Lisa the Vegetarian
"Lisa the Vegetarian" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.[3] It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 15, 1995.[1] In the episode, Lisa decides to stop eating meat after bonding with a lamb at a petting zoo. Her schoolmates and family members ridicule her for her beliefs, but with the help of Apu as well as Paul and Linda McCartney, she commits to vegetarianism.
"Lisa the Vegetarian"
Season 7
Episode 5
3F03
October 15, 1995
"The boys' room is not a water park"[1]
Robotic paint guns color the Simpson family.[2]
- Matt Groening
- David Mirkin
- David X. Cohen
- Mark Kirkland
Directed by Mark Kirkland,[1] "Lisa the Vegetarian" is the first full-length episode David S. Cohen wrote for The Simpsons.[1] David Mirkin, the showrunner at the time, supported the episode in part because he had just become a vegetarian himself. Former Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife Linda guest star in the episode; their condition for appearing was that Lisa would remain a vegetarian for the rest of the series. The episode makes several references to McCartney's musical career, and his song "Maybe I'm Amazed" plays during the closing credits.
In its original broadcast, "Lisa the Vegetarian" was watched by 14.6 million viewers[4] and finished 47th in the ratings for the week of October 9–15, 1995, with a 9.0 Nielsen rating. It was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week.
The episode received universal acclaim from television critics and it has won two awards, an Environmental Media Award and a Genesis Award, for highlighting environmental and animal issues, respectively.
Plot[edit]
The Simpson family visits a fairy tale-themed amusement park. At the petting zoo, Lisa is enraptured by a cute lamb. That night, Marge serves lamb chops for dinner. Troubled by the connection between the dish and its living counterpart, Lisa announces that she is now a vegetarian. Bart and Homer mock her relentlessly for her newfound vegetarianism. Reaction at school is no better; when Lisa objects to dissecting a worm in class and requests a vegetarian alternative to the cafeteria food, Principal Skinner labels her an "agitator". After her second-grade class is forced to watch a Meat Council propaganda film starring Troy McClure that criticizes vegetarianism, Lisa's classmates tease and shun her.
Jealous of Ned Flanders' barbecue, Homer hosts his own, complete with roast pig. Lisa makes gazpacho as an alternative to meat, but Homer's guests ridicule her. After Homer inadvertently flips a burger into her room that lands on her face, Lisa is enraged. To stop the guests from eating the roast, she uses a riding mower to drive away with the pig in tow. Homer and Bart chase her, but she pushes the pig off a slope. It rolls into a river and is shot into the air by a dam spillway's suction.
At home, Homer is furious at Lisa for ruining his party, Lisa rebukes him for serving a meat-based dish. At breakfast the next day, Lisa runs away after Homer's choice of words causes Lisa to reach her breaking point, calling Homer a "prehistoric carnivore" after she is punished by him. Lisa eventually succumbs to the pressure to eat meat and bites into a hot dog from the roller grill at the Kwik-E-Mart. However, Apu, an avid vegan, reveals that she has eaten a tofu dog, and leads Lisa through a secret passageway to the Kwik-E-Mart roof, where they meet Paul and Linda McCartney. Being vegetarians, the McCartneys explain that they are old friends of Apu from Paul's days in India. Apu then asks her what happened at home that made her run away. After a brief confession, he helps Lisa realize her intolerance towards others' views. Lisa recommits herself to vegetarianism, but she also realizes that she should not force her animal rights views onto others. On her way home, Lisa reunites with Homer, who is frantically searching for her, and apologizes to her, admitting that he and Bart went too far in picking on her for wanting to be a vegetarian. Lisa apologizes, also admitting she has no right to ruin his barbecue. Homer forgives her and offers her a "veggie back" ride home. During the end credits, the roasted pig is seen still flying through the air.
Cultural references[edit]
The episode features several references to the Beatles and McCartney's solo career.[6] For instance, McCartney tells Lisa that playing his 1970 song "Maybe I'm Amazed" backwards will reveal "a recipe for a really rippin' lentil soup".[2][26] A modified version of the song plays in the final scene, then over the closing credits of the episode;[15] when played backwards, McCartney can be heard reciting the recipe in the song. Mirkin had McCartney record the recipe, which was later added in reverse over the original song.[6] McCartney thought it was "very funny" that the staff wanted to "send up the whole cult thing" of backmasking on the Beatles' songs. "A secret lentil soup recipe seemed a nice parody of that", he said.[27] One of the backwards snippets says, "Oh, and by the way, I'm alive",[6] a reference to the "Paul is dead" urban legend.[2][6]
When Lisa, Apu, and the McCartneys gather on the Kwik-E-Mart roof, Apu tells Lisa, "I learned long ago to tolerate others rather than forcing my beliefs on them. You know, you can influence people without badgering them always. It's like Paul's song, 'Live and Let Live'." Paul corrects Apu and says the song's title is actually "Live and Let Die".[1][28] The McCartneys later ask Lisa if she would like to hear a song, and Apu sings part of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band",[5] to which the McCartneys snap along.[29]
Notes[edit]
Mr. Burns and Smithers appear in this film but only have one line in this film. Dr. Hibbert also appears as a one-line role.