Difference between revisions of "Moe'N'a Lisa/References"

Latest revision as of 19:57, March 1, 2026

Cultural references[edit]

• The episode title is a pun on the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.
  • It is also an allusion to the title of the season one episode "Moaning Lisa", and also the season nineteen episode "Mona Leaves-a".
• According to Abe, he participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin.
  • At the Olympiastadion, Abe accidentally killed an assassin that tried to kill Adolf Hitler, a reference to the many attempts to assassinate Hitler.
  • An instrumental song very similar to "Deutschlandlied", Germany's anthem, is heard.

Lenny collects Absolut Vodka ads.

• Lenny collects Absolut Vodka ads.
• During the high-dive event, Old Jewish man's underarm flab turns into wings, and he flies around the arena to the theme music from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
• "The Star-Spangled Banner" is heard when Abe wins one of the events.
• Moe sings "Happy Birthday to Me", a modified version of the popular song "Happy Birthday to You".
• The music heard when Homer acts like a crab is similar to that in the 1961 film Mysterious Island.
• Moe considers American musician Bob Seger and American professional wrestler Haystacks Calhoun as "great man". This indirectly refers to Calhoun's heavy weight, which, together with his declining health, eventually forced him into retirement.
• Regent Hotel is a reference to Regent Hotels & Resorts, the British-American luxury hospitality brand.
• When Homer finds out that Moe lives in a hotel, Homer compares him to Eloise from Eloise at the Plaza. Eloise, the main character, lives in the penthouse at the top of the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
• Moe had a ticket to a play of Romeo and Juliet on his wall.
• After Lisa arranges the fragments made by Moe to become a poem, she compares it to The Waste Land, widely regarded as one of the most important English-language poems of the 20th century, written by American poet T. S. Eliot.
• At Springfield Elementary School, Lisa calls her classmates "Philistines" when they barely approve Moe's poem.

The fast-talking publisher who approves of Moe's poetry is J. Jonah Jameson, the famous publisher from the Daily Bugle in Spider-Man.

• The fast-talking publisher who approves of Moe's poetry is J. Jonah Jameson, the famous publisher from the Daily Bugle in Spider-Man.
  • He is voiced by J. K. Simmons, who plays Jameson in the Spider-Man 2002 film series, the second of which was co-written by Michael Chabon, who also provides his voice in this episode.
  • Jameson asks for an Advil, a pain-relieving medication.
  • When he finds Moe's poem outstanding, he calls American poet Maya Angelou.
• Barney mentions two pieces of work by Tom Wolfe, namely his book The Right Stuff and novel The Bonfire of the Vanities. Barney also makes an allusion to Wolfe's 1970 book Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers.
• The Wordloaf Literary Conference is a reference to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, held every year at the Bread Loaf Inn, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Several of The Simpsons writers have attended Middlebury, and other references to the show exist, including one in which criminal Snake Jailbird is identified as a Middlebury alumnus ("22 Short Films About Springfield").
• At the entrance of the Wordloaf Literary Conference, the sign "Warning: Philip Roth may be moody" references American novelist Philip Roth.
• Bart tells the writers that "The Da Vinci Code just sold over one million copies". This novel was consistently criticized by scholars for its historical and scientific inaccuracies. Despite that, it became a massive worldwide bestseller selling millions of copies.
• Tom Wolfe wears his trademark white suit.
• According to the American writer Gore Vidal, he came up with the title of his novel 1876 after once paying $18.76 for gasoline. Likewise, he said the title of Burr came to him when he saw the word printed on the wrapper of an Eskimo Pie.
  • He also has a recording of people laughing from a class at Temple University.
• During the hayride, "Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas plays.
• According to Michael Chabon, his biggest influence is American novelist Jonathan Franzen and mentions one of Franzen's notable works, The Corrections.
  • Franzen replies saying that his biggest influence is French novelist Albert Camus.
• Tom Wolfe asks Moe whether his influences were novelists Jack Kerouac or Charles Bukowski.
• During the Chabon-Franzen fight, Franzen hits Chabon over the head with a Snoopy portrait, to which an angry Chabon responds by saying, "Oh, you fight like Anne Rice!" before tackling him. Anne Rice was an American author.
• At the end of the episode:
  • Moe and Lisa leaving the building is broadcasted by C-SPAN.
  • J. Jonah Jameson demands photos, later poems, about Spider-Man.
  • The rhyme scheme he mentions is the Petrarchan sonnet, an Italian sonnet style dating back to the 13th century.
  • The episode ends with Jameson saying, "What are you waiting for, Chinese New Year?". The line was first heard in this episode of The Simpsons and heard again a few months afterward in the 2007 film Spider-Man 3.

Trivia[edit]

• The scene where Homer is tasting maple syrup was cut from the episode, but was later used as a postscript scene during the end credits.

Goofs[edit]

• In this episode, Moe lives in a hotel, but his actual home is a house similar to Nelson's. However, he could have moved.
• Moe's tie has horizontal triangles in one shot, but they disappear, then reappear in the next.