The Ziff Who Came to Dinner/References
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Cultural references
- The episode title is a pun on the film The Man Who Came to Dinner.
- The educational film Powers of Ten is parodied in the couch gag.
- The song sung by the rappers in Phineas Q. Butterfat's parodies the 1979 song "Rapper's Delight".
- The song played before Ziff's downfall is Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)".
- Real-life film critic Michael Medved is listed as the author of What Would Jesus View?, the First Church of Springfield's movie guide.
- The guide's title is a pun on the Evangelical catchphrase "What would Jesus do?"
- References in the film The Re-Deadening:
- The movie is most likely a parody of Dolly Dearest, which is a horror movie about a possessed doll.
- Village of the Damned, Child's Play, and The Others are also parodied in the plot.
- The music of The Re-Deadening parodies the music played in Rosemary's Baby.
- The scene where Lisa videotapes herself and Bart searching the attic for the source of the noises is a reference to The Blair Witch Project.
- When Homer investigates the attic, he finds a copy of Newsweek from 1986 with a cover story titled "Why America Loves Saddam Hussein".
- Artie Ziff's company going bust and cheating its shareholders is reminiscent of Enron and its downfall.
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Lisa tells Artie that Homer once started reading the book to the Simpson children, but became confused when he thought the chocolate factory was real; he has been searching for it ever since.
- When Homer is arrested by the SEC, he tells Moe to tell his family that he ran off to join the Blue Man Group.
- Music from the soundtrack of The Green Mile plays briefly when Artie enters the prison yard.
Now Playing at the Googolplex
In addition to The Re-Deadening, the movies being shown or advertised at Springfield Googolplex Theatres are as follows:
- "The Wild Dingleberries Movie," which is a parody of "The Wild Thornberries Movie."
- "3 Fast 3 Furious," which is a parody of "2 Fast 2 Furious."
- "The Fashion of the Christ," which is a parody of "The Passion of the Christ."
- "A Kiss Before Boring," which is a parody of "A Kiss Before Dying."
- "Ghost Frat," which is a parody of "Ghost Rat."
- "From Justin to Kelly 4," which is a fictional sequel to the 2000s flop film "From Justin to Kelly."
- "Eating Nemo," which is a parody of "Finding Nemo."
- "Teenage Sex Wager," which is a parody of the 1990s raunchy teen film, "American Pie."
- "My Big Fat Greek Salad," which is a parody of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
- "Freddy vs. Jason vs. The Board of Education," which parodies "Freddy vs. Jason" and the Supreme Court case Brown vs. the Board of Education.
- "Return to Ape Valley," which parodies "Return to the Planet of the Apes."
- "A Matrix Christmas" and "You're in the Matrix, Charlie Brown," which parodies "The Matrix."
- "The Unwatchable Hulk," which parodies "The Incredible Hulk."
Trivia
- When Homer takes Artie to Moe's Tavern, the patrons sitting at the bar who greet Artie are Professor Lombardo, Jay Sherman, Aristotle Amadopolis, and Llewellyn Sinclair—all two of whom are voiced by Jon Lovitz, Sherman and one more is voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
- Maurice LaMarche is not credited for his voices in this episode.
- When Homer and the kids are attending The Re-Deadening, Homer rests his soda on Lisa's head exactly the same way that he rested his beer on Bart's head in "Lisa's First Word".
- Bart and Lisa also investigate strange noises in the attic in "The Thing and I", a segment of Treehouse of Horror VII.
- Interestingly, the movie guide What Would Jesus View? bans Teenage Sex Wager, but apparently has no problem with The Re-Deadening. A similar situation occurred in real life in 2008 when a movie theatre in Salt Lake City refused to show Zack and Miri Make a Porno but had no problem with showing Saw V.[1]
References
