If I were asked to name the single piece of literature that’s had the most impact on Western culture, I’d be torn between naming the Bible and the collected works of William Shakespeare. (Of course, among my friends, the most significant cultural influences are probably The Simpsons, xkcd and Aaron Sorkin.)
It is unsurprising, then, that over the years The Simpsons has drawn so much from the Bible. The title of this episode refers to the biblical story of Samson and Delilah (Judges 16). God granted Samson supernatural strength – with certain conditions, naturally, chief among them that Samson never cut his hair: “For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5). Samson’s eventual lover, Delilah, discovered the source of his strength and betrayed him; after they shaved his hair, the Philistines were able to put out his eyes and imprison him. (1)
Dimoxinil/Minoxidil
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"For your free brochure, send $5 to Dimoxinil, 485 Hair Plaza, Hair City, UT" |
Minoxidil is the active ingredient in Rogaine. As we’ve learned from Homer’s misfortunes, minoxidil must be applied in perpetuity; hair loss will resume if use is discontinued. According to the Mayo Clinic, “[t]he exact way that this medicine works is not known.”(2) Well, that’s reassuring. Rogaine is now available over the counter, but was only available with a prescription when it was introduced.
"Now there’s a brochure prepared especially for men who want answers to their questions about Rogaine."
Homer's Hair
According to the commentary, the animators made a conscious effort to give Homer a different hairstyle in each scene. I counted seven styles throughout the episode. Some of them seem pretty generic or to evoke a only certain time period:
But I think #6 might be modeled on JFK:
and #7 on the climactic scene in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington:
“Meet me in the alley in 15 minutes. Come alone.”
The staging of Homer’s back-alley dealings with the doctor is likely a nod to Watergate reporters Woodward and Bernstein’s covert meetings with the informant Deep Throat.
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| Still from All the President's Men |
Good morning, Springfield! Hello, Bedford Falls!
Homer’s celebratory run through town, greeting neighbors and local establishments, is an homage to the ending of It’s a Wonderful Life:
The DuMont
Mr. Burns: “I was watching the DuMont last night and I happened to catch a fascinating documentary on Rommel, the Desert Fox. Now there’s a man who could get things done.”
Erwin “Desert Fox” Rommel was a German officer in World War II; he earned his nickname as a result of the things he got done in the North African theater. (3)
In 1946 DuMont launched as America’s fourth television network, but it was never able to compete with CBS, ABC and NBC and folded ten years later. Fox finally succeeded in establishing a fourth network in 1986 when Rupert Murdoch purchased the company that had been spun off from DuMont and began broadcasting on former DuMont stations. (4)
Beat!Bart
Bart fantasizes about a Dimoxinil-fueled goatee transforming him into a Beat poet. His beret, black shirt and bongos match media depictions of the Beat generation in the 1950s and 1960s, but were among the symbols dismissed by central Beat figure Jack Kerouac as commercialized distortions of the true ideas that he, Allen Ginsberg and other writers pursued.(5) Bart also demonstrates mastery of the supposed lingo of the Beats, asking his pals, “Hey, what’s happenin’, hepcats?” Google defines a “hepcat” as “A stylish or fashionable person, esp. in the sphere of jazz or popular music.”
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| Marketing appropriation of the term |
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| Actual Beat Generation revolutionary |
“In my salad days …”
After starting with a biblical allusion, my last reference comes, appropriately enough, from Shakespeare, who coined the phrase “salad days.” Act I of Antony and Cleopatra closes with Cleopatra speaking of her youthful romance with Caesar: “My salad days, / When I was green in judgment: cold in blood.”(6) The phrase thus originally suggested inexperience and naiveté, but Mr. Burns uses it in the more common modern sense to denote simply youth.
Sources:
The Simpsons belongs to Matt Groening, no copyright infringement intended, yada yada yada. Screencaps mine. Other photo credits:
