Words by

Hannah Jane Cohen

As with hot dogs and unprotected sex, Icelanders are bizarrely fond of the long-running American animated TV show ‘The Simpsons.’. For people in this country between their mid-twenties and mid-forties, it’s basically ‘Mean Girls’.

While much of the population of Iceland could be said to be fans of the show, two thousand nine hundred and eleven residents are even more obsessed, so give a big “Hey-Diddly-Ho!” to the members of the popular Facebook group, “Æ on Springfield – Íslenskir Simpsons aðdáendur” or “Eye on Springfield – Icelandic Simpsons fans.” (Æ being a homonym of eye – not the actual Icelandic word for eye.) The group was created in 2013 by Björn Þór Björnsson, and in only four years has collected two thousand two hundred and ninety three more members than there are Simpsons episodes. Slow down that SPEED man.

As you might expect, the group consists mostly of a hodgepodge of memes and screenshots from the show. That said, since ‘The Simpsons’ has been alive and kicking for 29 seasons—for reference, so has Rihanna—there is ample material for compelling memes relating to any situation. For instance, last week the 2017 World Yoyo Contest was held at Harpa. In response, Gunna Herberts posted a screenshot of a episode 16 from season three, entitled, ‘Bart the Lover,’ with the caption: “Yoyo festival in Iceland…” The shot depicts Edna’s response to Nelson’s dumbass question, “Did [the Pilgrims] have yo-yos?” The iconic teacher is giving him a pissed-off condescending glare, saying, “No, they did not have yo-yos.” See? The show is relevant for everything. It even predicted Trump!!

In fact, in the 24th season, there was an episode called ‘The Saga Of Carl,’ which guest-starred then-Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and an extremely obscure band called Sigur Rós. In the episode, Carl gets back to his Icelandic roots and learns the true meaning of friendship. It’s heartwarming, just like the music of Sigur Rós.

So, why do Icelanders like the Simpsons so much? Who knows? It’s probably something in their DNA. As the Icelanders famously said as they were conquered by the Danish: “And I for one, hérna, welcome our new superior overlords. Já, já já já…”