One Eye imagery

I’ve seen one eye imagery in “The Simpsons” so many times, I wouldn’t mind betting it’s in every episode, except maybe the original short episodes on “The Tracey Ullman” show. For other non-Simpsons one eye occurrences, see my article in the Symbolism/Human body section.

Two of the characters are often seen with one eye: DOLPH (his hair usually covers one eye) and the Sea Captain who has at least one glass eye (possibly two). One of his eyes is usually partially closed.

In the opening credits for the more recent series, an ice cream cone is in one eye of a statue head that covers up Ralph’s head.

This article is ongoing as I add more episodes.

The early “Tracey Ullman” shorts

Episode 25 “Family Portrait” – While Homer photographs the family, Bart pulls faces, and closes one eye.

THE MAIN SERIES

Series 11

Episode 3 “Homer The Moe” – Moe’s new bar has the one eye motif (TV screens with one eye in each screen).

Episode 10 “Little Big Mom” – Homer covers one eye when looking at Flanders. Bart closes one eye after discovering that he has a problem.

Episode 22 “Behind the Laughter” – At an award ceremony, the winners receive a statuette that is a large eye perched on top of a slender pyramidal structure. Hosting the ceremony is the singer WILLIE NELSON who has red hair arranged as 2 pigtails. At one point his pigtails raise upwards in a shape reminiscent of the Egyptian Goddess HATHOR.

Series 12

Episode 5  “Homer Versus Dignity” – Bart closes one eye to look through a telescope. Lenny is hit in the eye, then says “Ow! I’m in hell!”. He has to wear an eye patch. When he removes it, he winks.

Episode 14 “New Kids On The Blecch” – A soldier is hit in the eye with a flower. Homer closes one eye when running a marathon. A pop star (“N Sync” member) winks.

Episode 17 “Simpsons Safari” – Homer is accidentally hit in the eye by a box. Homer and Bart accidentally hit each other in the eye when doing a ‘High 5’ gesture.

Series 17

Episode 4 “Treehouse of Horror XVI” – two decapitated heads have faces with one eye closed (The Sea Captain and Music Teacher). A wicked witch has an eye that accidentally falls out of its eye socket, so hangs by the nerve cord. She puts it back, then her eye twitches.

Series 18

Episode 3 “Please Homer, Don’t Hammer ‘Em” – In a dream, MR PEANUT (the half-man, half-peanut shell character who is the logo for PLANTERS PEANUTS) removes his eye monocle. Out of his eye shoots winged peanuts.

Marge holds a camera to one eye.

Episode 5 “GI (Annoyed Grunt)” – A mini-helicopter with a camera for spying is pestering Homer, so he creates a ‘female’ equivalent to distract the ‘male’ drone. The female (with two eyes) winks at the male.

Episode 7 “Ice Cream Of Margie” – A brown bear is shown with one eye closed. Police Chief Wiggum closes one eye whilst aiming a gun.

Episode 8 “The Haw-hawed Couple” – A sad Nelson has to clean his cat’s eyes. He says: “Something in your eye, Mr Mooch? Well, there’s something in my eye too.” Bart opens one of his closed eyes when he realises he’s not going to be hit. Homer is poked in the eye with an umbrella, so he closes his hurt eye.

Episode 10 – “The Wife Aquatic” – A wolf wakes up, but only one open eye is seen. Homer is kicked in the face, so one of his eyes twitches.

Episode 13 – “Springfield Up” – 2 police officers at the firing range close one eye for aiming. A joke book cover shows a man winking.

Series 19

Episode 1 “He Loves To Fly And He D’Ohs” – Mr Burns winks twice. SCRATCHY the cat has a pink eye after being hit there. Bart pokes Homer in the eye, then Homer puts his hand over his eye in pain. The Rich Texan winks.

Episode 2 “Homer of Seville” – Homer in bed has one eye that is half closed. A nurse jabs a thermometer in a patient’s eye. A husband films his pregnant wife, holding the camera in front of one eye while the other eye is closed.

Episode 8 “Funeral For A Fiend” – Sideshow Bob’s father winks.

Episode 9 “Eternal Moonshine Of The Simpson Mind” – this episode has occult overtones, I believe, as it revolves around memory loss and a machine for exploring buried memories. It finishes on the night of a full moon. Homer closes one eye before exploring his memories. Marge has a black eye and covers her eye several times. So does Homer’s father. The episode’s title is derived from the movie “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind”, about deliberate memory erasure. The movie was written by CHARLIE KAUFMAN, who also wrote “Being John Malkovich” (flexible identity theme) and “Synecdoche, New York”, about a theatre director’s play that blurs the line between fact and fiction. The word SYNECDOCHE is similar to HOLOGRAPHIC, in that both denote a relationship between the ‘whole’ and a part of the whole.

Series 23

Episode 1 “The Falcon And The D’Ohman” – An ice hockey mascot (dressed as a green monster) has one eye set on fire.

Episode 5 “The Food Wife” – Lisa winks after licking ice cream. A ride in a theme park is called  “Eyeballs Of Death”, which is advertised on TV with Scratchy the cat’s eye hanging out of its’ socket by the nerve cord.

A video game character has one eye painted with a red flash – a bit like David Bowie’s alter ego Aladdin Sane. Marge closes one eye when taking a photo. A point of view shot travels into a man’s eye to reveal a memory of his younger self.

Episode 7 “The Man In The Blue Flannel Pants” – Homer puts a contact lens in one eye only and jabs his eye quite hard. His other eye shuts.

Episode 9 “The Ten-Per-Cent Solution” – The pupil of Maggie’s eye wanders about. Krusty is hit close to one eye.

Episode 10 “Politically Inept, With Homer Simpson” – Homer screws up one eye when stressed out.

Episode 11 “The D’Oh-cial Network” – Homer draws a black line over one eye with eye liner.

Episode 13 “The Daughter Also Rises” – Jesus winks.

Episode 16 “How I Met Your Mother” – Homer and Chief Wiggum each close one eye when hit on the head. This episode is about karma and dream exploration. Carl says to Homer “You are garbage made flesh”, which to me sounds like an occult reference to the rejected stone and to ‘sinful flesh’ and karmic debts manifesting as physical matter.