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Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E2AStreetcarNamedMarge

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1'''Original air date:''' 10/1/1992
2
3'''Production code:''' 8F18
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5[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/street9.png]]
6
7
8->''"♫ Long before the Superdome''\
9''Where the saints of football play''\
10''Lived a city that the damned call home''\
11''Hear their hellish roundelay... ♫"''\
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13
14
15Marge auditions for the role of Blanche in the local community theater's production of ''Oh, Streetcar!'', a musical version of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'', and gets it after the director (voiced by Creator/JonLovitz) notices how beaten-down and depressed she is whenever Homer orders her around. Meanwhile, Maggie is put in a daycare center modeled after the teachings of Creator/AynRand.
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17This episode was the last one (in terms of airdates) to have Creator/KlaskyCsupo as an animation company. From "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E3HomerTheHeretic Homer the Heretic]]" through season 27, the show would be handled by Creator/FilmRoman.
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19!!This episode contains examples of:
20* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: The plot of the episode revolves around a musical adaptation of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' titled ''Oh, Streetcar!''
21* AtLeastIAdmitIt: Llewelyn Sinclair is quite honest about his PrimaDonnaDirector tendencies, outright saying that he's "not an easy man to work for." This self-awareness keeps him from being a total jerk.
22* BadBoss: By his own admission, Llewelyn's not easy to work for, often driving cast members (including ''children'') to tears.
23* BeautyContest: The episode opens with the Simpsons watching one on TV.
24* TheBigEasy: "Oh, Streetcar!", a musical version of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' that Marge stars in, with its songs being so catchy, offensive, and lyrically accurate to the original play's script that the first few lyrics of the opening number serve as the page quote.
25* {{Bowdlerise}}: Some stations have cut out Bart's DeadpanSnarker remark with [[BitchInSheepsClothing Mr. Boswell]].
26-->'''Bart:''' ''(Laughs)'' He's such a bitch!
27* BrainyBaby: Maggie organizes plans to get back the pacifiers. When her first attempt fails, she comes up with an even more elaborate plan that succeeds.
28* BrickJoke: During rehearsals, Marge attacks Ned with the bottle, but he struggles to overpower her. In his next scene, he has a bloody bandage on his chest.
29* BrigBallBouncing: At Creator/AynRand School for Tots, Maggie bounces a ball against the wall of the playpen (which is the daycare equivalent of solitary confinement) she is put in by Ms. Sinclair, similar to Captain Hilts in ''Film/TheGreatEscape''.
30* BunnyEarsLawyer: Llewelyn Sinclair is obnoxious, hammy, and possibly crazy, but the play is a smash hit.
31* ChekhovsGun: A vending machine can be seen in the background of several scenes at the rehearsals, Homer tries to get candy from it in a FunnyBackgroundEvent, eventually resorting to [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming it]].
32* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Lampshaded and subverted. The musical's final number completely misses the point of the original quote it's based on. Ironically, when Homer tells Marge how he interpreted the play before admitting he has a history of missing the point of things, he's actually entirely correct and Marge tells him so.
33** Bart has a very LiteralMinded reading of a scene where Blanche is suspended above the stage on ropes and sways to and fro in the air moaning as if in pain, in what Lisa clarifies is likely "supposed to symbolize her descent into madness."
34--->'''Bart:''' Whoa, she can fly!
35* CouchGag: The family sits on the couch, which transforms into a monster that swallows them all.
36* CreatorBreakdown: In-universe for the play's director as Sinclair introduces himself by saying he's had a heart attack during each of his previous plays, and is planning for another this time.
37* CrossCastRole: Ned mentions having been in a prior production of ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' as Blanche.
38-->"Just part of the fun of going to an all-male school."
39* DamnedByFaintPraise: The owner of the preschool does that to ''herself'' as her only qualification appears to be that unlike every other daycare in Springfield, she's not currently under federal investigation. The daycare itself is shown to be run by ''objectivist'' standards, which is utterly insane as babies are by definition reliant on their parents or caretakers.
40* DawsonCasting: InUniverse with Apu as the teenaged paper boy seduced by Blanche.
41* DaycareNightmare: The Creator/AynRand School for Tots, that takes pacifiers away from babies and locks them up in order to force children to stop depending on them and otherwise acts like a LighterAndSofter version of the Stalag from ''Film/TheGreatEscape'', cooler included.
42* DieHardOnAnX: Maggie's subplot plays out like ''Die Hard in a nursery''.
43* EnforcedMethodActing: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. To get the bottle scene right, Marge pictures Ned as Homer. [[GoneHorriblyRight Marge gets so angry she]] ''[[GoneHorriblyRight is able to overpower Ned with berserk fury alone]], [[GrievousBottleyHarm and genuinely wounds him with the broken bottle]]''.
44* EsotericHappyEnding. In-universe. ''Oh, Streetcar!'' ends to the bright and cheery tune about how you can always depend on the kindness of strangers while Blanche is being carted off to the asylum. It's ''possible'' the ending was somehow rewritten as a happy ending.
45* ExtremeDoormat: There's a good glimpse into Marge's worldview when she's trying to play Blanche. She suggests that, rather than try and stab Stanley, she "just take his abuse with gentle good humor".
46* FictionalVideoGame: Homer plays ''Bowling 2000'' on a UsefulNotes/GameBoy style handheld.
47* FreezeFrameBonus: The moment where the Simpsons sit down to watch the play Llewelyn's sister is briefly seen, haggard from all the babies sucking their pacifiers.
48* FunnyBackgroundEvent: As Llewelyn talks to Marge about Stanley crushing Blanche's fragile spirit, Homer struggles to get candy out of vending machine -- ultimately screaming and ramming it.
49* GreatEscape: The subplot with Maggie in daycare. Instead of actually escaping, the plot is to liberate all of the confiscated pacifiers.
50* HellIsThatNoise: The sound of dozens of babies sucking on pacifiers, echoed through an auditorium, is quite eerie. "Ughhhh, babies."
51* HiddenDepths:
52** Due to having once played Blanche himself in a CrossCastRole, Ned Flanders knows exactly how to break a bottle.
53--->'''Ned:''' There's the ol' face-shredder.
54** In the background at the auditions, Jasper can be seen pirouetting and extending his leg straight over his head.
55** Chief Wiggum knows the man who runs the calligraphy class (and considers him a lunatic).
56* HypocriticalHumor: Lionel Hutz, despite having a role in the play, is suing the producers on behalf of people who didn't get roles.
57* ImprovisedZipline: Maggie makes one with a clothesline, toy dart-gun, and a hanger to get to the locker of confiscated pacifiers.
58* IncomingHam: Llewelyn's intro is bursting through the door shouting, "HELLO?!"
59* IsntItIronic:
60** The final song of ''Oh, Streetcar!'' is [[LyricalDissonance a bright, peppy tune]] about how "You can always depend on the kindness of strangers!", completely oblivious to the point of that line in the script (even Homer interprets the play better than that song does).
61** Earlier in the episode, a beauty pageant on TV begins with the contestants singing "At Seventeen" ("I learned the truth at seventeen/that love was meant for beauty queens!"), completely oblivious to what the song is actually about (a plain girl singing about how the pretty girls in school had it so much better than her, but now their lives are worse).
62* {{Jerkass}}:
63** Llewelyn Sinclair. He's also a bit of a {{Narcissist}}.
64** Homer is especially bad here, to better fit the comparisons to Stanley Kowalski. He's more of an ignorant Jerkass than Stanley though.
65* JerkassRealization: Homer points out how much of a jerk Stanley was in the play, then not long after, admits that he's a lot like Stanley, perhaps realizing on a subconscious level how much of a jerk he was in this episode.
66* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
67** Despite the above, by the end of the play, when Marge sees what she is convinced is an utterly bored uncaring expression, Homer has in fact been left rather solemn and touched by the play's story, even seeing himself in Stanley.
68** Llewelyn Sinclair, with a slight more emphasis on the {{Jerkass}}. He belittles everyone about everything, is quite demanding and somewhat of a perfectionist elitist when it comes to his work, and he even fires one of his play's cast-members (Otto) on the night of the performance, but he is passionate about his work, can see talent when it truly presents itself, does his best to draw out the best of his actors, and even if a bit vain, adores the audience, feeling they help make the production what it is as well. It's just that he's not without his flaws, like most of ''The Simpsons'' cast.
69* LargeHam: Creator/JonLovitz as Llewelyn Sinclair. The commentary notes that his bombastic introductory speech is actually the "smallest" take Lovitz did.
70** The typically understated Ned Flanders gets the chance to chew scenery as Stanley Kowalski, and [[SayMyName boy does he chew it]].
71* LighterAndSofter: ''Oh, Streetcar!'' is implied to be this. While not completely InNameOnly, it's been rewritten as a musical, includes a bizarre happy ending that goes against the plot of the original movie, and it's implied Stanley raping Stella didn't happen.
72* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Ned Flanders plays Stanley Kowalski, due entirely to his [[MrFanservice impressive physique]]. Other candidates trying for the role were Chief Wiggum (too fat), and Otto (had a massive, Big Daddy Roth-inspired tattoo on his chest).
73* MissionImpossibleCableDrop: Maggie does this in her attempt to get the keys to the pacifier locker, using a Krusty doll pull string as the wire and milk bottles as weights.
74* LiteralMinded:
75-->'''Ms. Sinclair:''' Mrs. Simpson, do you know what a baby's saying when she reaches for a bottle?
76-->'''Marge:''' ..."Ba-ba"?
77* MoneySlap: Subverted: when Homer keeps pestering Marge for change for a nearby candy machine during her rehearsal for a play, Mr. Llewellyn finally yells out, "Oh, here!" and throws a pocketful of change at his feet to get him to stop.
78* NoodleIncident: Exactly what it was the previous year's Miss American Girl said at the UN is never revealed.
79* PainfulRhyme: The musical number around the famous "STELLA!" utterance:
80-->Can't you hear me yell-a?
81-->You're putting me through hell-a!
82* TheParody: Maggie's rebellion at first places her in [[Creator/SteveMcQueenActor Steve McQueen]]'s role in ''Film/TheGreatEscape'', complete with the movie's actual theme music. Once Homer arrives at the daycare center it turns into ''Film/TheBirds'', including Creator/AlfredHitchcock walking two dogs afterward.
83* PlaceWorseThanDeath: The opening number of ''Oh! Streetcar'', infamously (leading to actual controversy in Louisiana even though it was intended to parody the similar treatment of London in ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' rather than the city itself):
84-->New Orleans!
85-->[[WretchedHive Home of pirates, drunks, and whores]],
86-->New Orleans!
87-->[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Tacky overpriced souvenir stores]],
88-->If you want to go to Hell, you should take a trip
89-->To the Sodom and Gomorrah on the Mississip',
90-->New Orleans!
91-->Stinky, rotten, vomiting, vile,
92-->New Orleans!
93-->Putrid, brackish, maggoty, foul
94-->New Orleans!
95* PrimaDonnaDirector: Llewelyn Sinclair actually winds up on stage when he takes over Otto's role right before the performance, having realized Otto wasn't good enough.
96-->"I am not an easy man to work for. While directing ''Hats Off to Hanukkah'', I reduced more than one cast member to tears. Did I expect too much from fourth graders? ''[Takes out review]'' The review 'Play enjoyed by all' speaks for itself."
97* ProductPlacement: While Homer plays what is clearly an original UsefulNotes/GameBoy, the device's name is never said or seen.
98* RageBreakingPoint: Thanks to Homer's unusually boorish and selfish behavior in this episode, Marge ends up snapping while rehearsing the scene where Stella attacks Stanley with a broken bottle. She imagines Homer in Ned's place, and goes into a fury so bad that Ned ''can't overpower her'' during the struggle! In the next scene with the two, it turns out she actually managed to stab him for real!
99* RecycledFootage: The opening number of the play reuses two shots seconds apart from each other.
100* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: Marge makes peanut butter cookies for the rest of the cast during a rehearsal. Llewellyn Sinclair eats one and then asks if anybody else wants "a bit of banality." Chief Wiggum immediately says that [[SarcasmBlind he would]].
101* SayMyName: To go with the ''Streetcar'' parallels.
102-->'''Homer''': ''MAAAAAAAAARRGGEEEE! HEY, MAAAAAAARRGGEEEE!''
103* ShoutOut:
104** Bart mentions having [[Film/AClockworkOrange a pain in the Gulliver]].
105** Homer blowing on a piece of paper out of boredom during the play is a reference to a similar scene in ''Film/CitizenKane''.
106** ''Film/TheBirds'' is referenced when Homer goes to pick up Maggie and is surrounded by various babies with their pacifiers echoing in the room. A cartoon version of Creator/AlfredHitchcock passes him by while walking his dogs, echoing his actual cameo in the movie.
107** Maggie's struggle at the day-care center quickly mutates into a riff on ''Film/TheGreatEscape''.
108** The musical's song about New Orleans is a parody of "No Place Like London" from ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''.
109* ShowWithinAShow: ''Oh, Streetcar!''
110* SmallNameBigEgo: Llwellyn carries around a good review he got for directing a ''fourth-grade play''.
111-->'''Llewellyn Sinclair:''' Did I expect ''too much'' from fourth graders? The review "play enjoyed by ''all''"... speaks for itself!
112* SpecialGuest: Creator/PhilHartman as Lionel Hutz and Troy [=McClure=]; Creator/JonLovitz as Llewellyn Sinclair and [[CrossdressingVoices Ms. Sinclair]] (Llewellyn's sister).
113* SpoofAesop: [[ComicallyMissingThePoint You can always depend on the kindness of strangers!]]
114* StylisticSuck: Similar to the later ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'' musical, though the overall production is surprisingly competent, the idea of a lighthearted musical based on ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is played for all the mileage it's worth. It tops off with "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" (in its original context, a reflection on how Blanche's mind has been completely broken and how she has deluded herself into thinking [[RapeLeadsToInsanity her prior trauma]] at the hands of Stanley was actually kindness) being converted into a jaunty, completely unironic end number about how "A stranger is a friend you haven't met!"
115* TakeThat:
116** The Creator/AynRand-based daycare that Maggie rebels against.
117** The play's SettingIntroductionSong is filled with these, graphically framing New Orleans as a WretchedHive, which got the show into trouble.
118* TemptingFate: As Marge leaves to go rehearse with Ned, Homer asks her to open his pudding can. Marge tells him to do it himself, but the minute she's gone Homer breaks the tab off.
119-->'''Homer''': So I can open my own can of pudding, can I? Shows what ''you'' know, Marge!
120* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: The audition scene in general, but especially the ladies of Springfield auditioning for the role of Blanche. Llewelyn is so unimpressed by the bunch that he almost cancels the entire play.
121--> '''Llewelyn Sinclair:''' You're all terrible! Forget it, just strike the sets! Clear the stage!
122* TokenMinority: Played straight with Drederick Tatum, who was one of the judge panelists.
123* VengefulVendingMachine: A FunnyBackgroundEvent has Homer beating the crap out of an uncooperative vending machine.
124* WholePlotReference: To ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire''.
125* YouWereTryingTooHard: Marge originally doesn't get the role of Blanche despite preparing for the audition. When she dejectedly calls Homer to break the news and exhaustedly takes his dinner order, Llewelyn overhears and immediately casts her--all Marge had to do was be herself to win the role.

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