The Day the Violence Died
"The Day the Violence Died" is the eighteenth 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 March 17, 1996. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer. Kirk Douglas guest stars as Chester J. Lampwick, Alex Rocco as Roger Meyers Jr., Jack Sheldon as an anthropomorphic constitutional amendment, Suzanne Somers as herself, and Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz. The end of the episode features Lester and Eliza, who resemble Bart and Lisa Simpson as they appeared in The Tracey Ullman Show in the 1980s.
In the episode, Bart meets a homeless man, Chester J. Lampwick, who claims that he is the creator of Itchy from The Itchy & Scratchy Show. Lampwick sues Itchy & Scratchy Studios for stealing his idea. After a Judge awards Lampwick US$800 billion, the studio is forced into bankruptcy and closes. When The Itchy & Scratchy Show is replaced by a parody of Schoolhouse Rock!'s "I'm Just a Bill" segment, Bart and Lisa try to bring back Itchy & Scratchy by studying copyright laws and legal precedents.
The episode finished 47th in ratings for the week of March 11–17, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 9.2. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. It received a generally positive reception from television critics. DVD Movie Guide and the Los Angeles Daily News enjoyed the episode's focus on The Itchy & Scratchy Show.
Cultural references[edit]
Roger Meyers Sr. being cryogenically frozen is a reference to the myth that Walt Disney was frozen.[2] The entire plot, revolving around the legal question of who created the anthropomorphic mouse Itchy, is also a reference to the controversy over whether Mickey Mouse was created by Walt Disney or his animator Ub Iwerks. When Roger Meyers Jr. pleads his case in court, he mentions that several animated television series and characters were plagiarized from other series and characters: "Animation is built on plagiarism! If it weren't for someone plagiarizing The Honeymooners, we wouldn't have The Flintstones. If someone hadn't ripped off Sergeant Bilko, there'd be no Top Cat. Huckleberry Hound, Chief Wiggum, Yogi Bear? Hah! Andy Griffith, Edward G. Robinson, Art Carney."[1] The Manhattan Madness cartoon in "The Day the Violence Died" is based on one of the first animated cartoons Gertie the Dinosaur.[5] The "Amendment To Be" segment is a parody of the educational show Schoolhouse Rock, and more specifically "I'm Just a Bill", and refers to the Flag Desecration Amendment.[2][9] Jack Sheldon, who sang the original song in "I'm Just a Bill", voices the song in the "Amendment to Be" segment.[4]
The cartoon "Itchy and Scratchy Meets Fritz the Cat" is a reference to the animated film Fritz the Cat (1972) that depicts drug use and sexual situations openly. Fritz the Cat was also the first animated movie to be rated X, before the NC-17 rating existed.[4] The first Itchy & Scratchy cartoon entitled "Steamboat Itchy", which originally appeared in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie", is a reference to Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon to be released,[10] and Joseph P. Kennedy, father of former United States President John F. Kennedy, is listed as one of the cartoon's producers.[4] The episode's title alludes to the line "the day the music died" from Don McLean's 1971 song "American Pie".[11]
Reception[edit]
In its original broadcast, "The Day the Violence Died" finished 47th in the ratings for the week of March 11–17, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 9.2.[12] The episode was the highest rated show on the Fox network that week.[13]
"The Day the Violence Died" received generally positive reviews from television critics. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson enjoyed the episode and called it a "hoot", praising Harry Shearer's impression of David Brinkley. "It's hard to top the original Itchy cartoon – where else can you see a cartoon mouse kill both an Irishman and Teddy Roosevelt?", said Jacobson, further complimenting the episode's twist ending: "For once, when Bart and Lisa team up to do the right thing, it backfires badly." He also applauded the casting of Kirk Douglas as a guest star, and ended the review by calling the episode a "winner".[14]
Total Film's Nathan Ditum named Douglas the 18th best guest star on The Simpsons.[15] DVD Movie Guide claimed that any show focused on The Itchy & Scratchy Show is "hard to beat"[14] and the Los Angeles Daily News considered this a "cause for joy".[16] Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict said that the best part of the episode is during The Itchy & Scratchy Show copyright trial, when lawyer Lionel Hutz "stalls for time by calling all of his surprise witnesses again: a ventriloquist and his dummy, Santa Claus with a broken leg, a caricature of John Swartzwelder, Ralph Wiggum, and the fattest twins in The Guinness Book of World Records". Malkowski concluded her review by giving the episode a grade of B−.[17]
The episode was considered a classic by The Rockford Register Star, which enjoyed the "perfect parody of the old 'Schoolhouse Rock' cartoon, 'I'm Just a Bill'".[18] DVD Movie Guide "loved" the first The Itchy & Scratchy Show cartoon, "Itchy & Scratchy Meet Fritz the Cat".[14] In the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Unofficial "Simpsons" Guide by Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, they comment that "The Day the Violence Died" is "a great episode, with some clever observations on ideas and copyright, and a superb – and sinister – twist ending featuring the return of both Bart and Lisa from their days on The Tracey Ullman Show".[2]
Columbia University offered a course that analyzed The Simpsons during the September 2005 school term. In one of the classes, entitled "The Simpsons' Self-Referentiality", students viewed "The Day the Violence Died", and later considered one of the episode's most memorable quotes to be: "Bart: 'Lisa, if I ever stop loving violence, I want you to shoot me.' Lisa: 'Will do.'"[19]
