Difference between revisions of "Opposites A-Frack/References"

Latest revision as of 11:16, September 2, 2024

Cultural references[edit]

• The episode title is most likely a portmanteau on the saying "opposites attract" and "frack" in the work fracking. There is also a song with that title by Paula Abdul, who was a choreographer on The Tracey Ullman Show.
• Patty and Selma did not enjoy Paris as they could not see the Mona Lisa.
• Homer tells Marge she can not bring "a couple of Riddlers to stay in the Bat Cave", a reference to The Riddler villain from DC Comics, and to Batman's headquarters.
• Homer also calls Patty and Selma "bad news bears", a reference to the sports comedy film The Bad News Bears.
• A similar song to "Si tu vois ma mère" by Sidney Bechet is heard when Patty and Selma and other smokers recreate the Eiffel Tower at the front of Springfield Dog Track during the night. This song is part of the soundtrack of Midnight in Paris.
• Lisa watched a documentary about fracking on Webflix, a parody of Netflix. Other content watched by Lisa included:
  • Oh Glacier, Where Art Thou?, a pun on the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
  • The Desolation of Smog, a pun on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
• Lisa thinks that stopping Mr. Burns from fracking may be beyond the power of an eight-year-old girl with a book report due on Beezus and Ramona. Lisa is referring to the 1955 children's novel written by Beverly Cleary.
• When Maxine Lombard speaks of defending "our precious Bay Area values" might refer to the part of the state the character represents in the State Assembly, but it is referring the San Francisco Bay Area, a hotbed of informed environmentalism.
• Burns' testimony to the state assembly committee is transmitted via S-SPAN, a parody of C-SPAN. C-SPAN is an American cable and satellite television network that televises many proceedings of the United States federal government, as well as other public affairs programming.
• Maxine Lombard's office in the State Capitol Building has pictures on the wall of her with Bill Clinton, with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and with Dianne Feinstein.

Upon discovering their mutual attraction, Mr. Burns and Maxine Lombard re-enact the dream sequence from Singin' in the Rain

• Upon discovering their mutual attraction, Mr. Burns and Maxine Lombard re-enact the dream sequence from the 1952 American musical romantic comedy film Singin' in the Rain.
  • The song "The Broadway Melody Ballet" by Nacio Herb Brown is heard during the sequence.
• Burns once slept with Nellie Taft, the First Lady of the United States from 1909 to 1913.
• Maxine calls Burns a "sexy little Nosferatu", a reference to the film Nosferatu the Vampyre based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
• The compounds Professor Frink talks about include 2-Butoxyethanol, Dazomet and Formaldehyde. He also mentions the margin of error, a concept in sampling.
• When Homer says "I like movies where there's only one day a year when murder is legal" he is referring to the dystopian horror film The Purge.
• Homer refers to the bulldozers as "Killdozers", a reference to the 1974 sci-fi film Killdozer! in which a spirit takes over a large bulldozer.
• When the Burns' manor is being demolished, retired American radio journalist Robert Siegel tells Burns that the "Antonin Scalia bedroom" was now a National Public Radio broadcast center.
  • Siegel also plays the All Things Considered theme by Wycliffe Gordon on a radio.

Continuity[edit]

The action figures in the Androids Dungeon.

• Action figures of three of The Fossil Fuel Four (The Fracker, Charcoal Briquette and Old King Coal) appears in the Android's Dungeon. ("Married to the Blob")
• Action figures of The Collider, Radioactive Man and Sergeant Activity also appears. ("Steal This Episode", "Fat Man and Little Boy", etc.)
• The state flag and state capitol building are seen ("Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade").

Trivia[edit]

• Bart only has two lines in this episode.