Difference between revisions of "The Burns Cage/References"

Latest revision as of 14:06, October 3, 2026

Cultural references[edit]

• The title of the episode is a reference to the 1996 comedy film The Birdcage.
• The chalkboard gag on Villanova needing to win or they'd lose everything is a reference to Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team playing for the championship in the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament the night after the episode first aired which the team did ultimately win.
• The song "This Guy's in Love with You" by Herb Alpert plays after Smithers and Mr. Burns land from the parachute jump.
• As Smithers walks down the corridor of the Executive Suite, he passes by versions of a number of paintings, but with Mr. Burns replacing the persons originally depicted:

• 

  Vladimir Putin shirtless on horseback

• 

  Nude Descending a Staircase (Duchamp)

• 

  Liberty Leading the People (Delacroix)

• 

  Grande Odalisque (Ingres)

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  Et l'or de leur corps (Gauguin)

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  Les Demoiselles D'Avignon (Picasso)

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  L'Homme qui marche I (Alberto Giacometti)

• The song "Waiting for You" by Smithers includes references to nuclear power plants: He mentions uranium isotope U-234, fission and makes a reference to nuclear decommissioning and nuclear meltdown.
• Smithers refers to Homer, Lenny and Carl as Larry, Moe and Curly, and then the three start acting like them.
• The school is doing a play of Casablanca, and will do Equus or Top Gun the next day. During the Casablanca audition:
  • Two kids are seen carrying Rick's Café, the principal set of the film.
  • A poster of Casablanca can also be seen.
  • Lisa got the role of Ilsa Lund and Milhouse wanted to get the role of Rick Blaine (which was later given to Jack Deforest) as he was hoping that he and Lisa could fall in love. Milhouse lists co-stars couples that fell in love: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Kermit and Miss Piggy and Miss Brady and Greg.
• Carl says "De nada" to Lenny, which means "Your welcome" in Spanish.
• Homer uses "Grinder" to find a lover for Smithers, a parody of Grindr, a homosexual geosocial app.
  • George Takei is on the app. Back in 2005 Takei revealed he was gay in a magazine and he is now a known proponent of LGBT rights.
  • Takei makes a pun on Klingon from Star Trek when he says "I don't care for people who cling on".
• The trucker at Moe's is wearing a Peterbilt cap. Peterbilt is an American truck manufacturer.
• Bart gets Comic Book Guy to buy a half-page advert in the playbook by telling him that Sam (the Casablanca character portrayed by Dooley Wilson) will play "As Time Goes By" with Hulk hands. Martin is later seen trying to play the piano with Hulk hands.

Comic Book Guy wears a Hello Kitty costume

• Comic Book Guy wears a Hello Kitty costume.
• At the Casablanca dress rehearsal Lisa is dressed as Ilsa Lund, Jack Deforest as Rick Blaine, Nelson as Captain Louis Renault, Üter as Signor Ferrari, Nina Skalka as the guitar player (portrayed by Corinna Mura), and Ralph as Signor Ugarte.
  • Ralph says "You despise me, don't you?", one of the phrases from the film.
• Ralph mentions Fiji Water when he gets in a locker.
• When Milhouse finally got the role of Rick Blaine, he questions why the Nazis would respect the "letters of transit" signed by Charles de Gaulle. These fictitious letters were a key element of the film.
• Tom Collins' name is a reference to the cocktail of the same name.^[1]
  • George Takei wonders if Tom Collins would like to hear about horror stories of him working with Bill Shatner. Bill Shatner is well known for portraying Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek, the series in which Takei portrayed Hikaru Sulu.
• The song "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang plays when Smithers is dating Julio Franco.
• Three people were checking on Mr. Burns' hounds. They were wearing "PEtA" T-shirts, a referenceto to "PeTA", an American animal rights organization.

Mr. Burns and Smithers fly on a Sikorsky S-38 in the night of Springfield just like Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett did in the 2004 film The Aviator

• The scene in which Smithers is on a plane with Burns flying in the night of Springfield is a reference to The Aviator. In that film scene Leonardo DiCaprio (as Howard Hughes) invited Cate Blanchett (as Katharine Hepburn) to fly in his Sikorsky S-38 when he first met her. That same scene soundtrack, "Moonglow" by Benny Goodman, was used in this episode scene.
• The sign in Havana, Cuba that says "Our Castro district is much different than yours" is alluding to the Castro District of San Francisco.
• In Smithers' visit to Havana, the mural Muerte al Señor Burns (Death to Mr. Burns) is a reference to the real-world Huye Batista mural [1] from 1959.
• Chalmers compares Milhouse to a "young Noah Wyle".
• Mr. Burns took an Uber to get to Luigi's. He thought Uber was a "Wehrmacht staff car". Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany. Eventually, the car was a Prius.
• "As Time Goes By" can be heard when Burns and Smithers hug.
• A lifetime Broadway pass can be seen on Mr. Burns' letter to get Smithers back.
  • Burns says he forgot to add a Starbucks card in the letter.
• The montage at the end showing Moe, Jack and Groundskeeper Willie on a journey for gold is a reference to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Moe mentions a "Bogart kid", a reference to Humphrey Bogart, who was a protagonist in that film.
  • The image of Moe with a noose around his neck and standing on the shoulders of a boy is a reference to the pivotal scene, revealed in flashback, in Once Upon a Time in the West.
  • The image of Lisa and Jack on The African Queen boat is a reference to the film The African Queen.
• The main theme of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, composed by Max Steiner, can be heard during the credits.

Trivia[edit]

• The Simpsons logo appears over the clouds when Smithers and Mr. Burns were parachuting.
• Rob LaZebnik told in an interview that the inspiration for this episode came from his relationship with his homosexual son, Johnny LaZebnik, who came out during high school.^[2]

Continuity[edit]

• Vladimir Putin on horseback was previously seen in "Treehouse of Horror XXVI".

Goofs[edit]

• The banner of the opera to be played the next day after Casablanca changes between scenes from Equus to Top Gun.
• At the Licenses Bureau, it's possible to see for a fraction of a second that the lady gives Smithers and Julio a Marriage License, but later it's a fishing license.
• Janey Powell calls herself "Jacqueline Jones" in this episode.

References[edit]