Difference between revisions of "Four Great Women and a Manicure/References"

Revision as of 19:11, April 23, 2024

Cultural references

• The episode title is a reference to Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Wraparound

• Marge is taking Lisa for her first mani-pedi (a combined manicure and pedicure) at Finger-Looking Good Nail Salon which is a reference to "It's Finger Lickin' Good," KFC's slogan since the 1950s. The nail salon's sign also has a caricature of KFC's Colonel Sanders admiring his fingernails.
• The painting that Maggie makes on the wall (for which she is swiftly—and ironically—scolded by Marge) is Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night".

Queen Elizabeth I

• Much of the plot and imagery are taken from the historical drama Elizabeth: The Golden Age starring Cate Blanchett.
• Walsingham sees Queen Elizabeth I (portrayed by Selma) in her nightclothes and exclaims, "Someone call Beowulf! Grendel got in again!", a reference to Beowulf.
• The establishing shot of King Julio of Spain's castle is the Alcázar of Segovia about 56 miles (90 km) north of Madrid.
• Queen Elizabeth's horse is named "Tea Biscuit", a pun on Seabiscuit.
• Elizabeth I in armor at the Straits of Dover is a reference to her speech to the troops at Tilbury on August 9, 1588.
• When Moe and the Queen see the Spanish Armada coming, they are standing under a banner that reads "Mission Accomplished". Moe comments, "It's probably a little too early to be standing under this", a reference to President George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003.
• The Protestant minister says that the "country turned Protestant for the sole reason that our fat, mean king could dump his faithful wife", referencing Henry VIII.

Snow White

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is parodied in the second segment. However, Snow White (portrayed by Lisa) is forced to rename all the dwarfs to satisfy the legal demands of the Blue-haired lawyer.
  • The songs the dwarfs sing, "Off to Work", "It's Time", and "Time to Say Goodbye", are parodies of "Heigh-Ho" from Snow White.
• When Snow White flees from the wicked queen's threat, she comes across a gingerbread house and Grandma's house (referencing the folk tales Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood) before she finds the dwarfs' house.
• Snow White complains about the dwarfs' beds being too hard and too soft, referencing Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Unlike Goldilocks, however, Snow White settles for the soft bed.
• Unlike in the Disney movie, where she dies by falling off a cliff, the way the Evil Queen dies in Lisa's retelling of Snow White is very reminiscent of Scar's death at the end of The Lion King, right down to the shot of her being killed by forest animals being shown in shadow very much like Scar when he is killed by hyenas.

Macbeth

• The people of Springfield star in a play of Macbeth, which is also parodied during the segment.
• Homer forgets his lines and starts reading from scripts concealed on his person, trying to find the right line. Instead of Macbeth, however, Homer ends up reading lines from Bye Bye Birdie and The Matrix Reloaded.
• When Marge says "Screw your courage to the sticking-place and we'll not fail.", a quote from Macbeth, Homer asks if it's a quote from X-Men 2.
• Homer says "No, dear. I'm a man, dear." in the voice of Droopy.
• The group of actors who Homer kills dance to the Conga line, with a Conga song playing.
  • Homer then sings "Killing Makes Me Hungry" to the Conga song.
• Ghost Marge tells Homer that he can take on other Shakespeare plays, including King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, Richard III, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, Henry V, and Titus Andronicus. She also holds a script of The Tempest.

The Fountainhead

• "Maggie Roark" is a play on Howard Roark, the central protagonist of The Fountainhead, while Ellsworth Toohey is Howard Roark's antagonist.
• The classical music playing during the segment is the Second Movement of Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony".
• Maggie's architectural creations include the following real-life buildings:
  • The Taj Mahal
  • The Beijing National Stadium, also known as "The Bird's Nest"
  • The Walt Disney Concert Hall
  • The Empire State Building
• The band in the parent-teacher meeting plays "Pop Goes the Weasel".
• "The judge" at Maggie's trial is a Raggedy Andy doll.

Trivia

• This is the only episode Bart doesn't appear in (unless you count the opening sequence) to date. This is also the first episode a Simpson family member other than Maggie doesn't appear in an episode. However, Nancy Cartwright, was still heard within the episode as other characters such as Archduke Ralph of Austria.
• In rare circumstances when Maggie speaks, Nancy Cartwright has often provided Maggie's voice as well as nonverbal sounds such as giggling or crying, but when she speaks (as Maggie Roark) it was Jodie Foster's voice . Executive producer Al Jean described Jodie Foster, "She was prompt, professional and did a terrific job." Jodie Foster is a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner as was Elizabeth Taylor who also voiced Maggie Simpson.
• This episode is the second anthology episode to have 4 short stories instead of 3 (the first was "Simpsons Bible Stories").
• This is the fourth episode in the show's history where Maggie has spoken and the second where she's done so directly.
• Selma appears without Patty although Selma's appearance is not as herself, but as Queen Elizabeth I of England who is not in either story told nor real history an identical twin.
• This episode was viewed by 5.15 million viewers making it the least watched episode in the shows history. Nearly a year later, it was beaten by "Million Dollar Maybe".
• In the Macbeth parody, no one seems to care that Marge says "Macbeth" in the theater, in spite of the taboo on speaking the name. However, the "Macbeth curse" provides exemptions for speaking the name during rehearsals and performances of the play, so Marge's working as a laundress in support of the production may also be considered to grant her a free pass.
• Maggie also duplicates a van Gogh painting in the comic story Maggie's Crib 26.

Continuity

• Blue-haired lawyer warns Lisa her story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves will be unauthorized use of the copyrighted property of the Walt Disney Corporation. He has done this before for the Walt Disney Corporation ("Lisa the Beauty Queen") as well as estates of Charlie Chaplin and Jimmy Durante ("Lady Bouvier's Lover").
• Maggie going to a daycare themed around the philosophies of Ayn Rand ("A Streetcar Named Marge").
• The line from Marge, "That's it. Three stories. That's all we always tell." is referencing how (with one previously mentioned exception) anthology episodes before this episode had three stories no more, no less.