Bart-Mangled Banner

"Bart-Mangled Banner" is the twenty-first episode from The Simpsons' fifteenth season. It aired on May 16, 2004 on FOX.

Plot

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, unaware that the school is reciting the national anthem. After he places the carrot in his shorts, the donkey takes it and rips off Bart's shorts (just like his famous line "Eat my shorts") thus exposing his bare buttocks. While Bart is bent over to keep his privates covered with his shirt, 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 as if Bart had deliberately mooned the flag. He and his family soon are hated by all of Springfield. Homer and Marge try to clear up this misunderstanding, knowing that it was an accident, but everybody refuses to listen, mistrusting Bart and his family.

The Simpsons are later asked to appear on a talk show and tell their side of the story. However, the host asks, instead, "What part of America do you hate most?" (an example of the fallacy of many questions). Marge says that, if leading questions such as that are the only forms of discussion in America, then she does hate America. She also said that she is well liked in Springfield, prompting the host to say that Springfield hates America. The US then turns their back on Springfield (though there's widespread celebration in praise of Springfield in the Middle East), so Mayor Quimby frantically decides to change the name of Springfield to "Liberty-ville." Everything in town is quickly patriotized; the traffic light colors are changed to red, white, and blue, 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 the "Ronald Reagan Re-education Center", which houses Michael Moore, the Dixie Chicks, Elmo (who accidentally went to the wrong German fundraiser in Auckland, New Zealand), Al Franken, and Bill Clinton, as well as a man who moans "My only crime was driving a van full of explosives in from Canada!". 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 is where all their stuff is. They then move back to the US dressed as 19th century immigrants from Europe where Homer speaks of plans of integration into America. They even forget they lived there before.

Cultural references

• The episode title is a play on the title of USA's National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".
• The scene where Dr. Hibbert chases Bart in a cropduster mirrors a scene in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, North by Northwest.
• When Homer is playing minigolf, a man at the golf court calls him Benedict Arnold.
• As Homer is leaving the golf court, he smashes the United States Capitol and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
• When thinking about changing Springfield's name, Mayor Quimby refers to "Hitler City, NC", which (according to him) also changed its name to Charlotte.
• The "Government Knows Best" act satirizes the controversial 2001 legislation, the Patriot Act, aimed at fighting terrorism in the United States and abroad.
• Those imprisoned include Michael Moore, The Dixie Chicks, Bill Clinton, and the Sesame Street muppet character Elmo.
• As the Simpsons are watching the re-educational cartoon, Lisa mentions that she has been given Sodium pentothal which is sometimes used during interrogations as a truth serum.
• President Clinton's attempt to smoke 100 cigarettes at once is a reference to the Guinness World Records.
• The Simpsons are scheduled to perform at the prison talent show after Al Franken.
• At the talent show, the Simpsons start singing "America the Beautiful" and then switch to their own song.
• During her performance, Lisa burns an ACLU card.
• The entire performance is a parody of "The Sound of Music" where the cast escapes from the Nazis.
• As the family is swimming away from the prison, the Golden Gate Bridge is visible in the background, implying that the prison itself was Alcatraz. The family also debates whether to swim towards San Francisco, likely because of its socially liberal policies, or towards Oakland because of affordability.
• As they are being rescued by the French sailor, Marge makes a reference to Catherine Deneuve, a French actress.

Previous episode references

The dress worn by Marge in Paris is the same as the one seen in episode 3F11 ("Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield").

The term "Bart-mangled banner" was previously used in the episode "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade".

Soundtrack

When Dr. Hibbert chases Bart, "One Way or Another" by Blondie is played. Neil Diamond's "America" plays to the closing credits.