Created by Matt Groening in 1989, “The Simpsons” is the longest-running scripted primetime TV series in the country, and has become iconic in its parody of working-class America. No piece of American culture is safe from satire, through characters like Ned Flanders (the good-hearted Christian neighbor), Mr. Burns (the evil, greedy capitalist), Principal Skinner (the out-of-touch educator), and, of course, the true star, the beer-drinking, donut-eating, simple-minded Homer Simpson.
The Simpsons’ home has also, on some level, become a character of the show. Immediately recognizable to fans (and even many non-fans, as it is now such an ubiquitous piece of pop culture), the family’s simple, typical suburban home (often shown in varying states of dilapidation), is an icon in and of itself.
But what if we looked at the house a little differently? Through other architectural styles, say?
That’s exactly what home improvement site HomeAdvisor and Neomam studios set out to do in a recent collaboration. The result is 8 different architectural interpretations of the house through common, classic American styles. Check out the gallery below:
As HomeAdvisor says in their post, “What better way to demonstrate America’s diverse architectural styles than through the country’s most infamous family — The Simpsons?
The Simpson family residence is instantly familiar to all, yet their dwelling could have been completely different if they’d embraced one of these popular housing styles.”
Which raises an interesting question: Is it the family that makes the house, or the house that makes the family? Would the Simpsons still have been the Simpsons had they been living in an Art Deco-styled home? Would it be as funny?
And raises, perhaps, a greater question of how surroundings, landscapes, and property affect the outlook of the average American.
Importantly, no matter which style of house Homer lives in (at least according to the gallery above), he can still be found throwing his beer cans into the garbage out back, living exactly as we would expect Homer Simpson to live.
