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| {{Redirect|Proposition 24|the 2010 California business tax proposal|2010 California Proposition 24|the 2020 California consumer privacy proposal|2020 California Proposition 24}} | |||
| {{Distinguish|Much Apu About Something}} | |||
| {{Good article}} | |||
| {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} | |||
| {{Infobox Simpsons episode | {{Infobox Simpsons episode | ||
| | image = | |||
| | episode_name = Much Apu About Nothing | |||
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| caption = | ||
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| season = 7 | ||
| | |
| episode = 23 | ||
| | |
| director = ]<ref name="book"/> | ||
| | writer = ]<ref name="book"/> | |||
| | show runner = ]<br>&<br>] | |||
| | production = 3F20 | |||
| | writer = ] | |||
| | airdate = {{Start date|1996|05|05}}<ref name="book"/> | |||
| | director = ] | |||
| | guests = * ] as ]<ref name="BBC"/> | |||
| | couch_gag = ] is carpet and the other Simpsons' heads are mounted on the wall as a hunter sits on the couch smoking a cigar. | |||
| | couch_gag = ], ], ], and ] are ] moose heads on the wall and ] is a bearskin rug on the floor. A game hunter sits on the couch and smokes a pipe.<ref name="BBC"/> | |||
| | guest_star = ] as ] | |||
| | commentary = ]<br>Bill Oakley<br>Josh Weinstein<br>David S. Cohen<br>Susie Dietter | |||
| | season = 7 | |||
| | prev = ] | |||
| | next = ] | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| "'''Much Apu About Nothing'''" is the twenty-third episode of the ] of the American animated television series '']''. It originally aired on the ] in the United States on May 5, 1996. In the episode, a ] is placed on the ballot that will require all ]s in ] to be ]. After learning that ] will be deported if the measure passes, ] helps him prepare for a ] so that he can become a legal citizen. | |||
| "'''Much Apu About Nothing'''" is the 23rd episode of '']''<nowiki>'</nowiki> ]. The title is a spoof on the ] play '']''. | |||
| The episode was written by ], and directed by ]. ] guest stars in the episode as ]. The title of the episode is a parody of ]'s play '']''. | |||
| ==Synopsis== | |||
| {{spoiler}} | |||
| On an ordinary day, a ] strolls onto Evergreen Terrace. ], scared on seeing the grizzly visitor, slams his car into a tree, and runs home terrified. With ] too panicky to open the door, Ned panics and jumps inside through the window, while the bear calmly watches, without having moved since it saw Ned first. ], in a ] reports about the huge bear-like animal ("most likely a bear"). While his family watches the bear playfully maul their mailbox, ] prefers to watch it on TV, feeling sorry for the ]. He feels there's nothing to fear as long as they have ], but, on opening the fridge, he finds there's no beer and freaks out. He sneaks out through a window and climbs onto the power line attached to the house. The power line snaps and he gets swung around. ] grabs onto his pants, causing Homer to lose them and hit the ground near the bear. | |||
| Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a ] of 8.2, and was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired. | |||
| The bear is subdued by the police, but not before they ] and capture Barney Gumble (though he seems to enjoy it). Homer rants about these "constant bear attacks", even though this is the very first bear Ned has seen in his thirty odd years of living on that street. Homer then leads an angry mob and demands that Mayor Quimby do something about this. The mob make their way to the city hall chanting, "WE'RE HERE, WE'RE QUEER! WE DON'T WANT ANY MORE BEARS"! Soon, the Bear Patrol is created, a useless organization which makes use of helicopters, police cars, even a ]. Homer feels happy to know that the Bear Patrol is doing their job, as there are no bears around. ] calls it "specious reasoning" and tries to explain, with the help of a rock "that keeps tigers away", that since there are no tigers around, the rock must be working. Homer contemplates this and offers to buy Lisa's tiger-repellant rock, to which Lisa agrees knowing better than to try and explain further. | |||
| ==Plot== | |||
| Homer then gets just as shocked when he saw the bear when he discovers that ]es have been raised five dollars to maintain the Bear Patrol. This warrants yet another visit by the angry mob to the Mayor's office. To calm down the ignorant ]s of ], Mayor Quimby pins the blame for the high taxes on illegal immigrants. He then creates ] 24, which will deport all illegal immigrants from Springfield. | |||
| A ] roams the streets of Springfield, frightening the townspeople despite its docile and curious, rather than aggressive, behavior. After Homer ignores official advice to remain indoors in order to buy beer, he comes face-to-face with the bear after failing to get into his car via the power line, whereupon the police tranquilize the bear. Despite bears being a rare sight in Springfield, Homer leads a march of angry citizens to city hall, where they demand ] do something to protect them from bears. After Quimby deploys a bear patrol, which involves the use of high tech vehicles, including ] aircraft, Homer is angry to learn his ]es have increased by $5 to maintain it. Another crowd of angry citizens marches to the mayor's office demanding lower taxes. To appease them, Quimby blames the higher taxes on ]. He creates ] 24, which will force all illegal immigrants in Springfield to be ]. | |||
| Springfield residents start to harass local immigrants, regardless of status. At the ], Apu confides in Homer that he is also an illegal immigrant. Apu fears that if Proposition 24 passes, he will be forced to leave the United States, since his ] originally issued for his computer science studies expired many years before. After blackmailing ] when he attempts to buy beer using a fake ID, Apu visits ] to obtain false ]. At Tony's urging, Apu pretends to be an American citizen, even speaking in a faux American accent, but soon feels guilty about committing fraud and abandoning his ] heritage, and destroys his ]. | |||
| At Springfield Elementary, ] picks on Uter, the German exchange student, for being an illegal immigrant. Even ] refuses to help out poor Uter, much to Lisa's dismay. At home, she tries to talk about the benefits of immigration, and how the Simpson family itself were immigrants, which prompts one of ] stories of how they immigrated to America. But it has no effect on Homer, who still supports Proposition 24. | |||
| After seeing how distraught Apu is at the prospect of being deported, Homer vows that he and his family will help him. Selma refuses to marry Apu for citizenship purposes, chiefly on the grounds of wanting to marry for love or money, and not wanting an (even more so) unwieldy multibarrelled surname. ] discovers that Apu, as a long-term resident in the U.S., will not have to leave if he passes a ]. Homer agrees to tutor Apu, but is unable to teach him accurate facts regarding U.S. history or political science needed to pass the exam. After falling asleep whilst studying and subsequently forgetting everything Homer taught him, Apu passes the test and becomes a US citizen. At a congratulatory party, Homer tells his guests deporting immigrants is awful because they help the country thrive. He inspires them to vote no on Proposition 24, but it still passes with 95% of the vote. When Proposition 24 is enacted, ] is the only resident deported. | |||
| At the ], ] tells Homer that he is an illegal immigrant and if Proposition 24 passes, he will be deported, as his ] expired many years earlier. Homer feels sorry, but he tells Apu that we will miss him. The Kwik-E-Mart's business goes down due to the surge of protesters against illegal immigrants. ] cannot believe that Apu is an illegal immigrant. He narrates of how he graduated from ] (] Technical Institute) and came to Springfield for higher studies, and learned ] from ]. To pay off his student loans, he joined the Kwik-E-Mart and has stayed in Springfield ever since, despite having paid off his loans. | |||
| ==Production== | |||
| Marge tells Apu she will vote "no" on Proposition 24, although it clearly will not be enough to help Apu. After discovering Kearney's fake ], he asks him where he got it. On finding out, Apu goes to ] to get a false ]. On Fat Tony's advice, he starts acting American, putting up American flags in the store, wearing a ] jersey (which he subsequently pronounces as the "nie" Mets) and a ten-gallon hat, and speaking in an "American" accent. However, he realizes he disgraced his parents for turning his back on his ] heritage. | |||
| ] wrote the episode. The final version did not differ greatly from his first draft.]] | |||
| "Much Apu About Nothing" was written by ] and directed by ].<ref name="book">{{cite book |last=Groening |first=Matt |authorlink=Matt Groening |editor1-first=Ray |editor1-last=Richmond |editor1-link=Ray Richmond |editor2-first=Antonia |editor2-last=Coffman |title=] |edition=1st |year=1997 |location=New York |publisher=] |lccn=98141857 |ol=433519M |oclc=37796735 |isbn=978-0-06-095252-5 |page= |ref={{harvid|Richmond & Coffman|1997}} }}.</ref> ] guest stars in the episode as ].<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season7/page23.shtml |title=Much Apu About Nothing |access-date=2008-11-30 |author1=Martyn, Warren |author2=Wood, Adrian |year=2000 |publisher=]}}</ref> Much of the inspiration for the episode came from news reports of bears roaming streets in ] around the time when the episode was in production.<ref name="Oakley">{{cite video |people=Oakley, Bill |date=2005 |title=The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Much Apu About Nothing" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> Cohen said that when a bear swims in somebody's pool or goes in somebody's garbage can, it becomes a popular news item in California.<ref name="Cohen">{{cite video |people=Cohen, David |date=2005 |title=The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Much Apu About Nothing" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The ] of ''The Simpsons'' at the time, ], commented that the news reports often create an anti-bear hysteria, and that is one of the inspirations for the episode.<ref name="Oakley"/> Another inspiration for the episode came from California's ], which proposed the rescinding of employment rights and benefits from illegal immigrants.<ref name="BBC"/> Cohen decided to name the referendum "Proposition 24" because 24 was the number he had on his ] uniform. Cohen commented that the bear and illegal immigration themes were "yanked from the California headlines."<ref name="Cohen"/> | |||
| Apu studying ] is based on Cohen's own academic background, where he met and became friends with Indian people in the department. Similarly, the scene where Apu does an in-depth explanation of what caused the ], only for the test taker to respond with "just say slavery", is something that actually happened to a friend of Cohen when she took her citizenship test.<ref name="Cohen"/> Apu attends the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology, with the acronym SHIT; ] and Cohen were happy that the joke was not censored.<ref name=avc>{{cite news |last1=Chappell |first1=Les |title=The Simpsons (Classic): "Much Apu About Nothing" |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-simpsons-classic-much-apu-about-nothing-1798181143 |access-date=November 18, 2023 |work=The A.V. Club |date=July 13, 2014}}</ref> | |||
| Homer vows that the Simpsons will help him, though three of them are below voting age and he is not a registered voter. Bart advises Apu to marry some American woman and dump her after getting the citizenship. Homer tries to get Apu married to Selma, but she refuses, citing an already long list of surnames she has acquired due to having already married too many men, only to divorce them later. | |||
| Cohen said that the episode changed very little from the first draft to the final aired edition. Oakley commented that while some writers' scripts get rewritten many times, Cohen's scripts are not often re-written because they are of high quality. Oakley added that Cohen has a very distinctive comedy style and some jokes in the episode "just really sound like Cohen".<ref name="Oakley"/> | |||
| Lisa, having read the citizenship laws front to back, discovers that Apu will not get deported if he can pass a ]. Homer agrees to be his tutor to help prepare him before the vote on Proposition 24, much to Apu's delight, though his family is less optimistic. Apu demonstrates excellent knowledge of the United States, but Homer is a terrible tutor and replaces Apu's knowledge with false information and leaves Apu to look over his notes from ninth-grade history. However, he falls asleep. When he wakes he panics, declaring he has forgotten everything Homer had taught him, which Lisa says is excellent news and takes him to the exam. Apu then goes to take the written and oral test. He passes it and becomes an American citizen, i.e., an Indian-American. At a congratulatory party, Homer tells his guests how terrible it would be if immigrants were deported. He inspires them to vote "no" on Proposition 24, but it still passes...with 95%. | |||
| Something Oakley and his partner ] wanted to do while they were show runners of ''The Simpsons'' was to explore side-characters, such as Apu, "a little deeper". Apu's origin is revealed in this episode, and Oakley is proud of being the one who suggested that. Another character that was explored deeper in their period as show runners was ] in the episode "]".<ref name="Oakley"/> | |||
| Apu is happy to get a letter to report for jury duty, as it affirms his citizenship, and he does what any typical American citizen would do - toss it into the trash can. The Simpsons are happy that everything worked out for the people they care about... However ] is deported. | |||
| ==Trivia== | |||
| *The DVD commentary for this episode reveals that the original title was going to be "The Anti-Immigrant Song" in reference to the ] song, ]. | |||
| *After graduating from "Caltech", Apu enrolls in the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology, which has a taboo acronym ("SHIT"). | |||
| *At one point, as Homer and Apu are studying, Bart appears over the map of the USA and asks, "Watcha doing, studying?" They then proceed to tell Bart that they are looking for Springfield on the map. Barts goes, "Hey, we live right there!" and points to the map, but his head is blocking the map so we cannot see where he is pointing. This scene is not shown in syndication. | |||
| *There is a scene where young Apu says goodbye to his family, including his future ] bride, Manjula. This is a ], as Apu meets Manjula again for the marriage in ] in Season 9. This scene is not shown in syndication. | |||
| *In The Simpsons: Hit And 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. | |||
| *The Bear Patrol plane is a ] Stealth Bomber. | |||
| * ] (California Institute of Technology) is actually an American college, famous in part for playing pranks on other colleges. | |||
| *Homer's paycheck, where he complains about the $5 bear tax, also shows a gross pay of $479.60, net pay of $362.19 for 40 hours work, $56.25 for fed withholdings, $36.34 FICA, $10.45 state, and $9.37 municipal tax. | |||
| ==Cultural references== | ==Cultural references== | ||
| The episode's title is based on ]'s play '']''. The original title for the episode was going to be "The Anti-Immigrant Song", in reference to ]'s song "]".<ref name="Cohen"/> A sign held by a protester outside the Kwik-E-Mart says "The only good foreigner is ]!", a reference to the British singer.<ref name="book"/> ], an American director who has worked as executive consultant and director on ''The Simpsons'', can briefly be seen in the crowd that complains to Mayor Quimby.<ref name="Oakley"/> | |||
| *The episode title is a play on ]'s ] '']''. | |||
| *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 ] cartoons. | |||
| *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 ]'s ]. | |||
| == |
==Reception== | ||
| In its original broadcast, "Much Apu About Nothing" finished 49th in the ratings for the week of April 29 to May 5, 1996, with a ] of 8.2.<ref name=ratings>{{cite news |title=Nielsen Ratings |date=May 9, 1996 |page=4 |work=]}} Retrieved on January 2, 2009.</ref> The episode was the fourth-highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following '']'', '']'', and '']''.<ref name=ratings/> | |||
| * When Ned Flanders crashes into a tree, the car's airbag deploys. But Ned says in a later episode that "the church opposes them for some reason" (though this may not be a goof as Ned could have found this out and promptly removed them). | |||
| Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented positively on the episode, and said that "if any show's taken a more unusual path to a story about ], I've not seen it." He praised the bear scenes, which he thought was the episode's most "amusing" part. The review continued, "The parts with the immigrants are also good, especially since they make their point deftly. Add to that the hilarious sound of 'American Apu' and this is a strong program."<ref name=dvdmovieguide>{{cite web |access-date=2008-12-01 |url=http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasonseven.shtml |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season (1995) |publisher=DVD Movie Guide |date=2006-01-05 |author=Jacobson, Colin }}</ref> Jennifer Malkowski gave the episode a grade of B+.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2008-12-01 |url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsonsseason7.php |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season |publisher=DVD Verdict |date=2006-01-16 |author=Malkowski, Judge |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204055914/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsonsseason7.php |archive-date=2008-12-04 }}</ref> The episode received a negative review from Dave Foster of DVD Times. He considered "Much Apu About Nothing" to be one of the season's most "tiring" episodes, and that Apu is not a strong enough character to carry an episode. Foster commented that the episode deals with a political issue which is too complex to cover in twenty minutes, leading to a rushed ending.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2008-12-01 |url=http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60554 |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season |publisher=DVD Times |date=2006-02-25 |author=Foster, Dave }}</ref> | |||
| *The episode incorrectly addresses the procedure for gaining citizenship in the United States. If Apu is out of status and illegal, he would not be eligible for citizenship until he had first gained lawful permanent resident (green card) status. Thus, Apu would have to first gain a green card and live as a lawful permanent resident for five years before applying for citizenship. With green card status, Apu would not be considered an illegal immigrant, and thus would not have to worry about deporation, but the episodes skips this notion and jumps straight from illegal status to citizen status. | |||
| ] of ] and Les Chappell of '']'' praised the scene in which Apu, an undocumented migrant, is shown to have a vastly superior knowledge of American history than Homer, who was born in the country.<ref name=avc/><ref name=spiked>{{cite news |last1=Gill |first1=James |title=In defence of Apu |url=https://www.spiked-online.com/2018/01/08/in-defence-of-apu/ |access-date=November 18, 2023 |work=Spiked |date=January 8, 2018}}</ref> Gill said that this scene is evidence against ]'s assertion that ''Simpsons'' writers do not use Apu to mock ignorance by white Americans;<ref name=spiked/> Sam Thielman of '']'' called the episode the best argument against accusations that Apu is a racist stereotype.<ref name=thielman>{{cite news |title=The Simpsons Thanksgiving marathon: the 25 best episodes to gorge on |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/nov/24/the-simpsons-25-best-episodes-guide-thanksgiving |access-date=November 18, 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=November 24, 2016}}</ref> Chappell and Yianni Agisilaou of ] commented that the episode is a good example of how Springfield's citizens are easily whipped up into a crowd mentality, as previously portrayed in episodes such as "]" and "]".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Agisilaou |first1=Yianni |title=4 things The Simpsons taught me about life |url=https://metro.co.uk/2017/10/05/4-things-the-simpsons-taught-me-about-life-6978611/ |access-date=November 18, 2023 |work=Metro |date=October 5, 2017}}</ref> | |||
| *Homer stole a 47-star US flag from the library - however this flag never existed, as ] at the same time on ], ], so no 47-star flags were made in the brief period after ] became a state but before ] did. | |||
| The authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "One of the most outspoken, and certainly angriest of episodes succeeds as a savage satire on the scapegoating of immigrants. Homer has never been so frighteningly dumb, although he does come through with a rousing liberal speech."<ref name="BBC"/> In 2000, ''The Simpsons'' creator ] named this his third favorite episode of the show.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ew.com/article/2000/01/14/springfield-dreams/ |title=Springfield of Dreams |last=Snierson |first=Dan |publisher=] |date=2000-01-14 |access-date=2020-05-05}}</ref> Thielman listed the episode at number 3 in a 2016 list of the best episodes.<ref name=thielman/> The episode has become study material for sociology courses at ], where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sociology.berkeley.edu/documents/undergrads/syllabi/Soc190_1.pdf |publisher=University of California Berkeley |title=The Simpsons Global Mirror |year=2008 |author=Thomas B. Gold |access-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090407081710/http://sociology.berkeley.edu/documents/undergrads/syllabi/Soc190_1.pdf |archive-date=2009-04-07}}</ref> | |||
| ==Quotes== | |||
| *'''Homer''': '''(after Prop 24 passes)''' When will people learn? ] ''doesn't'' work! | |||
| *'''Homer''': '''(chanting)''' "Down with taxes! Down with taxes!" <br/> '''Helen:''' "Will someone please think of the children?" | |||
| *'''Homer''': '''(pointing to the ])''' Please identify this object. <br/> '''Apu:''' It appears to be the flag that disappeared from the public library last year. <br/> '''Homer:''' Correct. Now, we all know the thirteen strips are for good luck, but why does the American flag have precisely forty-seven stars? <br/> '''Apu:''' Because this particular flag is ridiculously out of date! The library must have purchased it during the brief period in 1912 after ] became a state but before ] did! <br/> '''Homer:''' Uh, partial credit. | |||
| *'''Moe:''' And these ones ]. They swiped my pic-in-ic basket! <br/> '''Helen Lovejoy:''' Think of the children! <br/> '''Mayor Quimby:''' Very well. I promise swift and decisive action against these hibernating hucksters! ''(Everyone leaves, reassured, while Quimby helps himself to the pic-in-ic basket)'' | |||
| *'''Homer:''' Oh my god, I got so swept up in the scapegoating and fun of Proposition 24 I never stopped to think it might affect somebody I might care about. ''(Pause)'' You know what Apu? I am really, really going to miss you. ''(Nails up an ] sign that says "I Want You Out!" and walks away whistling)'' | |||
| *'''Apu:''' Executive, Legislative and...Judicial. <br/> '''Homer:''' No, no, and no! I guess we have to start all over with the electrical college. | |||
| *'''Homer:''' Let the bears pay the bear tax. I pay the Homer tax. <br/> '''Lisa:''' That's the home''owner'' tax. <br/> '''Homer:''' Well anyway, I'm still outraged! | |||
| *'''Homer:''' Ah, not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm!<br/>'''Lisa:''' That's specious reasoning, Dad.<br/>'''Homer:''' Thank you, honey.<br/>'''Lisa:''' By your logic, I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away!<br/>'''Homer:''' Uh-huh, and how does it work?<br/>'''Lisa:''' It doesn't work. <br/> '''Homer:''' Uh-huh. <br/> '''Lisa:''' It's just a stupid rock.<br/>'''Homer:''' Uh-huh.<br/>'''Lisa:''' But I don't see any tigers around here, do you?<br/>'''Homer:''' ''(Looks around)'' Lisa, I'd like to buy your rock. | |||
| *'''Proctor:''' All right, here's your last question. What was the cause of the Civil War?<br>'''Apu:''' Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists, there were economic factors, both domestic and inter--<br>'''Proctor:''' Wait, wait... just say slavery.<br>'''Apu:''' Slavery it is, sir. | |||
| *'''Chief Wiggum''': '''(arresting the bear, and Barney the drunk)''' Book 'em Lou. One count of being a bear. And one count of being an accessory to being a bear. | |||
| *'''Moe Szyslak''': '''(immediately accepting Mayor Quimby's scapegoating of the Immigrants)''' Immigants! I knew it was them! Even when it was the bears, I knew it was them. | |||
| *'''Maude''': Oh, Marge... it was horrible! We were trapped in the house all afternoon... and, well... we had to drink <i>toilet</i> water! <br />'''Marge''': Well, things were bad everywhere. | |||
| *'''Homer''': I'm sick of these constant bear attacks. It's like a freakin' country bear jambaroo around here! | |||
| In the episode, after the creation of the Bear Patrol, bear sightings decrease to zero, so Homer concludes that the Bear Patrol must be working. Lisa attempts to demonstrate Homer's ] by the example of a tiger-repellent rock, but it goes over his head. Scott Anthony of the '']'' describes this scene as a "classic example" of the ] of assuming that ].<ref name="HBR">{{cite news |url=http://blogs.hbr.org/anthony/2008/08/innovation_lessons_from_lisas.html |first=Scott |last=Anthony |title=Innovation lessons from Lisa's rock |work=] Blog Network |date=2008-08-12 |access-date=2012-08-12}}</ref> ] also called it "the best all-time discussion of faulty reasoning".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://economics.about.com/b/2009/04/03/tiger-repelling-rocks-and-stimulus-packages.htm |first=Mike |last=Moffatt |title=Tiger Repelling Rocks and Stimulus Packages |work=] |date=2009-04-03 |access-date=2012-08-12 |archive-date=2012-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120816030102/http://economics.about.com/b/2009/04/03/tiger-repelling-rocks-and-stimulus-packages.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{wikiquote}} | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{Reflist|2}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_7#Much_Apu_About_Nothing|"Much Apu About Nothing"}} | |||
| {{Portal|The Simpsons}} | |||
| *{{snpp capsule|3F20}} | *{{snpp capsule|3F20}} | ||
| *{{IMDb episode|0774432}} | |||
| * -- a detailed analysis and discussion of this episode. | |||
| ] | |||
| {{The Simpsons episodes|7}} | |||
| ] | |||
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Latest revision as of 15:15, 16 December 2024
"Proposition 24" redirects here. For the 2010 California business tax proposal, see 2010 California Proposition 24. For the 2020 California consumer privacy proposal, see 2020 California Proposition 24. Not to be confused with Much Apu About Something.23rd episode of the 7th season of The Simpsons
| "Much Apu About Nothing" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 23 | ||
| Directed by | Susie Dietter | ||
| Written by | David S. Cohen | ||
| Production code | 3F20 | ||
| Original air date | May 5, 1996 (1996-05-05) | ||
| Guest appearance | |||
| Episode features | |||
| Couch gag | Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are mounted moose heads on the wall and Homer is a bearskin rug on the floor. A game hunter sits on the couch and smokes a pipe. | ||
| Commentary | Matt Groening Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein David S. Cohen Susie Dietter | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| The Simpsons season 7 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Much Apu About Nothing" is the twenty-third episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 5, 1996. In the episode, a referendum is placed on the ballot that will require all illegal immigrants in Springfield to be deported. After learning that Apu will be deported if the measure passes, Homer helps him prepare for a United States citizenship test so that he can become a legal citizen.
The episode was written by David S. Cohen, and directed by Susie Dietter. Joe Mantegna guest stars in the episode as Fat Tony. The title of the episode is a parody of William Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 8.2, and was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
A brown bear roams the streets of Springfield, frightening the townspeople despite its docile and curious, rather than aggressive, behavior. After Homer ignores official advice to remain indoors in order to buy beer, he comes face-to-face with the bear after failing to get into his car via the power line, whereupon the police tranquilize the bear. Despite bears being a rare sight in Springfield, Homer leads a march of angry citizens to city hall, where they demand Mayor Quimby do something to protect them from bears. After Quimby deploys a bear patrol, which involves the use of high tech vehicles, including B2 Spirit aircraft, Homer is angry to learn his taxes have increased by $5 to maintain it. Another crowd of angry citizens marches to the mayor's office demanding lower taxes. To appease them, Quimby blames the higher taxes on illegal immigrants. He creates Proposition 24, which will force all illegal immigrants in Springfield to be deported.
Springfield residents start to harass local immigrants, regardless of status. At the Kwik-E-Mart, Apu confides in Homer that he is also an illegal immigrant. Apu fears that if Proposition 24 passes, he will be forced to leave the United States, since his visa originally issued for his computer science studies expired many years before. After blackmailing Kearney when he attempts to buy beer using a fake ID, Apu visits Fat Tony to obtain false citizenship. At Tony's urging, Apu pretends to be an American citizen, even speaking in a faux American accent, but soon feels guilty about committing fraud and abandoning his Indian heritage, and destroys his fake passport.
After seeing how distraught Apu is at the prospect of being deported, Homer vows that he and his family will help him. Selma refuses to marry Apu for citizenship purposes, chiefly on the grounds of wanting to marry for love or money, and not wanting an (even more so) unwieldy multibarrelled surname. Lisa discovers that Apu, as a long-term resident in the U.S., will not have to leave if he passes a citizenship test. Homer agrees to tutor Apu, but is unable to teach him accurate facts regarding U.S. history or political science needed to pass the exam. After falling asleep whilst studying and subsequently forgetting everything Homer taught him, Apu passes the test and becomes a US citizen. At a congratulatory party, Homer tells his guests deporting immigrants is awful because they help the country thrive. He inspires them to vote no on Proposition 24, but it still passes with 95% of the vote. When Proposition 24 is enacted, Groundskeeper Willie is the only resident deported.
Production
"Much Apu About Nothing" was written by David S. Cohen and directed by Susie Dietter. Joe Mantegna guest stars in the episode as Fat Tony. Much of the inspiration for the episode came from news reports of bears roaming streets in Southern California around the time when the episode was in production. Cohen said that when a bear swims in somebody's pool or goes in somebody's garbage can, it becomes a popular news item in California. The show runner of The Simpsons at the time, Bill Oakley, commented that the news reports often create an anti-bear hysteria, and that is one of the inspirations for the episode. Another inspiration for the episode came from California's Proposition 187, which proposed the rescinding of employment rights and benefits from illegal immigrants. Cohen decided to name the referendum "Proposition 24" because 24 was the number he had on his Little League Baseball uniform. Cohen commented that the bear and illegal immigration themes were "yanked from the California headlines."
Apu studying computer science is based on Cohen's own academic background, where he met and became friends with Indian people in the department. Similarly, the scene where Apu does an in-depth explanation of what caused the American Civil War, only for the test taker to respond with "just say slavery", is something that actually happened to a friend of Cohen when she took her citizenship test. Apu attends the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology, with the acronym SHIT; Matt Groening and Cohen were happy that the joke was not censored.
Cohen said that the episode changed very little from the first draft to the final aired edition. Oakley commented that while some writers' scripts get rewritten many times, Cohen's scripts are not often re-written because they are of high quality. Oakley added that Cohen has a very distinctive comedy style and some jokes in the episode "just really sound like Cohen".
Something Oakley and his partner Josh Weinstein wanted to do while they were show runners of The Simpsons was to explore side-characters, such as Apu, "a little deeper". Apu's origin is revealed in this episode, and Oakley is proud of being the one who suggested that. Another character that was explored deeper in their period as show runners was Ned Flanders in the episode "Hurricane Neddy".
Cultural references
The episode's title is based on William Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing. The original title for the episode was going to be "The Anti-Immigrant Song", in reference to Led Zeppelin's song "Immigrant Song". A sign held by a protester outside the Kwik-E-Mart says "The only good foreigner is Rod Stewart!", a reference to the British singer. Brad Bird, an American director who has worked as executive consultant and director on The Simpsons, can briefly be seen in the crowd that complains to Mayor Quimby.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Much Apu About Nothing" finished 49th in the ratings for the week of April 29 to May 5, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 8.2. The episode was the fourth-highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Melrose Place.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented positively on the episode, and said that "if any show's taken a more unusual path to a story about xenophobia, I've not seen it." He praised the bear scenes, which he thought was the episode's most "amusing" part. The review continued, "The parts with the immigrants are also good, especially since they make their point deftly. Add to that the hilarious sound of 'American Apu' and this is a strong program." Jennifer Malkowski gave the episode a grade of B+. The episode received a negative review from Dave Foster of DVD Times. He considered "Much Apu About Nothing" to be one of the season's most "tiring" episodes, and that Apu is not a strong enough character to carry an episode. Foster commented that the episode deals with a political issue which is too complex to cover in twenty minutes, leading to a rushed ending.
James Gill of Spiked and Les Chappell of The A.V. Club praised the scene in which Apu, an undocumented migrant, is shown to have a vastly superior knowledge of American history than Homer, who was born in the country. Gill said that this scene is evidence against Hari Kondabolu's assertion that Simpsons writers do not use Apu to mock ignorance by white Americans; Sam Thielman of The Guardian called the episode the best argument against accusations that Apu is a racist stereotype. Chappell and Yianni Agisilaou of Metro commented that the episode is a good example of how Springfield's citizens are easily whipped up into a crowd mentality, as previously portrayed in episodes such as "Marge vs. the Monorail" and "Marge in Chains".
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "One of the most outspoken, and certainly angriest of episodes succeeds as a savage satire on the scapegoating of immigrants. Homer has never been so frighteningly dumb, although he does come through with a rousing liberal speech." In 2000, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening named this his third favorite episode of the show. Thielman listed the episode at number 3 in a 2016 list of the best episodes. The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show".
In the episode, after the creation of the Bear Patrol, bear sightings decrease to zero, so Homer concludes that the Bear Patrol must be working. Lisa attempts to demonstrate Homer's logical fallacy by the example of a tiger-repellent rock, but it goes over his head. Scott Anthony of the Harvard Business Review describes this scene as a "classic example" of the informal fallacy of assuming that correlation implies causation. Mike Moffatt also called it "the best all-time discussion of faulty reasoning".
References
- ^ Groening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia (eds.). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN 98141857. OCLC 37796735. OL 433519M..
- ^ Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Much Apu About Nothing". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved November 30, 2008.
- ^ Oakley, Bill (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Much Apu About Nothing" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Cohen, David (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Much Apu About Nothing" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Chappell, Les (July 13, 2014). "The Simpsons (Classic): "Much Apu About Nothing"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
- ^ "Nielsen Ratings". The Tampa Tribune. May 9, 1996. p. 4. Retrieved on January 2, 2009.
- Jacobson, Colin (January 5, 2006). "The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season (1995)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- Malkowski, Judge (January 16, 2006). "The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- Foster, Dave (February 25, 2006). "The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season". DVD Times. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ Gill, James (January 8, 2018). "In defence of Apu". Spiked. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
- ^ "The Simpsons Thanksgiving marathon: the 25 best episodes to gorge on". The Guardian. November 24, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
- Agisilaou, Yianni (October 5, 2017). "4 things The Simpsons taught me about life". Metro. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
- Snierson, Dan (January 14, 2000). "Springfield of Dreams". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- Thomas B. Gold (2008). "The Simpsons Global Mirror" (PDF). University of California Berkeley. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 7, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
- Anthony, Scott (August 12, 2008). "Innovation lessons from Lisa's rock". Harvard Business Review Blog Network. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
- Moffatt, Mike (April 3, 2009). "Tiger Repelling Rocks and Stimulus Packages". About.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
