The Bart of War
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"The Bart of War" is an episode of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons that aired on May 18, 2003.
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[edit] Plot
When Marge sees Bart and Milhouse incited to violence after watching an episode of South Park, she tries to turn them onto some good television on the PAX television network. They run out of the room and find themselves outside and bored. After tying a thread to a fly that lands itself inside of the Flanders home, Bart and Milhouse find themselves inside the home, unsupervised. They cause some damage and find Ned’s collection of Beatles memorabilia. They drink from cans of a 40-year-old novelty beverage and start to hallucinate, with Bart seeing Milhouse as John Lennon through various stages of his life. Ned and the boys return to their home to find the house “slightly askew,” and they flee to their panic room and call the police. The police arrive and capture the boys and Bart pleads that their parents not be called. The parents are called and as part of Bart and Milhouse’s punishment, they are sentenced to spending all their time under parent supervision. Bart is also no longer allowed to play with Milhouse, who Marge believes incites Bart into his bad behavior.
Bart joins the “Pre-Teen Braves” and Homer becomes the tribe leader. When Homer fails in his leadership skills, Marge takes over. Marge takes the boys on a nature walk and they meet a Native American who shows them a field that is in need of restoration. The “Pre-Teen Braves” return to the field to begin their clean-up effort, only to discover that the “Cavalry Kids,” of which Milhouse and his father are members, have already done the job. The two groups go to war and try to outdo each other in doing good. When the opportunity to become batboys at a Springfield Isotopes game is on the line, the two sides redouble their efforts for their candy sales. The “Pre-Teen Braves” lace the “Cavalry Kids’ ” candy bars with laxatives and believe they are going to win.
Unfortunately for them, the senior citizens, in a need of relief from constipation, buy the “Cavalry Kids” a win. At the Isotopes game, the “Cavalry Kids” are delayed from arriving and the “Pre-Teen Braves” take their place singing their version of the national anthem. The crowd becomes angered by the version of the anthem that is being sung and when the real “Cavalry Kids” arrive, a fight breaks out between everyone in the crowd. When the image of Marge crying is shown on the Jumbotron, the fighting ends, with The Sea Captain suggesting that they not sing a “hymn to war, like our National Anthem, but a sweet soothing hymn like O Canada”. Everyone present sings and joins hands to form a maple leaf on the baseball field. In the end, Bart and Milhouse sum it up by saying that they’ve learned that: “War is not the answer —except to all of America’s problems.”
[edit] In later episodes
In the season 19 episode, Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind, Homer's Indican costume is seen during Homer's YouTube video view of his life flashing before his eyes.
[edit] South Park
After a nod to The Simpsons appeared on South Park in the episode “Simpsons Already Did It,” this show returned the “compliment.”
[edit] Cultural references
- The title is a play on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.
- The Native American refers to the book and 1992 hit movie The Last of the Mohicans.
- While the townspeople sing the national anthem of Canada, Marge is shown holding both the Canadian flag and the provincial flag of Quebec. This is a reference to Quebec's desire to be recognized as a nation within Canada.
[edit] Beatles references
- The drum solo Homer performs during the Pre-Teen Braves meeting is also the opening drum part of the song "Get Back" and in the middle of "The End", both by The Beatles.
- Homer refers to Michael Jackson having bought the rights to the Beatles' library of music.
- After seeing Milhouse as John Lennon, Bart speaks the words "Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dogs eye.", a direct quote from the Beatles song "I am the Walrus".
- When Homer questions Ned's Beatles collection, Ned says they were bigger than Jesus. This is reference to the controversial quote John Lennon said in 1966 about the Beatles.
