Original air date: 4/30/2006
Production code: HABF-12
After Principal Skinner makes an allegedly sexist remark about a former student who is now a Broadway playwright, Springfield Elementary is segregated based on gender, which doesn't sit well with Lisa who actually wants to learn, so she disguises herself as a boy.
Tropes
- Accidental Misnaming: When the Scratchy animatronic's head blows up and lands on Homer, he declares, "Hey, check it out! I'm Scratcher, or something!"
- Actually, That's My Assistant: When Lisa first sneaks into the boy's school, he finds that Principal Skinner has been demoted to Groundskeeper, before Willie walks over and points out how Skinner is Assistant Groundskeeper.
- Affectionate Parody: The episode opens with the family going to see Stab-A-Lot: The Itchy & Scratchy Musical, an outright parody of the Broadway The Lion King. The name Stab-A-Lot is a take on Spamalot.
- African Chant: A Lion King-style chant is heard at the start of Stab-A-Lot. A similar one continues over the first song, with drum beats playing as a chorus sings "Itchy Scratchy, Itchy Itchy Scratchy".
- All Musicals Are Adaptations: The musical the Simpsons see at the start of the episode is an adaptation of Itchy & Scratchy, a Saturday morning cartoon. It's much more grand and poetic than the Herman and Katnip-esque Zany Cartoon original.
- Alternative Character Interpretation: In-universe: Stab-A-Lot is a "reimagining" of Itchy & Scratchy. In this version, it's revealed that Scratchy is actually a masochist who loves pain, and that's why he and Itchy fight.
- Anthropomorphic Typography: Bart tries to teach Lisa, disguised as a boy, how to act like one and encourages her to pick a fight. Lisa is reluctant to do so, but then has an Imagine Spot of various mathematical symbols telling her it will be worth it.≥: Do it, Lisa! You'll be greater than or equal to boys!
8: Even though you're only eight, your possibilities are infinite. [turns to resemble an infinity symbol]
27: Twenty-seven! - Be Careful What You Wish For: After Skinner's little slip up about girls and math, the one thing principal Upfoot spends money on for the boys side of the school is a math teacher that teaches seventh grade math far beyond their current level. After sneaking in, Lisa loves this, as it means she's actually being challenged to learn rather than to talk about her feelings.
- Big Word Shout: 27!
- Body Wipe: With Nelson, as he walks over to pummel Lisa's persona, Jake Boyman.
- Butt-Monkey: Principal Skinner. Nothing good happens to him in this episode, he's beaten up by the Broadway Itchy and Scratchy actors, gets condemned for his comments, is demoted to assistant groundskeeper, abused by groundskeeper Willie and finally gets overpowered and pinned down by squirrels while they pour poison in his mouth as he begs for mercy.
- Condescending Compassion: After replacing Principal Skinner, Melanie Upfoot divides the school by sex and gives all the privileges to the girls while boys are left to fend for themselves. The girls are not taught anything about maths and aren't challenged intellectually.
- Continuity Nod: Lisa's Jake Boyman disguise includes a wig that's the same hair color and style as Homer's when he was a teenager.
- Disproportionate Retribution: While Principal Skinner's sexist comments were wrong, he did not deserve to be called "worse than Hitler" and demoted to the point that he got overpowered by a group of squirrels.
- Does Not Like Men: After Skinner made a sexist remark that required Superintendant Chalmers to overcorrect the situation Principal Upfoot was assigned as principal. Upfoot spent the funding exclusively on the girls side of the school, while the boys were unfairly punished for Skinner's mistake by having their side reduced to a ghetto. Though she had a look of enjoyment when Chalmers makes out with her.
- Epic Fail:
- Assistant Groundskeeper Skinner's attempt to poison the squirrels infesting Springfield Elementary. They overpower him, pin him down and pour the poison in his mouth.
- Principal Upfoot's attempts to teach the girls math were treated as more of an empowerment seminar...and as Lisa pointed out didn't actually teach them anything about math.
- Foe Romance Subtext: Played up in Itchy & Scratchy's musical adaptation, in which the two describe their violent interplay as "symbiotic / And perhaps a bit erotic."
- Gilded Cage: Even though the girls received all the funding for their education, they weren't taught anything and Lisa had to sneak over to the boys side of the school so she can actually learn something.
- Godwin's Law: During the diversity forum, Skinner gets called "a worse version of Hitler" by an audience member.
- Groin Attack: Skinner's sexist comments gets him beaten up by the Itchy and Scratchy puppeteers; Scratchy goes for the crotch.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": Chalmers refers to Skinner's sexist comments as "diarrhea of the mouth". The entire student body erupts in laughter.
- Hippie Teacher: When the girls and boys are separated in the school, the girls side starts leaning into a more modern version of this trope. While the classroom was immaculate and had top tier equipment, the actual education consisted of laser shows of numbers and math symbols intended to help them "absorb" the information. Lisa felt like the lesson plans were underwhelming and discovered that despite the anarchy at the boys side, they were still given a functional education.
- Honor Before Reason: Rather than reveal her true identity as Jake Boyman, Lisa allows herself to get beat up by Nelson.
- I Call Him "Mister Happy": Subverted; with the boys segregated, Bart looks forward to being able to walk around with "Bart Jr. hanging out." Bart Jr. is a frog.Bart Jr.: (subtitled) I thought he meant his penis.
- In-Series Nickname: Toilet for Lisa, in her Jake Boyman persona.
- Irony: Despite being denied the necessary funding for their education, the boys still had a far better education system than the girls did.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While what Skinner said was sexist, the way the girl's school was taught wouldn't really give them any knowledge as why Lisa sneaked in the boy's school because it was regular knowledge.
- Kabuki Theatre: Stab-A-Lot has shades of this. Itchy, Scratchy, the old cat, and the singing knives are played by puppets, as stagehands in black suits control them from the back. This practice originated in the Japanese Bunraku puppet theater.
- "Lion King" Lift: Directly parodied in the play Stab-A-Lot, where an old cat lifts up a baby Itchy.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- Melanie Upfoot seems to be a reference to writer and activist Margaret Atwood, for whom gender and power politics are an usual topic, although this is strange given that the real Atwood has actually spoken against the kind of Political Overcorrectness portrayed here.
- Julianna Kellner, who directed Stab-A-Lot, is inspired by director Julie Taymor, who directed the Broadway adaptation of The Lion King.
- No Ending: Lisa reveals she pretended to be a boy and was proud of her accomplishments and...that's it. Nothing about the school ever going back to normal, or if Marge and Homer resolved their argument, it just ends.
- Not Helping Your Case: Multiple:
- Skinner's actions after his little speech certainly count.
- And then the way the girls didn't learn a single thing about math during the separation only proved Skinner's actions.
- Only One Finds It Fun: Inverted. Marge is the only member of the family shown not to enjoy the musical, being intimidated by the actors walking down the main aisle. Lisa appreciates the artistic design choices behind the play, Bart cheers at being "drenched in blood" (red streamers), and Homer plays along after the Scratchy animatronic's head blows off and lands on him.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title references the Cyndi Lauper song "Girls Just Want To Have Fun".
- Quickly-Demoted Leader: Skinner quickly gets demoted down to Assistant Groundskeeper.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The episode is a reference to Larry Summers resigning from the presidency of Harvard University due to sexist remarks he made about women in STEM.
- Satisfied Street Rat: Despite being denied the necessary funding for the education; the boys were happy to be away from the girls and they were receiving better education than the girls.
- Shout-Out:
- Stab-A-Lot pokes fun at (mostly) The Lion King and, in part, Jesus Christ Superstar.
- In reaction to Lisa's reveal, Kearney exclaims "We've been Yentl'd!"
- One of the famous art pieces by woman artists is a Cathy cartoon.
- One of the plays shown at the start of the episode is One Guy Named Moe, named after A Guy Named Joe.
- Small Start, Big Finish: The second song in Stab-A-Lot begins at night with Scratchy on stage, alone, questioning why he trusts Itchy as sad music plays. Itchy joins, explaining that he feels good about harming Scratchy. The music picks up as both begin singing together, realizing that their friendship works because Scratchy is addicted to pain. This kicks into a Triumphant Reprise of the regular Itchy & Scratchy theme song as background actors playing clubs and axes appear, hitting each other like in the show's opening. Itchy then blows off Scratchy's head with a stick of dynamite.
- Stopped Caring: Skinner, when Lisa asks about her math education.Lisa: Assistant Groundskeeper Skinner, don't you think it's wrong that I can't get the best math education because I'm a girl?
Skinner: I don't have any opinions anymore. All I know is that no one is better than anyone else and everyone is the best at everything. - Sweet Polly Oliver: After learning that the boys' side of the school teaches math properly, Lisa, with some help of Marge, disguises herself as a boy named Jake Boyman, nicknamed "Toilet" by the other kids, to sneak in.
- Title: The Adaptation: Stab-A-Lot: The Itchy & Scratchy Musical.
