Bart-Mangled Banner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Bart-Mangled Banner" | |
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| Episode no. | 334 |
| Prod. code | FABF17 |
| Orig. Airdate | May 16, 2004 |
| Writer(s) | John Frink |
| Director(s) | Steven Dean Moore |
| Chalkboard | None |
| Couch gag | The family bakes in a giant microwave oven, expanding like popcorn. |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 15 November 2, 2003 – May 23, 2004 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Bart-Mangled Banner" is an episode from The Simpsons' fifteenth season.
[edit] Synopsis
Homer and Marge take the kids to get their shots. Just before Dr. Hibbert is about to inject Bart, he escapes. After a chase through town, Hibbert finally outsmarts Bart and injects him. The shot, however, causes Bart's earholes to swell shut, making him temporarily deaf. Hibbert also tricks Homer into signing a malpractice waiver.
While at the Springfield Elementary School "donkey basketball game", Bart taunts a donkey with a carrot. After he places it in his shorts, the donkey takes it and rips off Bart's shorts (just like his famous line "Eat my shorts"). While Bart is bent over, the US flag is put up behind him and a photo is taken, which results in the crowd assuming that Bart is mooning the US flag. Shortly afterwards, the Springfield Shopper takes the story and completely turns it around, making it seem Bart deliberately mooned the flag. The Simpson family soon is hated by all of Springfield. Homer and Marge tried to clear up this misunderstanding, knowing that it was an accident, but everybody seems to mistrust Bart and his family.
The Simpsons are later asked to appear on a talk show and tell their side of the story. However, Marge says that she does hate Americans, even though she didn't mean that she actually hated all Americans. The US then turns their back on Springfield, so Mayor Quimby frantically decides to change the name of Springfield to "Libertyville." Everything in town is quickly patriotized; the traffic light colors are changed to red, white, and blue (red means go now), and everything costs $17.76. While at church, Lisa speaks her opinion about patriotism, and the Simpsons are taken into custody, in violation of the "Government Knows Best Act."
The Simpsons are taken to a "re-education center", which houses Michael Moore, the Dixie Chicks, Elmo (who accidentally went to the wrong fundraiser), and Bill Clinton. With some help from the last-registered Democrat, the Simpsons escape the prison, but realize that the re-education center is actually Alcatraz Prison. While they are swimming to land, they are picked up by a French freighter and are brought to France. They are well adjusted, but still miss America, mainly because it's where all their stuff is. They then move back to the US dressed as 19th century immigrants from Europe.
[edit] Trivia
- Elmo hangs himself in prison.
- The title is taken from a phrase Bart used in "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade", regarding the sabotage of Lisa's flag prototype.
- In France, Marge wears the same Chanel suit she wore in episode 3F11 "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield"
- When Bart & Lisa believe that they will be used as crash test dummies, Lisa closes her eyes and quietly says to herself "Please be Volvo". This is a reference to Volvo's excellent safety record.
- Apu renames his octuplets Freedom, Lincoln, Manifest Destiny, Coke, Pepsi, Condoleezza, Apple Pie, and Superman.
- The Schoolhouse Rock parody is from the episode "The Day the Violence Died".
- Though Superman was one of Apu's Liberty names, Superman was co-created by a Canadian.
- This is the first episode to show New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks. As the immigration boat heads into Manhattan, one can see the World Trade Center has now been removed.
- Moe says he is Dutch in this episode.
[edit] Cultural references
- When the Simpsons are swimming away from Alcatraz, Lisa suggests swimming towards San Francisco, but Homer says he's not made of money, so he wants to go to Oakland instead.
- In one of the chase scenes between Doctor Hibbert and Bart in the beginning, we see Hibbert diving down on Bart in a cropduster in a cornfield, a take on the famous cropduster scene from the Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest.
- One of the cellmates in the prison is Elmo from Sesame Street, who claims "Elmo go to wrong fundraiser."
- The Simpson's escape method is the same as the Von Trap family's from The Sound of Music. (After the Simpson's leave the stage, a guard runs onto the stage yelling "They've escaped!" mimicking one of the Nazi soldiers during the escape in the Sound of Music)
- In this episode, Mayor Quimby refers to Charlotte, North Carolina as previously being called Hitler City.
- Homer says instead of being called a "fat jerk," he is called a "gourmand." While, from the context, one could assume this is a negative term, it does not have a negative connotation in French, meaning someone who enjoys eating good food, not necessarily to excess.
