When they changed the Toys “R” us sign and Milhouse’s expression was a reference to this WWII photo:
I have to admit, a lot of response to humor is self-congratulatory: “oh clever me, I get that reference!” until I remember all the student loan money I had to borrow to be able to appreciate some jokes. Doubly bitter, since my wife, who opted for a GED, can invent obscure jokes like “Hey, you know Goya’s ‘Clothed Maja’ & ‘Naked Maja?’ What if they discover a ‘furry Maja’ or a ‘full-body tattoo Maja?’”
Nice catch. I realized they were parodying something but I didn’t remember what.
I think I probably catch around 70% of the obscure references in The Simpsons, and realize that something is a reference (but not know to what) for about half the rest.
OTOH, maybe I’m missing lot more than I think I am… . How would I know?
My favorite in recent years was the “Maggie crawling on the ceiling” reference to “Trainspotting” last season.
Yes, tears of joy. He’s French, so he’s all misty-eyed now that the Allies have retaken Paris. Of course, an American or Englishman wouldn’t have let the Nazis in their capital in the first place, but I digress…
I don’t have a reference handy, but I am almost certain that the situation is entirely backwards. The man is a French citizen crying as the Wehrmacht parades through the streets of Paris and through the Arc d’Triomphe. Look at the expressions of those around him, they’re not happy people. If anyone can find a cite from the original time period, I’d appreciate it.
Usually it’s spliced in with film of the Germans marching through the Place de l’Etoile, although I doubt the same cameraman took them. I don’t remember from seeing the footage if they actually marched under the Arc de Triomphe.
No, I’m not complaining about the obscure references the writers sometimes slip in under the radar. My point is, if you accept the proposition that hubris is a vice, then me going “Ha Ha - I get that cultural reference” is almost as bad as Beavis going “HeHe - he said titmouse!”
But it gave me further cud for rumination on how our cultural education is received almost entirely from mass media. Pop culture is the only culture. People my age will recognize that Marilyn Manson’s antecedent is Alice Cooper, but can look no further back to the Grand Guignol, Revenge dramas of the Restoration, and, of course, gruesome, anti-Semitic Passion Plays of the middle ages.
Ancient history can only go back 60 years, so instead of the myth of Zeus raping Europa, we use Kirk Douglas raping Natalie Wood for the same cultural function. Instead of Abram passing off his wife Sarai as his sister and essentially pimping her out so they could pass through safely to their promised land, we have Ava Gardner fellating Harry Cohn so Frank Sinatra can get the part of Maggio in “From Here to Eternity.”
“Mr. Well-Educated?” How I wish that were true! Maybe I just have my head stuffed with a higher grade of straw (ref. T.S. Elliot). “Mr. Well-Educated!” Smiley when you call me that (ref. Owen Wister).
I thought Sinatra was asked to take the part after Eli Wallach dropped out to do a Broadway show, and his screen test was so good they kept it in the final cut of the movie.
No question that oral sex from Ava Gardner would be a powerful inducement… it’s just that I never heard that story…
