The Simpsons (television series)

Last modified: 2009-10-02 by marc pasquin
Keywords: simpsons | tv | springfield | england | australia | kamp krusty | camp bart | betsy ross |
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• Unnamed state in the United States Of America
  • Earlier flag
  • Latter flag
• Springfield
• Palm Corners
• Kamp Krusty
  • post bart's revolt
• the Simpsons's version of the Australian national flag
• the Simpsons's version of the English flag
• The origin of the US flag according to the Simpsons
• Unknown Flag
• Unknown Flag 2

• Fictional flags
• Fictional flags on tv

[ed note: though some refer to the state as North kentucky, this is a misconception. For more details, check this page (link found by nathan lamm)]

Earlier Flag

by Josh Fruhlinger

This is the flag of the US state that Springfield, the setting of the animated show "The Simpsons" is in. One of the show's running gags is that you never know precisely what state Springfield is in - often characters will be about to say the name when, say, a passing train obscures their words.

In one episode, evil nuclear power plant owner Monty Burns runs for governor, and in one of his campaign commercials we see the state flag. This is it. Except for the motto in the bottom stripe, I'd actually prefer this design to many seal-on-a-monocolored-background designs.
Josh Fruhlinger, 24 October 1996

The flag of Springfield, MO could very well be a major inspiration for this flag, by the way.
Ole Andersen, 2 april 2004

by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 13 semptember 2006

In one episode, the Confederate imagery on the state flag (it looks like a Second Confederate Naval Jack sinking into the ocean) is declared to be a disgrace "especially as we're a Northern State." This sparks a state flag contest among the kids.
Nathan Lamm, 17 november 2002

The design looked like Arizona's flag with the CBF in place of the star. I guess Springfield is in southeren Arizona??
Al Kirsch, 17 november 2002

I found the way the Confederate jack was presented--a sunset-lit beauty shot, for (presumably) maximum objectionability--particularly amusing.
Eugene Ipavec, 13 march 2005

Officialy Adopted Flag	Lisa's Proposal
by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán	by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán

In the same episode where we see the second state flag, the controversy encourages the governor to suggest the children of the visiting Springfield Elementary design a new flag. Lisa comes up with one, depicting people, and a rainbow I think, but Bart messes it up so that it shows a 'stink line' instead. Apparently it ends up being accepted as the new flag, for Homer remarks later that his state is 'the stinky state' as if that were the official state motto, much as California is 'the golden state'.
Andrew Cheatle, 1 july 2004

by Eugene Ipavec, 14 september 2006

In Springfield was a revolution of babys, so Kabul rejected the city partnership with Springfield. In this screen capture, the representative of Kabul tear up the flag of Springfield. It is a typical American city flag, blue with the CoA and the words "CITY OF SPRINGFIELD". I do not know much about the symbolism, except of the lemon. There is a lemon tree, where the children of Springfield take the fruits to make lemonade for generations.
J. Patrick Fischer, 07 november 2004

The lemon tree also play a part in the city's history.
Nathan Lamm, 07 november 2004

What I mistook for three smaller stars in the fourth quarter is actually a "radiation" symbol.
Eugene Ipavec, 14 september 2006

by Eugene Ipavec, 5 september 2006

Here is the flag of the fictional Florida town of Palm Corners, from season 11 of the TV series "The Simpsons" (episode "Kill The Alligator And Run"). The town was meant to be a parody of Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break (something many might consider a redundancy). A screenshot can be seen here
Eugene Ipavec, 5 september 2006

The joke in the episode was that Palm Corners' flag was designed by (or sewn by, I forget which) the town's mascot, "Cactus Jack" (the titular alligator). Hence the reason it looks like it was put together by an alligator.
David Kendall, 5 september 2006

by Eugene Ipavec, 1 may 2006

This flag is seen in episode 1 of season 4 entitled "Kamp Krusty." In it, Bart and Lisa are sent to a summer camp licensed by their hero, Krusty the Clown. The camp turns out to be a run-down hellhole where the campers are forced to subsist on gruel and stitch wallets for export.

A screenshot of the flag can be seen here
Eugene Ipavec, 1 may 2006

by Eugene Ipavec, 1 may 2006

After enduring Kamp Krusty's hardship for a while, Bart leads a sucessful revolt, expels the counselors and renames the camp after himself. There is a scene of the old camp flag being lowered, and a new one being raised.

A screenshot of the flag can be seen here
Eugene Ipavec, 1 may 2006

by Sean McKinniss

The episode in which this flag was seen involved Bart being sent to Australia to apologise for a long distance phone bill--or he'll be given the boot! (The episode was a parody of the Michael Fay incident, in which an American was caned for a crime in Singapore.

It contains a Union Jack in the canton, a constellation, and a boot kicking a bare bottom. In the episode, it flew over the Australian Parliament.
Sean McKinniss, 2 april 2004

by Vincent Morley & Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 14 september 2005

In one episode, Marge Simpson tells her children the story of Henry VIII of England. Henry VIII looks very much like Homer Simpson in this joke version of history, and the flags flying over his castle looks like the English flag but with other colours - they are blue with a white cross.
Elias Granqvist, 2 november 2004

by Edward Mooney, Jr. & Eugene Ipavec, 29 June 2009

The episode "Lisa the Iconoclast" features a flag-related joke, wherein George Washington, in a flashback, is handed a new US flag by Betsy Ross and complains that it only has white stars, not the "red hearts, green clovers, and yellow moons" he had apparently also specified. (This being a reference to a long-running jingle for the "Lucky Charms" brand of cereal)
Eugene Ipavec, 27 may 2006

"Lisa the Iconoclast" is the 16th episode of The Simpsons' 7th season, originally airing on February 18, 1996: as Springfield's bicentennial approaches, Lisa finds a secret confession written by town founder Jebediah Springfield, revealing that he had actually been a murderous pirate in hiding. Relevant quote (from a flashback to 1796):

Betsy Ross: (enters room, plaintively) I got the white stars you wanted, but I couldn’t find any red hearts, yellow moons, or green clovers.
George Washington: (annoyed) ...I’ll take it. But I’m not paying for it!

by Eugene Ipavec, 27 may 2006

Yet another state or city flag appears, alongside a US flag, behind mayor Quimby in the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast". It is a red-white-blue tricolor, with thin gold stripes in between.
Eugene Ipavec, 27 may 2006

by Eugene Ipavec, 11 December 2007

In "The Simpsons" third-season.episode "Bart the Murderer," a flag appears on the other side of a judges' podium from the S&S - horizontal white-red-white, with a yellow star in the central stripe.

This could have been an early concept for a flag of Springfield, an unplanned improvisation, or possibly the storyboards called for a flag of the unnamed state the series is set in - the design is identical) but left out the specified colors, leaving the animation studio to pick ones at random.

Either way, simple, one-off flags are quite commonly employed by the series in official settings. (In an episode a few seasons ago, the flag of Sierra Leone was inexplicably present in the offices of the Teacher Of The Year Commitee.) The "official" flag of Springfield has never been shown again.
Eugene Ipavec, 11 December 2007

Well, from over here, it does look like the logical place to show a state flag. If this was a mistake - some very good stories have come from accepting a mistake into a story line's universe and writing an explanation for it.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg , 13 December 2007

Well, the show could use some consistency in this department; every time a non-national flag is called for to stand in a corner in an official setting, a simple new ad-hoc design is thrown together. There must be half a dozen nominal flags of Springfield alone.
Eugene Ipavec, 13 December 2007

And no indication this is intended as a running gag? Well, maybe you could turn it into one, by offering the next few designs to be used? Suggest they have a flag design competition?

Then again, maybe some people in that universe are deliberately swapping the Springfield or State flag, to steal them in a way people won't notice as quickly - "as no-one ever looks at a state flag anyway". Of course, that must mean there's something stealworthy about the original flags. Maybe it's just the oldest flags, made at the time Springfield became a city - off we go into the treasure puzzle story line with meaningful variations in what appeared to be badly made flags. I expect they find out in the end that those really are badly made flags and that the rumour of the treasure was spread by the manufacturer to make people buy them anyway.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg , 15 December 2007