The Simpsons and Literature

[louisdi]

I am compiling a list of Simpson episodes that have to do with literature. Here is my list so far. :D

"Easy-Bake Coven" from Treehouse of Horror VIII (Season 9: Episode 5F02)-The Crucible
The Fat and the Furriest (Season 15: Episode EABF19)-Moby Dick
Diatribe of a Mad Housewife (Season 15: Episode FABF05)-Moby Dick
Homer the Heretic (Season 4: Episode 9F01)--Puritanism
"Simpsons Tall Tales" (Season 12: Episode-Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
Lisa the Vegitarian (Season 7: Episode 3F03)--Transcendentalism
“A Streetcar Named Marge” (Season 4: Episode 8F18)-A Streetcar Named Desire
“The Raven” Treehouse of Horror (Season 2: Episode 7F04)-The Raven
The Tell Tale Head (Season 1: Episode 7G07)-The Tell-tale Heart
"Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington." (Season 3: Episode 8F01)-Animal Fram (reference only)
Das Bus (Season 9: Episode 5F11)-Lord of the Flies
Kamp Krusty (Season 4: Episode 8F24)-Lord of the Flies
“The Monkey's Paw” Treehouse of Horror II (Season 2: Episode 8F02)-The Monkey's Paw (Jacobs)
"Tales from the Public Domain" (Season13: Episode DABF08)-The Odyssey and Hamlet
"The Old Man and the Key" (Season 13: Episode -The Old Man and the Sea
Much Apu About Nothing (Season 7: Episode 3F20)-Much Ado About Nothing (title only)
Treehouse of Horror III-A Clockwork Orange
Dog of Death-The Lottery and A Clockwork Orange
Itchy & Scratchy in 'Chopwork Orange'-A Clockwork Orange

If you know of any more, please let me know. Thanks. :thumbs_up

[ajoe]

I suppose you're one of those people who've seen every single episode of The Simpsons thrice? ;)

[Koa]

well ajoe, I've seen many of them at least 3 times, cos they kept broadcasting the same ones cos buying and dubbing new series is ssslllloooowwww.:D But I dont know the titles of the episods...there's one completely based on Lord of The Flies but I dont know if it's one of those mentioned... I cant think of any more references though...

[bjortan]

"Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" also features some cameos by famous writers - including Thomas Pynchon, who hasn't appeared in public since the 60s.

[Capnplank]

I could swear Comic Book Guy is based on Ignatius J. Reilly from John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces"...

[bjortan]

Good catch, that's quite possible. Of course, Comic Book Guy is a lot funnier than "A Confederacy of Dunces"...

[Helga]

I don't know about literature but I passed my confirmation cause the priest asked me who wrote the evangels and I remembered because flanders once said when he was on a scout trip with his son and Homer and Bart the names of them to choose witch way to go, (they ended adrift in the ocean near Krusty burgers).

[tequilero79]

They also had one base on The Shining, not sure what episode it was though.

[tequilero79]

I just remembered another one. The Godfather. It's the one where Big Tony sticks an orange peel in his mouth to cheer up the other wise guys.

[BSturdy]

What a great thread. I remember Captain Ahab.

Must complete my Simpsons collection

[Capnplank]

There's something from The Godfather in virtually every episode, but it's usually a visual thing so I dunno if those would be spawned from the book or the movies...
Glad it's not my call.

[mister_noel_y2k]

pablo nuerta or nuerda or something, hes mentioned in the one where bart sells his soul to milhouse.

then theres "bart simpsons dracula" based on bram stoker's dracula.

there was a recent one called "frinkelstein" or something, based on professor frink resurrecting his dead father using other peoples' body parts, like mary shelley's frankenstein.

there was another episode early on in the series where homer's brother returns after homer bankrupts him from his car company and lisa talks about how she wants to subscribe to a book service where she can get copies of great american works from ethan frome by wharton to less than zero by easton ellis.

there was another episode where loads of famous writers were mentioned: stephen king (he was a guest voice), tom wolfe, maya angelou (guest voice), tom clancy, amy tan.

the green mile by stephen king was also referenced but i can't remember the episode.

shakespeare has been referenced loads too, but thats hardly a simpsons thing, shakespeare's everywhere.

:banana:

[Surfer]

Oh my oh my.

You are missing the most obvious one of all. The one where Krusty writes his memoir and discovers his daughter he conceived during the Gulf War. Features Amy Tan, John Updike and Stephen King. The reason why I remember this one is that there's a repeating punchline where Krusty goes "Updike!!!!!" whenever he screws up.


Yes and of course there's the one with Thomas Pychon with a paper bag with a "?" on it. I cant remember the context of that one.

And there's the one where Bart gets Sideshow Bob to do the entire libretto from the HMS Pinafore (as his final dying wish) in order to stall his inevitable death.

I'm sure there are many more you are missing.

[Capnplank]

Oh man, another wish of good luck if you're still working on this. After watching through a few more seasons on dvd again with the commentaries, it would just be overwhelming to try to isolate every reference. Some of them just rip through reference after reference for apparently no reason and they just shout out what each particular shot or plot turn is from.

Lemme see what a couple were...
When Homer and Marge have marriage troubles and go to a retreat to get them worked out (season 2 or 3), Homer goes fishing for General Sherman, and his battle winds up being from The Old Man and the Sea, and they even used a line or two from it.

Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" is used probably countless times when the Sea Captain is present. His "Omoo" and "Typee" are mentioned by Lisa somewhere near the end of season three.

Ray Bradbury's work is shunned by Martin Prince in his alphabet of sci-fi authors.

Chaim Potok is on the Jewish Walk of Fame or whatever that Krusty meanders down in the episode when he has his bar mitzvah broadcast.

Honestly you could sit with a notebook and jot down at least a half dozen literary references for every single episode, and you'd still miss most of them.

[blueroses]

There was another halloween episode that featured, "The Most Dangerous Game."

[Slangalang18ca]

What about the one where Maggie is sent to the Ayn Rand nursery? I don't remember the name of the episode, but it was pretty funny.

[optimisticnad]

is this thread new? ive just discovred it!!!!!!!! yayyy!!!!!

im sorry i have no contribution to make.

[metal134]

I don't know about literature but I passed my confirmation cause the priest asked me who wrote the evangels and I remembered because flanders once said when he was on a scout trip with his son and Homer and Bart the names of them to choose witch way to go, (they ended adrift in the ocean near Krusty burgers).
Oh my God, that literally had me holding my sides!

BTW, your avatar is hilarious. Where did you find that picture?

[Geoff Shipley]

I recall an episode mentioning Homer's failed attempts at "Plado Theatre" and the scene cut to a plado man brandishing a knife at a horse with "Equus" lettered above them. Which is a play by Peter Shaffer.

[kotori]

Simpsons Episode Season 12 Episode 9 "Homr" is a reference to Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes and the related movie Charly.

[varnish7]

1. The Raven
2. Mutiny on the Bounty
3. Count of Monte Cristo
4. Lord of the Flies
5. Macbeth
6. Ayn Rand one (don't know specific title)
7. Flowers for Algernon
8. Moby Dick
9. Godfather
10. Hamlet
11. Odyssey
12. The Monkey's Paw
13. Frankenstein
14. Dracula
15. The Shining
16. The Devil and Daniel Webster
17. Bible
18. The Green Mile
19. Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn

[OrphanPip]

The Ayn Rand nursery is from the same episode as when Marge was in Streetcar Named Desire.

Edit: It didn't spoof a particular novel, the nursery was run by the principles of Objectivist philosophy, so the babies were taught to be selfish etc.

Haha, while looking for the nursery, I came up with a reference to the Fountainhead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z47h3AGih-g

[varnish7]

Actually, I was thinking of the recent Simpson's episode where they were telling stories in the hair salon, and Maggie was apparently the main character in their parody of The Fountainhead.

[pandorama]

there is one more allusion ....
Joe Namath appears in season 9 episode, Bart Star. When Bart is practicing throwing his football, he says he needs a miracle for him to be good. With luck, Joe Namath appears saying his car has just broken down, due to vapor-lock, in front of his house. He is just about to give Bart the one tip that will provide ultimate success for Bart in Pee-Wee football when his car starts running again and forgets to tell Bart his secret.

At the end of the episode he breaks the forth wall to warn the viewers about the dangers of Vapor-lock. -------------------
this scene alludes to the novel "ragtime".

In Ragtime,Harry Houdini's car breaks down in front of the little boy's house , and he meets the little boy, who admires him greatly.

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Not exactly a literary but rather a textual reference: the episode wherein Homer gets the crayon removed from his brain and becomes an intelligent person.
Listening to FM classical music while diddling a Rubic's cube, the music announcer says, 'not quite Gould--but one might say "as good as Gould"'--referring of course to the great Canadian pianist Glenn Gould's Bach readings.

[OrphanPip]

There's an episode where Homer makes a bat out of a tree hit by lightning and names it Wonderbat, that's an allusion to Malamud's The Natural, where the baseball bat was named Wonderboy.

[JuniperWoolf]

I love their version of Hamlet. "Hey, I didn't use that much poison! ...I mean, I didn't use that much poise... on... at the royal luau."

[OrphanPip]

I love their version of Hamlet. "Hey, I didn't use that much poison! ...I mean, I didn't use that much poise... on... at the royal luau."

Or Ralph as Laertes, using his "practice stab" on himself.

[Mr. Pedantic]

Brilliant episode. Although, Lisa playing Ophelia in that episode made me feel a little bit squeamish...

[spookymulder93]

That episode helped me when I was reading Hamlet.

[OrphanPip]

Brilliant episode. Although, Lisa playing Ophelia in that episode made me feel a little bit squeamish...

"That's it! Nobody does crazy like Ophelia, hey nanny nanny."

[bounty]

I cant speak to the simpsons but im a big fan of family guy and while there are lots of literary references throughout the series, one of the nifty things they do there is to take literature and movies and re-tell the story. just recently saw the episode where they did huck finn, the great Gatsby and of mice and men.

they've also done the Shawshank redemption, misery and stand by me.

they had one episode where they told whatever the story was according to three different famous directors' styles.

the star wars episodes are fantastic.

and one of the best episodes was when their car got stolen and they ended up in springfield, staying with the simpsons!