Much Apu About Nothing
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"Much Apu About Nothing" is the 23rd episode of The Simpsons seventh season. The title is a spoof on the William Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing.
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[edit] Synopsis
On an ordinary day, a grizzly bear strolls onto Evergreen Terrace, frightening the town. Everyone is advised to stay indoors. The bear is eventually subdued by the police, who tranquilize it. Homer convinces Springfield that something needs to be done to protect them from bears, and the town takes their complaint to Mayor Quimby. Soon, the Bear Patrol is created, a useless organization which makes use of helicopters, police cars, and even a B-2 Spirit (stealth aircraft). Homer feels happy to know that the Bear Patrol is doing their job, as there are no bears around. Lisa knows the patrol does nothing (there had never been any bears in the town before), but Homer thinks it does since no more bears have been seen. Homer is then shocked to see taxes have been raised five dollars to maintain the Bear Patrol. This warrants another visit by the town to the Mayor's office. To calm the ignorant people down, Mayor Quimby blames the high taxes on illegal immigrants. He then creates Proposition 24, which will deport all illegal immigrants from Springfield.
Springfield starts to harass and hate all immigrants. At home, Lisa tries to talk about the benefits of immigration, but she does not convince the family to vote against Proposition 24. At the Kwik-E-Mart, Apu confides in Homer that he is an illegal immigrant. He explains that if Proposition 24 passes, he will be deported, as his visa expired many years earlier because he stayed in the U.S. by choice. When he tells this to Marge, she feels sorry for him, and tells him she will vote "no" on Proposition 24, although it clearly will not be enough to help Apu. Apu is forced to go to Fat Tony to obtain a false United States citizenship. On Fat Tony's advice, he starts "acting American", by doing things like speaking with an American accent. However, he realizes he disgraced his parents for turning his back on his Indian heritage, and tears up what Fat Tony gave him.
Homer vows that the Simpsons will help him. Lisa, having read the citizenship laws front to back, discovers that Apu will not get deported if he can pass a US citizenship test, because he had been in North America for a long time. Homer agrees to be his tutor to help prepare for the exam. Apu demonstrates excellent knowledge of the United States, but Homer is a terrible tutor and replaces Apu's knowledge with false information. Apu falls asleep while studying the false information, but forgets it all when he wakes up, which Lisa is overjoyed about. Apu then goes to take the written and oral test. Because he originally knew a lot about History of the United States, Apu passes the test and becomes a citizen of the United States. At a congratulatory party, Homer tells his guests how terrible it would be if immigrants were deported, explaining they make the U.S. thrive. He inspires them to vote "no" on Proposition 24, but it still passes, with 95% of the population voting "yes". The episode ends with Apu happy that he is a U.S. citizen, and Groundskeeper Willie (seemingly) being the only person deported.
[edit] Production
The DVD commentary for this episode reveals that the original title was going to be "The Anti-Immigrant Song" in reference to the Led Zeppelin song, Immigrant Song.
[edit] Cultural references
- The episode title is a play on William Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing.
- Moe says that the Bears are "smarter than the aver-age bear" and "they swiped my pic-a-nic basket" in an homage to the Yogi Bear cartoons. After the crowd leaves Quimby's office, however, it's revealed that it was actually Quimby himself who stole Moe's picnic basket, not a bear.
- The "I Want You ... Out!" poster is similar to the famous Uncle Sam army recruitment poster.
- Apu's parents in the flashback scene resemble the parents of the character for which he was named, the eponymous protagonist of Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy.
- In a cutaway depicting Chief Wiggum and his men preparing to deport the immigrants, he tells them to "first round up your tired, then your poor, then your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", a reference to the inscription on the Statue of Liberty.
- Frink's prediction that computers would become ever larger and costlier is a play on the old belief, often attributed to IBM Chairman Thomas Watson, that the world market for computers was limited to just a handful of people and companies.
- After mayor Quimby introduces proposition 24 a magazine is shown with a picture of Quimby that is uncannily like that of Hitler
- The Bear Patrol plane is a B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
- The chant Homer's mob repeats as they march on the mayor's office, "We're here! We're queer! We don't want any more bears!", is a reference to Queer Nation.
[edit] Previous episode references
The character Barney dates in the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" can be seen at the end of the episode, sitting in the back of the room while the rest of the immigrants take the citizenship exam.
Selma remarks on the phone that her full name is Selma Bouvier Terwilliger Hutz McClure, referencing both marriages to Sideshow Bob and Troy McClure. Presumably some time in between, she married and divorced Lionel Hutz as well, although this has not been referenced since.
[edit] Legacy
There is a scene where young Apu says goodbye to his family, including his future arranged marriage bride, Manjula. This is a foreshadowing, as Apu meets Manjula again for the marriage in "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" in Season 9. The only distinction is that in this episode, Apu is shown as being years older than Manjula, whereas in the marriage episode, a flashback shows them to be the same age. This scene is sometimes cut from syndication.
In The Simpsons Hit & Run mission, "This Little Piggy", Apu wears his American costume from this episode when Krusty wants him to become an American so he can track down a criminal.
[edit] Trivia
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- After graduating from "Caltech", Apu enrolls in the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology, which has a taboo acronym ("SHIT"). His Caltech graduating class consisted of seven million students, which is a jab at India's status as the second most-populous country in the world.
- This episode continues the trend of hiding the location of Springfield to the viewer, leaving the audience still uncertain of its place in the United States.
- This episode is the second time Orville "Great Grampa" Simpson and Yuma Hickman, Abe's parents, are seen.
[edit] External links
- "Much Apu About Nothing" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- From NoHomers.net -- a detailed analysis and discussion of this episode.
