The President Wore Pearls
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2018) |
"The President Wore Pearls" | |
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Tom Gammill Yeardley Smith Michael Moore Mike B. Anderson | |
"The President Wore Pearls" is the third episode of the
Plot
Springfield Elementary School holds a
Lisa easily wins the election. Worried by her determination and popularity, the faculty discusses how to control her. Following Mrs. Krabappel's suggestion that a woman's weakness is vanity, they sing another song ("I Am Their Queen", a spoof of "Rainbow High") and make Lisa over into a fashionable Eva Perón lookalike. She is initially resistant, but gives in since she reasons she will still be able to fight for the kids. The students love the new Lisa more than ever, but the faculty uses her as a scapegoat for dropping music, gym, and art from the curriculum to save on the budget, getting her to sign the paperwork without looking at it in exchange for a skeleton key to the school. Facing an outraged student body, Lisa resigns as president, goes back to her old red dress and spiky hair, and leads the students into a strike.
Filmmaker Michael Moore shows up to take their side, stating that children who do not receive music, gym and art are more likely to become unemployed and end up in one of his movies. The police arrive at the school, but Lisa convinces them to take their side too. Realizing there is no other way out of the crippling strike other than disposing of Lisa, Skinner has her transferred to a school for the "Academically Gifted and Troublesome". As her bus departs, her classmates and the rest of Springfield are saddened, but she reassures them by telling them that "[they] can still reach [her] via email ("Smart Girl Six Three", a parody of "Eva's Final Broadcast").
Just as Lisa arrives at her new school, Homer pulls up and refuses to let her attend, not wanting to deal with the extra driving time. Springfield Elementary is eventually able to restore music, art and gym by cancelling
Production
The idea for the episode was devised by Al Jean, who was motivated by his love of theater. He regarded Evita as a great political musical, and stated that "[he] just always thought that it was one of the most brilliant things ever, and to have Lisa do that was the genesis of this episode." Although Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa, had originally assumed that the central conceit of the episode was intended as a political satire, Al Jean clarified in the commentary track that he had no political motivation and just wanted to "get Lisa singing".[2]
Jean also credits himself with the idea of inviting
Moore quickly accepted the offer without even knowing what his role in the episode was going to be, stating that not only had he been watching The Simpsons since its conception as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, he had been a fan of Matt Groening's work since the early 80s, and used to run Groening's Life in Hell comic strips in an alternative newspaper that he operated from Flint, Michigan.[6] He appreciated that the episode focused on the elimination of art programs in public schools,[7] and enjoyed being called a "professional buttinski" by Kent Brockman.[8]
The musical numbers were composed by Alf Clausen,[9] the show's primary composer from 1990 until 2017,[10] and although episode writer Dana Gould is credited as the sole lyricist, Al Jean clarified in the commentary track that the lyrics were a collaborative effort between several Simpsons writers. Some time prior to the episode's conception, Jean suggested that, due to a “significant royalty [for] having songs in an episode”, any lyrics written by the writing staff for use in a Simpsons episode should be credited to whoever originally wrote the episode in order to prevent potential arguments over who should be credited and who should receive the royalties.[11] Although the songs originally pitched were more faithful to the melodies of the Evita songs they were based on, the show was forced to modify the melodies for legal reasons.[12] A medley of the songs featured in the episode was included in the 2007 compilation album The Simpsons: Testify.[13]
Reception
In 2007, Vanity Fair called "The President Wore Pearls" the tenth best episode of The Simpsons, the most recent episode on the list. John Orvted said, "It may seem ludicrous to include anything later than Season 8 in this list, but this one is brilliant. The musical numbers are astoundingly good, and Lisa's comeuppance is so well constructed it harkens back to the golden years of the show (Seasons 3 through 8)."[14] In 2019, Time ranked the episode fourth in its list of 10 best Simpsons episodes picked by Simpsons experts.[15]
Alf Clausen and Dana Gould were nominated for an Emmy Award for
References
- ^ a b "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
- ^ Smith, Yeardly and Jean, Al. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 5:05.
- ^ a b Jean, Al. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 18:32.
- ^ Jean, Al. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 0:30.
- ^ Moore, Michael (February 23, 2017). "Michael Moore: Why I Gave That Infamous Anti-Bush Oscars Speech (Guest Column)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
- ^ Moore, Michael. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 19:30.
- ^ Moore, Michael. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 21:33.
- ^ Moore, Michael. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 18:12.
- ^ Jean, Al. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 6:34.
- ^ "'The Simpsons' Dismisses Longtime Composer Alf Clausen". Entertainment Weekly. August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
- ^ Jean, Al. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 7:06.
- ^ Jean, Al. (2012). Commentary for "The President Wore Pearls", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox. Event occurs at 5:50.
- ^ "Dozens Of 'Simpsons' Songs Bundled For 'Testify'". Billboard.com. Retrieved July 16, 2007.
- ^ Orvted, John (July 5, 2007). "Springfield's Best". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
- ^ Raisa Bruner (December 10, 2019). "We Asked Experts for 10 of Their Most Memorable Simpsons Episodes of All Time". Time. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
External links
- "The President Wore Pearls" at IMDb