The President Wore Pearls
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "The President Wore Pearls" | |
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| Episode no. | 316 |
| Prod. code | EABF20 |
| Orig. Airdate | November 16, 2003 |
| Writer(s) | Dana Gould |
| Director | Mike B. Anderson |
| Chalkboard | None |
| Couch gag | A large Polaroid drops on the couch and develops into a picture of the family |
| Guest star(s) | Michael Moore |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 15 November 2, 2003 – May 23, 2004 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"The President Wore Pearls" is an episode of The Simpsons first broadcast on November 16, 2003 as the third episode of the show's fifteenth season. Lisa is elected student body president. The episode was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Music And Lyrics (respectively, by Alf Clausen and Dana Gould).
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[edit] Synopsis
Springfield Elementary holds a casino night as a fundraiser, the brainchild of student body president Martin Prince. Homer wins big, but when Martin points out that his winnings can only be redeemed for prizes and not real money, the angry casino patrons riot. After the chaos has cleared, Principal Skinner tells Martin that he must resign as president. An election for a new president is announced, with the hugely popular Nelson Muntz the heavy favorite to win. Lisa signs up to challenge him. During a debate in the school auditorium, she sings a song (a spoof of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina") about how she will fight for the student's rights, instantly winning them over.
Lisa easily wins the election. The school faculty tells her that as President, she deserves a more glamorous look. Another song is sung (a spoof of "Rainbow High") as the teachers give Lisa a makeover into a fashionable Eva Perón lookalike. She is initially resistant, but gives in since she reasons she'll still be able to fight for the kids. The students love the new Lisa more than ever, but the faculty plan on using her to distract the kids from the fact that they're cutting music, gym, and art from the curriculum to save on the budget. Realizing that she was seduced by glamor, Lisa goes back to her old spiky hair and plain red dress and leads the students in a strike.
The students leave school to protest. Michael Moore (voicing himself) briefly shows up to take the children's' side. The police arrive at the school to handle the young protesters, but Lisa wins them over too. Several other labor unions, including goat milkers, newsroom cue card holders, and theme park zombies, join the strike. Groundskeeper Willie refuses Skinner's order to turn his hose on the students. Realizing that there is no other way out of the crippling strike other than disposing of Lisa, Skinner has her transferred to a school for the gifted. When she arrives there, Homer shows up to explain that he's not driving 45 minutes just to take her to school each day, and so everything ends up back to normal. A subtitle states that the elementary school cancels flu shots and sells loose cigarettes to pay for the restoration of music, art, and gym. The subtitle also states that the producers of the show never heard of a musical based on the life of Eva Peron, based on the advice of their lawyers.
[edit] Cultural references
- The episode is a parody of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita. It is a musical episode with five songs, most of them parodies of numbers from Evita.
- Much of the last third of the episode pays homage to the events of May 1968 in France.
[edit] Trivia
- In this episode we find out that Lisa's email address is smartgirl63_\@yahoo.com, which is not a valid syntax, as a backslash cannot appear in the part before the @-sign. It is assumed that its placement was intentional to avoid connotations with any existent e-mail account.
- The song Nelson sings is "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath.
- What Lisa tells the teachers about Swedish public schools is true, the students do grade the teachers.
- Lenny`s "But I break just like a little girl" is a reference to the Dylan Song "Just like a woman"
- The students signs include: "FLUNK ME? FLUNK YOU!" "GIVE P.E. A CHANCE," "DONT CUT OFF MY PIANISSIMO," "WHAT WOULD JESUS GLUE?" "I LIKE PURPLE," "PASTE AIN'T WASTE," "FREE THE KICKBALL 9," and "DON'T TAKE AWAY OUR BALLS."
[edit] Goofs
- When Lisa looks at the former student body presidents, one reads "President Krusty". But Herschel Krustofsky, as is his real name, wasn't a famous clown yet when he was at school.
- When the camera pans around Lisa as she enters the chorus of "Don't vote for Lisa...", Skinner is nowhere to be seen. Immediately before and after this segment, Skinner is clearly next to Nelson, and so should have been visible during the camera pan.
- During the song "Smart Girl Six Three", Lisa reaches through the rear section of the bus; however, later in the scene, a glass window is clearly visible.
[edit] Quotes
- Lisa: Nelson, you're running for president?
Nelson: I'm not saying I have all the answers. But, I do have all the answer keys...to every test.
(A group of students and their teacher crowd around Nelson)
Nelson: Fractions, dinosaurs, foreign money, the first Thanksgiving...
Mrs. Krabappel: Nelson, what are you doing?
Nelson: Real-estate license exam?
Mrs. Krabappel: My ticket to freedom!
- Chalmers: [about Willy] Hey, maybe that escaped mental patient you hired has some sort of toxin in his shack.
- Marge: Lisa, what are you doing? This is the kind of trouble making I expect from your brother!
Bart: You do? Cool, a blank check for mayhem! (picks up a brick and throws it at a window, which bounces back and hits him in the head, knocking him unconscious)
- Chief Wiggum: Remember, these are little kids. So take out your tiny batons.
Lisa: Chief Wiggum, we're just like you. Haven't you ever felt the mayor doesn't appreciate you?
Wiggum: You mean the mayor who made me wait for two hours at that restaurant?! I ate so much bread...! Sit down, boys! We're joining this strike!
Lou: Uh, Chief, are you sure the mayor wasn't at a different Olive Garden than you?
Wiggum: Well, I can't take out that rattlesnake I put in his mailbox now, now can I?
Eddie: Uh, yes, Chief, you could.
Wiggum: Well let me ask you this: "shut up".
- Willie: Now see here, ya nose-wipin', hair-combers. Back in Edinburgh, we had a coal miners' strike. All we wanted were hats with a wee light on top. Then one day, the mine collapsed! No one made it out alive. Not even Willie!
- Michael Moore: Kids who don't get to take music and art are 10% more likely to become chronically unemployed and appear in one of my movies.
Kent Brockman: Where'd you get that statistic?
Michael Moore: Your mother!
- Chalmers: I've got a question: You're crazy!
- Nelson: [after Lisa's elaborate song] I have a song too! (to the tune of Iron Man) I am Iron Man; do do do do do do do, vote for me! [sighs] Ah, screw it!
- Nelson: (dressed like Abraham Lincoln) So, when's my inauguration?
Chalmers: Well, let's see. When Hell freezes over, tough guy!
- Marge: Lisa, you look so successful; like you're the wife of a businessman!
Homer: I wish I`d married a businessman--then I'd have nice things.
- Marge: (To Lisa)You're like Geraldine Ferraro, except you won whereas she failed miserably.
- Bart: (in sing-song) "Lisa is a nut, she has a rubber butt! Every time she turns around, it goes put-put!
- Bart: (Sarcastically applauding Lisa) Bravo, Lisa, bravo.
Marge: Aw, isn't that sweet? Your brother's giving his kudos.
Bart: I was be-ing sarcastic.
Marge: (Disappointed) Oh, were you?
Bart: (Sarcastic) No, I was being sincere.
Homer: Oh, I'm so confused!
- Bart: (To Lisa) Lisa, Skinner is just using you. Like a pawn on his unholy chess set.
Homer: The pawns on my chess set are all Hamburglars.
