About
Homer Backs Into Things is a reaction GIF taken from a scene in the animated comedy series The Simpsons in which the main character, Homer Simpson, steps back into a hedge until he is no longer visible. The GIF is used to express embarrassment, and has been frequently edited so Simpson disappears into other things.
Origin
On March 17th, 1994, an episode of The Simpsons titled “Homer Loves Flanders” first aired. In the scene captured in the reaction GIF Homer asks his neighbors the Flanders if they want to hang out with him. When they say they don’t, Homer responds by saying, “Oh, ok,” before disappearing into the bushes. The scene appeared as a reaction GIF as early as December 8th, 2010 on GIFGarage.[1]
Spread
On November 5th, 2012, Tumblr blog kompajunior[6] published a template of the GIF which erased the hedge, allowing others to edit other images into its place.
On November 6th, 2012 UpRoxx[4] published a post titled “Homer Backs Into Things Is The GIF Theme We Need Right Now,” which featured several edited versions of the GIFs showing Homer disappearing into other items like pizza and french fries. The GIF was included as one of the 37 GIFs exhibited at the Museum of Moving Images[2] in Queens, New York, from March 12th, 2014, to May 15th, 2014. On June 13th, 2014, Redditor OSUperson added a thread titled “I made a Homer Backing Into Things generator. Can anyone come up with some funny ones?” to the Simpsons subreddit[3] which featured a link to the generator[11] which allows users to upload an image file to replace the hedge within the GIF. The generator was featured on several sites including On The Media[5] and The Journal.[7]
Related Memes
Fair Weather Fans
A four paneled reaction image featuring Homer disappearing into the hedge, then coming back out has been used to portray sports fans who begin routing for the winning team as their original team begins to lose. The concept was first used online during the 2014 Superbowl, the image set featuring Homer wearing a Broncos jersey going into the hedge and emerging with a Seattle Seahawks jersey was included in a post titled “The 25 Funniest Broncos Super Bowl Memes” published on TotalProSports[8] on February 4th, 2014. The image set was applied to Canadian basketball in a post published by RaptorsCage[9] published on April 8th, 2014. The meme was also applied to the 2014 soccer World Cup, appearing in a post published by the Daily Mail[10] on June 20th, 2014.
Notable Examples
External References
[1]GIFGarage – Homer appears, then disappears in bush
[2]Moving Images – The Reaction GIF: Moving Image as Gesture
[3]Reddit – I made a Homer Backing Into Things generator. Can anyone come up with some funny ones?
[4]UpRoxx – Homer Backs Into Things Is The GIF Theme We Need Right Now
[5]On the Media – Homer Backs Into Things Is The GIF Theme We Need Right Now
[6]Tumblr- kompajunior
[7]The Journal- Homer Simpson backing into things is the greatest invention ever*
[8]Total Pro Sports- The 25 Funniest Broncos Super Bowl Memes
[9]Raptor’s Cage- Playoff-Bound Raptors Give Toronto Something To Cheer For
[10]Daily Mail- At least we can still laugh at ourselves: The memes mocking England’s misery after Gerrard & Co’s disastrous defeat
[11]Homer Backing Into Things- Homer Backing Into Things