, have provided billions with amusement and will continue to do so for decades." Not bad for a dumb overweight loudmouth.
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