Blame It on Lisa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Blame It on Lisa" | |
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| Episode no. | 284 |
| Prod. code | DABF10 |
| Orig. Airdate | March 31, 2002 |
| Show Runner(s) | Al Jean |
| Writer(s) | Bob Bendetson |
| Director | Steven Dean Moore |
| Couch gag | The Simpsons appear as puppets held by strings, being controlled by Matt Groening. |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 13 November 6, 2001 – May 22, 2002 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Blame it on Lisa" is an episode from the thirteenth season of The Simpsons in which the family goes to Brazil in search of Lisa's pen pal, a Brazilian orphan named Ronaldo. The title is a pun on the movie Blame it on Rio.
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[edit] Synopsis
The Simpsons go to Rio de Janeiro in search of a missing Brazilian orphan boy that Lisa had been secretly sponsoring. Homer is kidnapped and taken to the Amazon and ultimately, is exchanged for ransom at the cable cars on Sugarloaf Mountain in a parody of the James Bond film Moonraker.
[edit] Trivia
- The song playing just as Homer and Bart are strolling down the beach is - perhaps inevitably - the 1939 tune "Brazil", previously featured prominently in the movie of the same name.
- The scene where Homer's Speedos sink into his fat, causing people to voluntarily blind themselves was later stylistically reused in the season 17 episode, "The Girl Who Slept Too Little". There, Homer, in protest of the construction of a stamp museum, is "Jigglin' for Justice" on his riding mower, causing horrified construction workers to fall backwards off their I-beam.
- Another possible reason for the streets being filled with monkeys is the fact that a Brazilian pejorative low-level slang for black people is "macacos", meaning "monkeys".
- Ronaldo claims that he cannot reply to Lisa because he did not know the state, but then how did he send her his first letters?
- Homer's guess that hot snow falls up would be true, if the snow was hot enough to be steam.
[edit] Cultural references
- Homer says that "the Boys from Brazil" "are little Hitlers" when Lisa mentions her sponsoree is a Brazilian boy. He's thinking of The Boys from Brazil, a 1970s book and subsequent movie about a group of ex-Nazis trying to restart the Third Reich by cloning Adolph Hitler.
- The blonde host of the risque children's variety show in Brazil is a reference to Brazilian entertainer Xuxa. The host appears in another episode (Marge Be Not Proud) wherein she stars in a Krusty the Clown special, and is attributed the name "Xoxchitla" (which, of course, Krusty could not pronounce correctly even on his best day).
- A sign seen on top of an all-you-can-eat meat-on-swords restaurant, called Churrascaria ("steak house") in Portuguese, mistakenly used in the plural, Churrascarias.
- The saying Aeroporto International de Galeão is a misspelled reference to Rio's international airport, Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport (also known as Aeroporto Internacional do Galeão)
- The orphanage is called "Orfanato dos Anjos Imundos", or "Filthy Angels Orphanage."
- At one point, Marge and Lisa go to a Samba School. Inside, they are practicing a dance that resembles tango, while the teacher, with a clear Hispanic (and, therefore, inaccurate) accent claims that Brazilians had been the inventors of the Lambada and the Macarena. Whereas this is true in the first case, the Macarena is a dance as alien to Brazil as it would be, for example, to the United States. It was a song composed in Colombia, not a style of dance. Besides, samba schools (in Portuguese, "escola de samba"), is not actually a school where people learn how to dance, but a kind of club.
- The hotels where the Simpsons stay while in Rio is called "Rio Days-inn ero", a pun on Rio de Janeiro.
- Homer and Bart sing the Chiquita Banana song, butchering the lyrics with, "I'm Chiquita Banana, and I'm here to say, I will eat this Toblerone and I will not pay!"
- The Brazilian children's learning show is called "Teleboobies", whose title is an obvious pun on Teletubbies despite the completely different premises of the two shows.
[edit] Reaction in Brazil
Even before the episode was aired in Brazil, Rio's secretary of tourism protested on how the city was portrayed (monkeys everywhere, rampant street crime, slums, kidnappings). Producer James L. Brooks apologized, and said that if needed, Homer would like to invite Brazil's then-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso to Celebrity Boxing.
Although a possible legal action by the tourism board was dropped, the writers still made a running gag of the situation. An example being Homer's reference to "the monkey problem getting worse" in Rio in "The Regina Monologues". Another example being Krusty the Klown's revelation in "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" that immigration officials are constantly hounding him because his monkey sidekick, Mr. Teeny, is from Brazil. Krusty comments, "His uncle was the Head Monkey on the Bureau of Tourism." On a DVD audio commentary, Al Jean joked that, now after they've made fun of New Orleans and Brazil, they can no longer celebrate Mardi Gras.
[edit] Quotes
- Dancer: (with hispanic lispering accent) We're working on our most powerful dance: La Penetrada! It makes sex look like church!
Marge: I don't think my daughter needs to be hearing this. (she starts to usher Lisa out)
Dancer: You can't protect her forever!... chu stupid lady.
- Brazilian: You cannot run from Carnival, because even running is a kind of dance!
Another Brazilian: (in flames) I am on FIRE and I dance!
- Brazilian Police Officer: So you want me to find your husband?
Marge: Yes.
Brazilian Poice Officer: And you also want me to find a little boy?
Marge: That's right.
Brazilian Police Officer: I don't think there is a boy or a husband. I think you have a thing for me.
Man: (Random man enters off the street) Ahhh! I've been shot!
Brazilian Police Officer: I am flattered, but I do not swing that way.
- Kidnapper 1: (looking at the ransom money for Homer) Look at all that pink and purple.
Kidnapper 2: Wow, our money sure is gay.
- Brazilian Yes-guy: Siiiii!
- Homer [Eying the festively painted city rats running by]: Ooo! They look like Skittles!
- Homer: (Singing while in a Conga line) Take me to the ho-TEL! My hands are on a guy's ASS! Boy this dude must work-OUT!
- Homer: (Singing while walking down the beach in a speedo) I'm in Ri-o! And I'm walking on the beach, I'm in a speedo! (Continues to walk down the beach past several women who are not happy to see Homer in a speedo. He starts dancing in front of the final one, who puts a jellyfish on her face.)
- Mr. Moviefone: Our evening will be rated R for brief nudity!
- Homer: The Simpsons are going to Brazil!
Bart: Then I'll have been on every continent!!
Lisa: Except Antarctica.
Homer: The Simpsons are going to Antarctica! Next year. This year Brazil.
- Nun: We nuns cannot fly.
Homer: Too much junk in the trunk?
Nun: (sadly) Yes...
- Homer: Why would you sponsor a boy from Brazil? Don't you know the boys from Brazil are little Hitlers? I saw it in a movie...whose name I can't remember!
- Homer: We are not paying this bill!
Lindsey Naegle: Fine, I'll cut off your service.
Homer: Fine, I'll cut off your ponytail.
Marge: Homer!
Homer: Marge, it's called negotiating!
- Homer: (after phone service is cut off) That's it! They have awoken a sleeping giant.
Marge: (wearily) Homer, what are you going to do?
Bart: (fingers crossed) Crazy scheme. Crazy scheme. Crazy scheme.
Homer: Get me tools and beer!
Bart: Yes!
- Marge: I don't know, it's awfully expensive to fly to Brazil
Lisa: Not if we buy our tickets on the Internet. It's really cheap if we change planes in Phoenix, Honolulu, Sun City and East Saint Louis, spend the night in a haunted house and leave right now. - Bart: Get ready, Brazil. I now speak fluent Spanish.
Marge: Well done, Bart, but in Brazil they speak Portuguese.
Bart: Ay Caramba, que mujer tonta! Veinte horas estudiar por NADA!! (Ay caramba, what a stupid woman! (Possibly referring to Marge, maybe hinting that she told him to learn Spanish, even though she knew Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, though this is never mentioned) Twenty hours of studying for NOTHING!!) - Homer: Bart, forget all the Spanish you've learned!
Marge: Homer, it's still good to know!
Homer: (ignoring Marge) Forget! Forget!
Bart: (bangs his head on the seat in front of him and smiles)It's forgotten. - Lisa: Okay here are some travel tips: only drink bottled water, don't get into an unlicensed taxi, and, remember, they have winter during our summer.
Homer: Wait wait wait wait wait! So in August, it's cold?
Lisa: That's right
Homer: And in February, it's hot?
Lisa: Mm-hmm
Homer: So it's opposite land! Crooks chase cops! Cats have puppies!
Lisa: No, Dad. It's just the weather
Homer: So hot snow falls up?
Lisa: (giving in weakly) Yes.
Homer: Whoo-hoo! - Pilot Bernardo: This is your captain speaking. The temperature in Rio de Janeiro is hot, hot, hot! With a 100% chance of passion.
Co-Pilot: Bernardo, you make that joke every time!
Pilot Bernardo: It was that joke that made you fall in love with me. - Taxi Driver: My American friend, I'm afraid this is a kidnapping.
Homer: So, that means I don't have to pay the fare?
Taxi Driver: I-I suppose, eh...
Homer: Whoo-Hoo!
Taxi Driver: I'm afraid you do not appreciate the seriousness of your situation.
Homer: Fine! Take me, but let the boy go!
Taxi Driver: I'm afraid he has already gone. - Ronaldo: I tried to write, but I didn't know what state you lived in.
Lisa: It's a bit of a mystery, yes. But if you look at the clues, you can figure it out. - Bart: (after being swallowed by a giant snake) Hey, don't be sad! It's Carnaval! (Starts to dance inside the snake)
[edit] External links
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