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In the chalkboard gag, Bart backs the [[Villanova Wildcats men's basketball|Villanova Wildcats]], who won the [[2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game]] the day after the episode aired. Fans wondered why the show's staff were supporting Villanova over the [[North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball|North Carolina Tar Heels]]; one Internet writer hypothesized that it was a reference to the [[The Simpsons (season 9)|season 9]] episode "[[The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson]]", in which after one of his typical alcoholic binges, [[Barney Gumble]] can only recall "giving a guest lecture at [[Villanova University|Villanova]], or maybe it was a street corner."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Allen|first1=Scott|title=Villanova scores a shout-out from ‘The Simpsons’ before national title game|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/04/04/villanova-scores-a-shout-out-from-the-simpsons-before-national-title-game/|accessdate=April 6, 2016|work=Washington Post|date=April 4, 2016}}</ref>
In the chalkboard gag, Bart backs the [[Villanova Wildcats men's basketball|Villanova Wildcats]], who won the [[2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game]] the day after the episode aired. Fans wondered why the show's staff were supporting Villanova over the [[North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball|North Carolina Tar Heels]]; one Internet writer hypothesized that it was a reference to the [[The Simpsons (season 9)|season 9]] episode "[[The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson]]", in which after one of his typical alcoholic binges, [[Barney Gumble]] can only recall "giving a guest lecture at [[Villanova University|Villanova]], or maybe it was a street corner."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Allen|first1=Scott|title=Villanova scores a shout-out from ‘The Simpsons’ before national title game|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/04/04/villanova-scores-a-shout-out-from-the-simpsons-before-national-title-game/|accessdate=April 6, 2016|work=Washington Post|date=April 4, 2016}}</ref>


Smithers likens Homer, Lenny and Carl to [[The Three Stooges]].<ref name=us/> Smithers' potential partners are chosen via the gay dating [[Mobile app|app]] [[Grindr]].<ref name=av/> At the party, [[George Takei]] asks another man if he wants to hear "horror stories" about his ''[[Star Trek]]'' co-star [[William Shatner]], and is pleased that the man does not know who Shatner is.<ref name=av/> [[Comic Book Guy]] [[cosplay]]s as [[Hello Kitty]].<ref name=av/> Mr. Burns is rapped by [[PETA]] for the welfare of his hounds.<ref name=us/> A billboard outside the school's production of ''Casablanca'' advertises that the kindergarten are putting on a production of [[zoophilia]]-themed play [[Equus (play)|''Equus'']] the following night.<ref name=den/> Among Smithers' paintings of Burns is a parody of a photograph of Russian president [[Vladimir Putin]] riding a horse while bare-chested.<ref name=den/> The end sequence with the treasure hunt pay homage to Bogart's ''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)|The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]'' and ''[[The African Queen (film)|The African Queen]]''.<ref name=den/>
Smithers likens Homer, Lenny and Carl to [[The Three Stooges]].<ref name=us/> Smithers' potential partners are chosen via the gay dating [[Mobile app|app]] [[Grindr]].<ref name=av/> At the party, [[George Takei]] asks another man if he wants to hear "horror stories" about his ''[[Star Trek]]'' co-star [[William Shatner]], and is pleased that the man does not know who Shatner is.<ref name=av/> [[Comic Book Guy]] [[cosplay]]s as [[Hello Kitty]].<ref name=av/> Mr. Burns is rapped by [[PETA]] for the welfare of his hounds.<ref name=us/> A billboard outside the school's production of ''Casablanca'' advertises that the kindergarten are putting on a production of [[zoophilia]]-themed play [[Equus (play)|''Equus'']] the following night.<ref name=den/> Among Smithers' paintings of Burns is a parody of a photograph of Russian president [[Vladimir Putin]] riding a horse while bare-chested.<ref name=den/> The end sequence with the treasure hunt pays homage to Bogart's ''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)|The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]'' and ''[[The African Queen (film)|The African Queen]]''.<ref name=den/>


==Reception==
==Reception==

Revision as of 13:33, 11 April 2016

"The Burns Cage"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 27
Directed byRob Oliver
Written byRob LaZebnik
Original air dateApril 3, 2016 (2016-04-03)
Episode features
Chalkboard gagIf Villanova doesn't win, we lose everything.
Couch gagHomer sends text messages to the family with emojis.
Episode chronology
The Simpsons season 27
List of episodes

"The Burns Cage" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-seventh season of the animated television series The Simpsons, and the 591st episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on April 3, 2016.

In the episode, Waylon Smithers finally comes out to his boss Mr. Burns, who rejects his advances. Other characters attempt to find a boyfriend for Smithers, and he falls for Julio. Meanwhile, Milhouse competes against a new boy for the lead role in a school production of Casablanca, so he can act alongside his own unrequited love, Lisa. Openly gay actor George Takei makes a cameo as himself, and the episode features a variety of cultural references, including to Grindr, Hello Kitty, Vladimir Putin and the films of Humphrey Bogart.

The episode was written by Rob LaZebnik, inspired by when his teenage son came out. Critical reception was mixed. Praise went for the emotionally touching aspects of LaZebnik's script and Harry Shearer's portrayal of Smithers. However, criticisms included the plot possibly ending the innuendo-driven humor involving Smithers' secret love of Burns, and an assumption that the character was being retconned due to changing attitudes on homosexuality since the series' debut. International media covered the episode.

Plot

Smithers declares his love for Mr. Burns after he saves Burns' life in a skydiving accident, but Burns reaffirms his contempt for him. Angry, Smithers treats Homer, Lenny and Carl harshly, so they determine finding Smithers a boyfriend will ease the ill-treatment. They invite potential partners to meet Smithers at a party, where Julio's neck massage snaps Smithers out of his bad mood. The two fall in love, and Smithers leaves his job at the Power Plant.[1]

Smithers is troubled on a trip to Julio's homeland of Cuba when his partner wears a carnival outfit resembling Burns; Julio notices and asks Smithers if he is committed to their relationship, and Smithers admits that he is not. Back in Springfield, Burns' attempts to find a new assistant prove disastrous, and his only option is to hire Smithers again. He meets Smithers with money to lure him back, but Smithers states that money will not sway him. Burns then says he has kept a secret bottled up: that Smithers' performance review is "excellent". The two hug and reconcile.[1]

Meanwhile Springfield Elementary put on a production of Casablanca, in which Lisa gets the lead role of Ilsa. Milhouse wants the lead role of Rick because of his love for Lisa, but he is challenged by a new boy, Jack Deforest, who dresses, acts and speaks like Humphrey Bogart. Milhouse enlists the bullies to beat up Jack, but instead Jack beats the bullies up. Principal Skinner sees this violence and declares that Milhouse will play Rick instead of Jack; Lisa is angered as she does not believe that he is a good actor. Marge tells Lisa that it is important to tell people who are not skilled that they are, using the example of Homer. The production is a success, but at the end it is revealed that Milhouse was actually Jack in disguise; Lisa and Jack leave hand-in-hand.[1]

Milhouse goes to Moe's Tavern, where Smithers lectures him that romantic setbacks make love feel better when it arrives. Moe tells the pair that he only searches for gold, not girls, and embarks on a treasure-hunt with Jack and Groundskeeper Willie.

Production

Writer Rob LaZebnik was inspired by his son, who came out as gay while at high school.

Smithers' unrequited love for Mr. Burns is a long-running gag on The Simpsons; the producers once joked that he was not gay, but "Burns-sexual".[2] Rolling Stone described the character's sexual orientation as the show's "worst-kept secret", noting how in one episode he had a vacation at an all-male resort, and in another he wore "rainbow-striped short shorts" in Springfield's gay district.[2]

In September 2015, in an interview to promote the 27th season, executive producer Al Jean announced that "we actually do a lot with Smithers this year", adding that two episodes would deal with the character's sexuality, including one in which he becomes tired of Burns not appreciating him.[3]

Writer Rob LaZebnik told the New York Post that the episode was inspired by his son Johnny, who came out as gay while at high school: "I am a Midwestern guy, so I don’t tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve, but I thought, 'What better way to tell my son I love him than to write a cartoon about it?'".[4] He added that he pitched the storyline three years earlier, and got approval for his script from his son.[4] Smithers' coming out is low-key, as was Johnny's; he told the Post that as he was "the gayest little kid", his parents were not surprised by his sexual orientation.[4] The episode aired five days before Johnny's 22nd birthday, and he said he would have a viewing party because the episode would be "particularly meaningful" to him.[4] The elder LaZebnik stated his opinion that LGBT-related television can have a "real impact on people's thinking".[4]

Cultural references

The character Jack Deforest is mostly based on Humphrey Bogart, and the episode makes references to several of his films, most visibly Casablanca. His name is based on both Bogart and DeForest Kelley

The episode's title comes from the 1996 LGBT-related comedy film The Birdcage, in which Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria plays a Guatemalan housekeeper; his portrayal of Cuban bartender Julio in this episode is similar.[5]

In the chalkboard gag, Bart backs the Villanova Wildcats, who won the 2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game the day after the episode aired. Fans wondered why the show's staff were supporting Villanova over the North Carolina Tar Heels; one Internet writer hypothesized that it was a reference to the season 9 episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", in which after one of his typical alcoholic binges, Barney Gumble can only recall "giving a guest lecture at Villanova, or maybe it was a street corner."[6]

Smithers likens Homer, Lenny and Carl to The Three Stooges.[1] Smithers' potential partners are chosen via the gay dating app Grindr.[5] At the party, George Takei asks another man if he wants to hear "horror stories" about his Star Trek co-star William Shatner, and is pleased that the man does not know who Shatner is.[5] Comic Book Guy cosplays as Hello Kitty.[5] Mr. Burns is rapped by PETA for the welfare of his hounds.[1] A billboard outside the school's production of Casablanca advertises that the kindergarten are putting on a production of zoophilia-themed play Equus the following night.[7] Among Smithers' paintings of Burns is a parody of a photograph of Russian president Vladimir Putin riding a horse while bare-chested.[7] The end sequence with the treasure hunt pays homage to Bogart's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen.[7]

Reception

"The Burns Cage" scored a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic and was watched by 2.32 million viewers, making it Fox's highest rated show of the night,[8] but despite this, was the least-watched episode of the show in terms of total viewers and its 18-49 rating since the previous season's "My Fare Lady" (with a 1.1 rating and 2.67 million viewers),[9] and in that regard, rendering it the least-watched episode of the show, in its entirety, in those two demographics.

Harry Shearer's performance as Smithers was described by one critic as "touching".

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, commenting "Waylon Smithers being acknowledged as a gay man might be greeted with a collective shrug of 'Didn't he do that a decade or more ago?' (he hadn't), but 'The Burns Cage' both finally makes Smithers' sexuality a matter of public record and gives Springfield's most slavishly dedicated lickspittle a little glimpse of what a life outside of Burns' contemptuous orbit could be. That he ultimately doesn't take that step makes sense for the character and is—in Harry Shearer's performance and the script (credited to Rob LaZebnik)—quite touching in how it reaffirms that being a character on The Simpsons means giving up hope of ever really changing much."[5]

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek felt that Smithers coming out was good for social acceptance, but would end the comedy around his sexuality, which is based on double entendre. He wrote that the love story had "a few subversive laugh lines" but more "missed opportunities". He added that the school's production of Casablanca was a letdown compared to the series' previous adaptations of A Streetcar Named Desire and Planet of the Apes, and gave his opinion that the Bogart homages ruined the opportunity to do better parodies of his films. However, he noted that the season had a better quality of animation.[7]

Writing in British progressive magazine the New Statesman, Anna Leszkiewicz felt that the episode was not about "coming out", as the innuendo concerning Smithers' sexuality had been running for decades. She felt it was retconning the series, which had made arguably homophobic jokes around the character, for modern sensitivities; this was likened to how Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealed that Albus Dumbledore was gay after the series had finished. Leszkiewicz concluded that it was progress – for the show more than for the LGBT community – that homosexuality was being treated in a more mature way on The Simpsons, but that the change should have been made at least a decade ago.[10]

The episode was covered by international media outlets including the BBC,[11] The Australian,[12] Die Welt,[13] La Stampa,[14] Jornal de Notícias,[15] El Mundo,[16] L'Avenir,[17] and Blesk.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Valentine, Evan (April 3, 2016). "'The Simpsons' Recap: Smithers Comes Out — and Starts Dating a Longtime Character!". Us Weekly. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Kreps, Daniel (April 2, 2016). "'Simpsons' Character Smithers to Come Out as Gay in New Episode". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  3. ^ Holpuch, Amanda (September 28, 2015). "The Simpsons' Smithers to finally come out as gay, producer reveals". The Guardian. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e Hegedus, Eric (April 1, 2016). "'Simpsons' Smithers gay reveal was inspired by the writer's son". The New York Post. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d e Perkins, Dennis (April 3, 2016). ""The Burns Cage" · The Simpsons · TV Review The Simpsons handles Smithers' coming out with surprising subtlety". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  6. ^ Allen, Scott (April 4, 2016). "Villanova scores a shout-out from 'The Simpsons' before national title game". Washington Post. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d Sokol, Tony (April 3, 2016). "The Simpsons: The Burns Cage Review". Den of Geek. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  8. ^ Porter, Rick (April 5, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: ACM Awards and all scripted shows hold". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  9. ^ Bibel, Sara (February 18, 2015). "Sunday Final Ratings: No Adjustments for 'Saturday Night Live - 40th Anniversary', 'The Bachelor' or 'CSI' Finale". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  10. ^ Leszkiewicz, Anna (April 5, 2016). "The Smithers question: why do we keep retrofitting progressive narratives in pop culture?". New Statesman. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  11. ^ "Smithers comes out as gay on The Simpsons". BBC. April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  12. ^ Cooper, Lorna (April 5, 2016). "The Simpsons' Smithers comes out as gay". The Australian. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  13. ^ "Smithers gesteht Montgomery Burns seine Liebe". Die Welt (in German). 5 April 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "Coming out nei Simpson, finalmente Smithers si è dichiarato gay". La Stampa (in Italian). April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Smithers sai do armário nos Simpsons". Jornal de Notícias. April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "La razón por la que Smithers ha salido del armario en Los Simpson" (in Spanish). April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ "«Les Simpson»: l'épisode où Waylon Smithers fait officiellement son coming-out" (in French). April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "Přiznání po 27 letech: Smithers ze Simpsonových přiznal, že je gay! A našel si kluka". Blesk (in Czech). April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
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