Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts/References
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Cultural references
- The episode title is a pun on the expression "Stop and smell the roses."
- The T-shirts that the school offers for sale at the fund-raiser are parody versions of Phillips Exeter Academy and Andover.
- In a flashback to Superintendent Chalmers' teaching days, he supervises a group of detention students in a scene resembling The Breakfast Club, and in fact calls them by that name. However, the students say that Chalmers is in the wrong room, and they're actually The Fight Club, referencing the film of the same name.
- The song playing while The Fight Club beat up Chalmers is "Don't You (Forget About Me)", which was part of the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club.
- Bart's identifying Bill Clinton as "sex guy" (see below) is a reference to the Lewinsky scandal.
- Chalmers says that the best movie about Theodore Roosevelt is Night at the Museum, either the first movie or the sequel. Roosevelt was played by Robin Williams in both movies and was a major character in the first film, but had less of a role in the second film.
- The episode's plotline bears some resemblance, and contains several references, to the 1989 drama film Dead Poets Society, which starred Robin Williams:
- In the film, English teacher John Keating (played by Williams) uses unorthodox methods which make him popular with the students and get a group of boys (who later call themselves the Dead Poets Society) genuinely interested in poetry, similar to Chalmers' teaching Bart and his classmates (who later call themselves the Brotherhood of the Spectacles) about Roosevelt.
- Chalmers' group comes under official scrutiny and Chalmers is fired when Nelson is hurt falling into a ditch, similar in style (but decidedly not in degree) to the Dead Poets getting into trouble and Keating being fired when one of their members commits suicide.
- When Bart is back in class, Mrs. Krabappel tells him to turn to a page in the textbook, but Bart says it's missing. This is a reference to a scene at the end of the movie when the school's headmaster, temporarily replacing Keating, orders a student to read from a page in the poetry textbook, but the page has been ripped out (this happened earlier in the movie, under Keating's orders).
- In the same scene, the Dead Poets Society (and most of their classmates) take a literal stand on Keating's behalf by defying the headmaster and standing on their chairs to show their support for Keating, similar to the Brotherhood of the Spectacles coming to Chalmers' support. Unlike the Brotherhood, however, the Dead Poets neither take over the school nor succeed in winning Keating his job back.
- Taps: The 1981 drama film, which starred George C. Scott and Timothy Hutton, has as its central plotline students taking over their school, followed by an armed standoff.
- Bart mentions Theodore Roosevelt getting shot by a saloon keeper but carrying on with his speech. This actually happened when saloon keeper John Flammang Schrank shot Roosevelt.
- Grampa mentions he hates all the family dynasties, including the Kennedys, Bushes, Jon Voight and Angelina Jolie, Mayor Daley and "his smart-assed son" The Daily Show. He mentions that he does like Stephen Colbert.
Trivia
- During the band room portion of the opening sequence, Lisa plays a tuba instead of her saxophone.
- This is the first time that Gary Chalmers has been central to an episode.
- Chalmers gets a promotion to Super-duperintendent.
- Chalmers is revealed to be a widower, as he mentions his deceased wife Rosemary. She is also seen in a couple of photos. He had mentioned in the end credits of "Pranksta Rap" that she was very sick.
Bart and the Presidents
When Chalmers shows Bart the illustration featuring all of the U.S. Presidents, Bart only recognizes the following:
- George Washington (Bart refers to him as "dollar bill guy")
- Abraham Lincoln ("five-dollar bill guy")
- Bill Clinton ("sex guy")
- George W. Bush (Bart misidentifies him as Will Ferrell)
- Barack Obama ("black guy")
Bart's ignorance of the Presidents prompts Chalmers to teach him about Theodore Roosevelt.
Continuity
- One of the T-shirts that Edna Krabappel was selling was for Waverly Hills Elementary School. ("Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh")
- Edna's Edibles muffins are for sale at the school auction. ("Bart Gets a "Z"")
Goofs
- When Chalmers asks Bart if he has ever seen a horse that his father wasn't betting on and Bart replied "no sir", this is wrong as Bart previously owned a racehorse named Duncan in "Saddlesore Galactica".
- Bart also rides a horse in "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
- When Bart sees the presidents in a fold-out, "Roosevelt" is next to a crease on the fold. In a close up, "T." has appeared before "Roosevelt" and there is no crease or fold next to the image and caption of the president.
- When Bart says "Aye Caramba!" at the end of episode, his mouth doesn't move
- When Chalmers speaks in his flashback, the words he is saying don't match his mouth's movements.
- When Bart and Chalmers are riding in the national park the river flows in both directions.
