This is cool
Have you ever wondered why Maggie is scanned in The Simpsons intro? Well, thanks to the wonderful people on the internet, you now have an answer – and we can’t lie, it’s deeper than you think.
In case you need your memory refreshing for a minute, during the opening credits of the iconic cartoon which aired its first episode in December 17, 1989, Maggie Simpson is scanned along with all the other groceries that her mum Marge is buying on a conveyor belt.
Most people watching back then probably thought nothing of it when the cash register rang up $847.63 but it’s not just any old random number.
As Twitter trivia account UberFacts pointed out on Tuesday, the figure actually refers to how much the estimated monthly cost of raising a child was back in 1989. Cool, right?
https://twitter.com/KRsmiles_a_lot/status/1544459672505135104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1544459672505135104%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unilad.com%2Ffilm-and-tv%2Fthe-real-reason-maggie-is-scanned-in-the-simpsons-title-sequence-20220706
Don’t worry, you’re not the only person to have your mind blown by this, half of the internet has been taken aback by the meaning behind this small moment in an intro that almost everyone knows. Yet more evidence of how clever and complex this show has always been.
Perhaps the coolest and most interesting part about this fun little fact is that it’s actually evolved over time. For instance, since 2009, the number changed; the price goes from $243.26 to double that number ($486.52) after she is scanned.
Creator Matt Groening has never commented on the new figure, it is likely he made the number more generic to show that a baby will double your cost of living.
Even better still, in the “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” episode in season 25 (2013), the price simply pops up as 666 for Halloween. Every day’s a school day.
Related links:
- Fan remakes Simpsons: Hit & Run as an open-world game and it looks unbelievably good
- The one song that connects the Stranger Things 4 finale with its very first season
- The definitive list of everything The Simpsons predicted that shockingly came true
