Lisa the Simpson/References
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Cultural references
- When Lisa is figuring out the puzzle, one of the clues she rules out is that it's not one of Prince's names, a reference to the period between 1993 and 2000 that Prince changed his name to a symbol and was known as "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince" (or simply "The Artist").
- Lisa's story is similar to the book, Flowers For Algernon, where a man writes in a journal about his slide into mental retardation (the season 12 episode "HOMЯ" would follow a similar plot that Flowers For Algernon does).
- Jasper's subplot calls to mind the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, held annually in Nederland, Colorado. The events of this festival are in homage to Grandpa Bredo, a cryogenically-frozen corpse who, since 1989, has remained in stasis inside a Tuff Shed and inspired two documentaries. It is unknown whether this festival inspired the scenario.
- The TV show When Buildings Collapse is a parody of the Fox special When Animals Attack!.
- Lisa recommends some books to TV viewers: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee; Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh; and Yertle the Turtle, by Dr. Seuss ("possibly the best book ever written on the subject of turtle stacking", according to Lisa, and to which Chief Wiggum heartily agrees).
- Lisa creates a small pig from a rubber eraser and push-pins, which was featured in a Life in Hell comic strip.
- The filmstrip title "Someone's in the Kitchen with D.N.A." is a reference to the song "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah".
- The title of the Troy McClure film "Alice Doesn't Live Anymore" is a reference to the 1974 movie "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" by Martin Scorsese.
Goofs
Kent Brockman's coloring error
- Before Grampa tells Marge how to cut his hair, Marge uses the scissors to try and cut Grampa's hair, but she actually doesn't cut any.
- When Lisa writes in her diary about her decreasing intelligence, the end of her arm is for a few seconds drawn over her necklace so that a bead looks incomplete.
- After Lisa's speech, Kent Brockman is colored differently.
- Homer and Bart's candy bars initially have many different colors of wrappers, but after Lisa imagines her potential future, all of the candy bars have red wrappers.
- The "offensive baseball cap" is colored green when the Flanders children try to read it. However, it is colored blue when the Rich Texan enters the shop.
- Luann van Houten is shown with Kirk, even though this episode (in both production and broadcast order) comes after Luann's divorce and her makeover.
Continuity
- Jasper is also seen frozen in the Kwik-E-Mart freezer in the comic story Kwik-E-Mart Holiday Savings Circular. In the story, just as in this episode, Apu attempts to exploit Jasper's situation for financial gain.
- The scene where Lisa imagines herself as a morbidly obese redneck is similar to Bart's fantasy of him being a lardo on a workman's comp in "King-Size Homer". In the fantasy Lisa wears Homer's Muumuu and in both fantasies Bart and Lisa have southern accents.
