Difference between revisions of "Bart Sells His Soul/References"

Revision as of 18:29, February 16, 2013

Theme

This episode is notable for featuring the Seven Deadly Sins:

• Lust: Homer and Marge remember making out to Inna Gadda da Vida (In the Garden of Eden).
• Gluttony: Celebrated in the TV commercial for Uncle Moe's. When Moe is converting his bar into a restaurant, he acquires a gigantic deep-fat fryer, claiming it can deep-fry a buffalo in forty seconds, to which Homer grouses "Oh, I want it now"! Later, Homer gets Bart's meal at Moe's Tavern.
• Greed: A flash at Reverend Lovejoy counting money. Also, Milhouse avariciously celebrates owning Bart's soul, saying, "Who's stupid now?"
• Sloth: Bart and Milhouse slacking off cleaning the organ. Later, Milhouse's dad is very serious about wanting his sleep, although this is probably justified considering Bart traipsed by uninvited in the middle of the night.
• Wrath: The minister gets angry at being fooled. Later, Moe loses his restaurant in a fit of anger.
• Envy: Moe envies the profits of family restaurants. Lisa wishes she had five dollars. Bart envies the kids in his dream for their souls.
• Pride: Bart is proud at fooling Milhouse out of five dollars, and is later humiliated at having his soul sold for pogs. Snake is seen with a trophy girlfriend (also a combination of Pride & Lust).

Other references

• When Chief Wiggum shines the flashlight to see who is harassing Ralph, Bart's pupils become cat-like.
• Snake's girlfriend in this episode is named Shoshanna. This was a barb at Jerry Seinfeld, who at the time of the episode's airing was dating Shoshanna Lonstein, who was 21 years his junior and still a teenager at the time they first dated.
• Bart saying that a soul is something adults make up to scare kids "Like the Boogeyman or Michael Jackson." is a reference to a case in 1993 where Michael Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse.
• Moe reads a book titled Your Gimmicky Restaurant by Benngian and Fuddrucker. The authors' names are references to the restaurant chains Bennigan's and Fuddruckers.
• Bart's prayer, "Are you there, God? It's me, Bart Simpson," may be a reference to the yong adult novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume.

Goofs

• Jasper's beard is incorrectly colored yellow while singing "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".
• At around the end of the song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", Wendell's skin and hair is colored the same shade of the color yellow.
• After the sponge incident, Bart is standing in the drive with a sponge packet in his hand. In the next shot he says "everything about me must go", but the packet has vanished from his hand.
• Bart has previously showed belief in the soul:
  • "The Pagans": Bart states that his pagan soul yearns to roam free.
  • "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment": Bart doesn't fear Hell, and Bart defers to Lisa's soul-saving quest.
  • "Bart Gets Famous": Bart yearns to cast away "the shackles of the soul-crushing hellhole that is Springfield Elementary School".
  • "Lisa's Rival": Bart welcomes Lisa to "the nether regions of the soul".
• Some of these may be more expressions than quantifying actual belief.