Lisa as a vegetarian
| Episode of the series The Simpsons | |
|---|---|
| title | Lisa as a vegetarian |
| Original title | Lisa the Vegetarian |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| length | approx. 22 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| classification | Season 7, episode 5 133rd episode overall ( list ) |
| First broadcast | October 15, 1995 on FOX |
| German-language first broadcast |
November 8, 1996 on ProSieben |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mark Kirkland |
| script | David X. Cohen |
| music | Alf Clausen |
| Guest appearance (s) | |
| |
Lisa als Vegetarianin ( English original title: Lisa the Vegetarian ) is the fifth episode of the seventh season of the American cartoon series The Simpsons . It was first broadcast on October 15, 1995 on Fox , and the German-language first broadcast on ProSieben on November 8, 1996 . In the episode resolves Lisa Simpson , a vegetarian to be. After making friends with a lamb in a petting zoo, the idea of eating meat makes her feel guilty about animals. When she then vehemently takes the view that the consumption of animals is ethically wrong, she is ridiculed by her classmates and family members. After an argument with her father, she runs away angry. An encounter with the vegan Hindu Apu , who introduces her to Paul and Linda McCartney , helps her to reconcile with her father.
Paul McCartney and his then-wife Linda McCartney allowed the producers to use them as cartoon characters in this episode, and also spoke the characters themselves in the original English version.
As a vegetarian , Lisa won an Environmental Media Award in the category Best Television Episodic Comedy and a Genesis Award in the category Best Television Comedy Series, Ongoing Commitment in 1996 .
action
At the beginning of the episode, the Simpson family visits a petting zoo; Daughter Lisa is delighted with a cute lamb there. When mother Marge served lamb chops for dinner that evening, Lisa had to think of the lamb from the petting zoo and felt remorse and shame, which turned into an inner psychological crisis . Finally, she rejects the chops and announces to her family that she will not eat meat in the future.
For her new attitude, she is relentlessly ridiculed by her father Homer and her brother Bart . When Lisa demands a vegetarian alternative to normal canteen meals at school, Rector Skinner declares her an " agitator " and shortly afterwards, students are shown a propaganda film about the meat industry in which vegetarianism is criticized. Lisa is unimpressed by the film; her classmates, who have adopted the film's arguments and allegations, begin to tease her about it.
Homer and Bart continue to make life difficult for Lisa at home, especially since Homer is planning a barbecue . Lisa tries to get Homer to do it without meat, but he and Bart respond with a polonaise to which they sing "You can't make friends with a salad". On the day of the barbecue, Lisa prepares a gazpacho for all guests as an alternative to meat , but is laughed at for it. Angry and deeply injured, she gets on a riding lawn mower and drives off with Homer's grill and suckling pig. Homer and Bart chase Lisa, but she pushes the pig up a slope and lets it roll down from there. It is true that father and son continue to pursue the pig for a while; but they cannot prevent it from getting caught in the drainpipe of a dam and being thrown away by the accumulating water pressure.
At home, Homer scolds Lisa: she ruined his party; but she furiously rebukes him for serving meat. The two argue until Lisa leaves the house and declares that she is "right". As she walks through town, she notices the mass of meat on billboards and in shops. In a renewed crisis, she feels compelled to give in to the usual societal attitude towards meat consumption. Desperate, she goes to the Kwik-E-Mart and bites into a hot dog as a sign of surrender . However, managing director Apu reveals to her that his hot dogs are made from tofu , as he is a vegetarian himself. He shows Lisa the store's secret roof garden, where they meet Paul and Linda McCartney , who are also vegetarians. When Lisa notices that Apu - unlike her - does not consume dairy products and is vegan, but still respects her, Lisa realizes that she too should tolerate other people's views. Inspired by this, Lisa wants to return home and meets her father, who is looking for her. She apologizes to him and admits that she did not have the right to ruin his barbecue. Homer forgives her and carries her home on his back in a gallop, which he describes as a "vegetable gallop" as a sign of his acceptance.
Cultural references
The episode contains several allusions to the band The Beatles and Paul McCartney's solo career. For example, McCartney tells Lisa that his song “Maybe I'm Amazed” contains a recipe for lentil soup that can be found in the form of a backward message. In fact, in the final scene and in the credits of the episode, you can hear a version of the song, which was backed up with a backwards-played recording of McCartney's reciting such a recipe, which David Mirkin had written down for him. The backward message also contains the line “Oh, and by the way, I'm alive.” (In German: “Oh, and by the way, I'm alive”), an allusion to the conspiracy theory “ Paul is dead ”.
When Lisa and Apu meet the McCartneys on the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart, Apu describes himself as the " Fifth Beatle ", an allusion to the fact that other alleged members of the band The Beatles were referred to in the media several times . When Homer's suckling pig is thrown away, it flies over the Springfields power station , a nod to the cover of the band Pink Floyd's Animals album , which features an inflated pig hovering over the Battersea Power Station, a coal-fired power station .
production
script
Lisa as a vegetarian was the first The Simpsons episode to be written entirely by David X. Cohen . His most significant contribution to the series until then was the script Cafeteria des Grauens , a segment of the Treehouse of Horror episode Fear and Horror without End from the sixth season. The idea of Lisa as a vegetarian came to him while he was working on the script for another episode. Cohen could not concentrate on his task as he was waiting for lunch and wrote on the back of the script "Lisa becomes a vegetarian?" (In German: "Lisa becomes a vegetarian?"). Cohen showed the note to writer Brent Forrester , who liked the idea. When Cohen suggested it to then show runner David Mirkin, he agreed to the production. Mirkin recently started adopting a vegetarian diet, and later noted that many of Lisa's experiences in the episode were based on his own.
Screenwriter Bill Oakley suggested the barbecue scenes. Cohen's first draft of the script contained a more philosophical argument between Homer and Lisa over meat consumption, but Oakley argued that, for narrative reasons, a more specific cause for the argument between Homer and Lisa was needed. George Meyer, an author known for his situation comedy among the staff of The Simpsons , came up with the idea of the suckling pig caught in the drain.
Direction and animation
The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland , who was interested in the story, also because he thought that the topic of vegetarianism had hardly been dealt with in television series until then. The design of Paul and Linda McCartney's characters was unusual for The Simpsons in that their eyes are depicted with brown (Paul) and blue (Linda) irises , while most of the other characters in the series only have a black dot in the center of their eyes .
In one scene of the episode, Homer sprays two bottles of liquid lighter on his grill, whereupon the viewer could expect an explosion after igniting. However, when he ignites the grill with a match, this fails. A similar scene occurs in an older episode of The Simpsons in Horror Free Home (Season 2), but in which Homer uses a single bottle of liquid lighter, causing an explosion. Mirkin liked this gag so much that he reused parts of it in Lisa as a vegetarian and tried to increase the comedic effect with the new twist. The old sketches from Horror Free Home were used to help the animators animate the scene.
synchronization
After Ringo Starr and George Harrison , the two other surviving members of the Beatles ( John Lennon died before the series was created), Paul McCartney also appeared in The Simpsons with this episode . Starr had guest roles in the episode Marges Masterpiece (season 2), Harrison in Homer and the Singing Brothers (season 5). The show also wanted McCartney to appear on the show; David Mirkin believed Lisa would be an attractive story as a vegetarian since McCartney is a vegetarian himself. McCartney agreed to appear but insisted that Lisa remain a vegetarian for the rest of the series. The staff of the series promised him what to this day is one of the few permanent character developments in the history of the show. McCartney's wife Linda also appears in the episode. She told Entertainment Weekly that the episode was a chance for her and her husband to bring the "vegetarian message" to a wider audience. Both McCartneys were longtime fans of The Simpsons . In the German language version, Paul McCartney was dubbed by Ivar Combrinck and Linda McCartney by Ute Bronder .
Mirkin flew to London to record the McCartney's voices and met the couple at Paul McCartney's recording studio, where the McCartneys spent an hour recording their voices. Groening compared the appearances of the Beatles, who were still alive at the time, with a “dream come true for all of us”.
Due to her appearance in Lisa as a vegetarian , Linda McCartney was devoted to the episode Rolling in the Dirt (Season 9), which first aired on April 26, 1998, on the occasion of her death . Commented then, show runner Mike Scully : “It just seemed appropriate. Everyone here was surprised and saddened by her death. "
| figure | Original speaker | German dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Homer Simpson | Dan Castellaneta | Norbert Gastell |
| Marge Simpson | Julie Kavner | Elisabeth Volkmann |
| Bart Simpson | Nancy Cartwright | Sandra Schwittau |
| Lisa Simpson | Yeardley Smith | Sabine Bohlmann |
| Abraham Simpson | Dan Castellaneta | Walter Reichelt |
| Ned Flanders | Harry Shearer | Ulrich Frank |
| Todd Flanders | Nancy Cartwright | Jennifer Wippich |
| Rod Flanders | Pamela Hayden | Beate Pfeiffer |
| Elizabeth Hoover | Maggie Roswell | Manuela Renard |
| Ralph Wiggum | Nancy Cartwright | Beate Pfeiffer |
| Doris Peterson | Doris Gray | Inge Solbrig |
| Seymour Skinner | Harry Shearer | Fred Klaus |
| William "Willie" MacMoran | Dan Castellaneta | Werner Abrolat |
| Troy McClure | Phil Hartman | Thomas Rauscher |
| Barney Gumble | Dan Castellaneta | Gernot Duda |
| Clancy Wiggum | Hank Azaria | Thomas Rau |
| Charles Montgomery Burns | Harry Shearer | Reinhard Brock |
| Waylon Smithers | Harry Shearer | Hans-Georg Panczak |
| Apu Nahasapeemapetilon | Hank Azaria | Tobias Lelle |
Publication and reception
First broadcast and publications
The episode Lisa as a vegetarian first aired on October 15, 1995 on Fox . It was first broadcast in the Nielsen Ratings for the week from October 9th to 15th, 1995 with a rating of 9.0 on the 47th place of all US television programs, which corresponds to approximately 8.63 million television households. It had the fourth highest rating of any show on Fox that week after The X-Files , Fox NFL Sunday and Melrose Place . The episode was first broadcast in German on November 8, 1996 on ProSieben .
Lisa as a vegetarian was published in 2000 on the VHS Hunter of the Lost Fridge and in 2005 on the DVD of the same name along with the episodes Homer as a restaurant critic (season 11), The disabled Homer (season 7) and Kraftwerk for sale (season 3). It is also available in the seventh season DVD box set, which was released in the United States in 2005 and in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2006. David X. Cohen, Mark Kirkland, Matt Groening and David Mirkin participated in the audio commentary for the episode on the Season DVD.
Awards
The episode won an Environmental Media Award in 1996 in the Best Television Episodic Comedy category , which has been honoring the best television episodes or films with an ecological message every year since 1991. In the same year it also won a Genesis Award in the category Best Television Comedy Series, Ongoing Commitment (“Best TV comedy series, ongoing commitment”). The Genesis Award is given annually by the Humane Society of the United States to films or series that include animal welfare as a topic.
Reviews
"A very simple, very memorable episode with superb guest cameos from the McCartneys."
"A very simple, very memorable episode with excellent guest appearances from the McCartneys."
Lisa as a vegetarian received mostly positive reviews from critics. John Serba of the Grand Rapids Press called it his favorite episode "because the story of Lisa's transition to vegetarianism has more humorous scenes per square inch than any other episode." Ventura County Reporter's Editor Matthew Singer said she was "overflowing with great individual scenes," especially the meat propaganda film starring Troy McClure , which was "perhaps the funniest single segment in the history of the show." Patrick Enright of the news broadcaster MSNBC , who listed the episode as the second best in the series, described the sentence sung by the family, “You can't make friends with salad,” as “one of those archetypal Simpsons moments where the writers hit a joke for so long that it goes from funny to uncomfortable and back to funny ”.
Critics also praised the episode for developing Lisa's character. IGN's Todd Gilchrist wrote that "the key to the show's longevity" is its "soulful, but not perky, approach to storytelling and character development." He took Lisa the Vegetarian example and said, "Lisa sabotages Homer's Barbecue, resulting in a not so solemn death for his prize pig. But instead of just interrupting the episode with an iconic image of the piglet flying through the air, the authors develop a story into which the gag fits exactly. The comedy is consequently intensified by the fact that we empathize with the characters, follow the story with excitement and are thus prepared for a great gag [...] ”. Phil Dzikiy of the Niagara Gazette wrote that Lisa's character development and storytelling were "perfect" and noted that the episode was "equally funny, touching and satirical".
The McCartneys involvement received mostly positive reviews. The IGN website rated Paul McCartney's appearance on the episode, along with Ringo Starrs in Marges Masterpiece and George Harrisons in Homer and the Singing Brothers, as the tenth best guest roles in The Simpsons history . It was written: "Although none of these appearances were really long, the fact that the most popular band of all time appeared in The Simpsons is a clear testimony to the popularity and importance of the show."
Web links
- Lisa the Vegetarian in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Lisa the Vegetarian on TheSimpsons.com
- Lisa's entry as a vegetarian on Simpsonspedia.net
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of release for Lisa as a vegetarian . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ↑ a b c "The Simpsons" Lisa the Vegetarian (1995) - Release dates. In: Internet Movie Database . Retrieved July 29, 2012 .
- ↑ a b The Simpsons: Episode Guide of the TV Series (7th Season). In: fernsehserien.de. Retrieved August 16, 2012 .
- ↑ This is a play on words that is difficult to translate, in the original it is a "piggy-back-ride", ie piggyback .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m David Mirkin. (2005). DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa as a vegetarian". In: The Simpsons: The Complete Season Seven [DVD]. 20th Century Fox .
- ↑ a b c Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian: Lisa the Vegetarian . British Broadcasting Corporation . 2000. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ↑ a b Matt Groening. (2005). DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa as a vegetarian". In: The Simpsons: The Complete Season Seven [DVD]. 20th Century Fox .
- ↑ a b Matthew Singer: The 5 most cromulent Simpsons episodes . In: Ventura County Reporter . Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2012: “Some Simpsons nerds criticize 'Lisa the Vegetarian' for its perceived preachiness, but it is overflowing with great individual scenes: the opening trip to Storytown Village; Lisa's revelatory moment at the dinner table; the flying pig sequence. Nothing, however, tops the Meat Council propaganda video. Hosted by Troy McClure, it is, joke-for-joke, maybe the funniest isolated segment in the history of the show. "
- ^ Animals. In: Allmusic . Retrieved August 27, 2012 .
- ↑ a b c d e David X. Cohen. (2005). DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa as a vegetarian". In: The Simpsons: The Complete Season Seven [DVD]. 20th Century Fox .
- ↑ a b David X. Cohen - Filmography by TV series. In: Internet Movie Database . Retrieved August 20, 2012 .
- ^ Warren Martyn, Adrian Wood: Treehouse of Horror V. BBC , accessed July 30, 2012 .
- ↑ Bill Keveney: An insider's guide to 'Simpsons' favorite episodes. USA Today , February 15, 2012, accessed August 18, 2012 .
- ^ A b "The Simpsons" Lisa the Vegetarian (1995) - Full cast and crew. In: Internet Movie Database . Retrieved August 25, 2012 .
- ↑ a b c Mark Kirkland. (2005). DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa as a vegetarian". In: The Simpsons: The Complete Season Seven [DVD]. 20th Century Fox .
- ^ Dan French: David Mirkin ('The Simpsons') , Digital Spy . August 24, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ^ Erin Richter: The third Beatle debuts on The Simpsons. In: Entertainment Weekly , June 2, 1995. Retrieved July 30, 2012. "For the McCartneys, it's a chance 'to spread the vegetarian word to a wider audience,' according to Mrs. McCartney."
- ↑ Joanne Ostrow: Amid the misses, Fox hits bull's-eyes with "Simpsons" . In: The Denver Post , July 17, 1995, p. F1.
- ↑ a b c The Simpsons. In: German synchronous card index . Archived from the original on August 25, 2012 ; Retrieved September 9, 2012 .
- ↑ a b "The Simpsons" (7th season). In: Synchronous series. Retrieved July 31, 2012 .
- ^ They all live in a yellow cartoon scene . In: The Hamilton Spectator , May 10, 1995, p. D3.
- ^ Rob Carnevale: Matt Groening interview , British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved July 30, 2012. "Definitely having Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr - not at the same time but over the years - was a dream come true for all of us."
- ↑ Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian: Trash of the Titans . British Broadcasting Corporation. 2000. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ^ Shauna Snow: Morning Report , Los Angeles Times . April 24, 1998. Retrieved July 30, 2012. “It just seemed like the right thing to do. Everyone here was surprised and saddened by her death. "
- ^ Ray Richmond, Antonia Coffman: The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family . Harper Collins Publishers, 1997, ISBN 0-00-638898-1 , p. 185.
- ↑ a b Moore, Frazier: Thursdays continue to be magic for NBC . In: Rocky Mountain News , Oct. 20, 1995, p. 24D.
- ^ Associated Press : Nielsen Ratings . In: The Tampa Tribune , Oct 19, 1995, p. 4.
- ↑ a b See various online shops
- ↑ The Simpsons - The Complete 7th Season . TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ↑ The Simpsons: The Complete Season Seven [DVD]. 20th Century Fox .
- ^ The Simpsons (1989) Awards. In: Internet Movie Database . Retrieved July 30, 2012 .
- ^ The EMA Awards , Environmental Media Awards. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ↑ 1996 Genesis Awards . Humane Society of the United States . Archived from the original on January 7, 2009. Retrieved on August 9, 2012.
- ^ The Genesis Awards — Celebrating the Major Media . Humane Society of the United States . April 29, 2009. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved on August 9, 2012.
- ^ Warren Martyn, Adrian Wood: I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide . Virgin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-7535-0495-2 .
- ↑ John Serba: ' Simpsons' fans can watch, cheer for and quote' em with the best . In: Grand Rapids Press , November 3, 2002, p. F2. "Because the tale of Lisa's conversion to vegetarianism has more humorous scenes per square inch than any other episode"
- ↑ Patrick Enwright: D'Oh! The top 10 'Simpsons' episodes ever . MSNBC . July 31, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2012: "It's one of those archetypal 'Simpsons' moments, one in which the writers hit a joke so long that it goes from funny to unfunny and back to funny again."
- ^ Todd Gilchrist: The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season . IGN . December 15, 2005. Archived from the original on December 18, 2005. Retrieved on July 30, 2012: “More even than its inventive humor, the key to the show's longevity is its sentimental but not gooey approach to storytelling and character development. In 'Lisa the Vegetarian,' for example, Lisa sabotages Homer's barbeque, which results in an unceremonious death for his prize pig. But rather than simply punctuating the episode with an iconic image of the porker soaring through the air, the writers actually develop a story into which the joke fits. The comedic effect is actually intensified because we care about the characters, are invested in the story, and primed for a great gag "
- ↑ Phil Dzikiy, Paul Lane: 20 years - A 'Simpsons' extravaganza . In: Niagara Gazette , September 28, 2008. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved July 30, 2012. “Equally hilarious, touching and satirical, 'Lisa the Vegetarian' is still probably my favorite episode after all these years. Sure, the Paul and Linda McCartney thing is a little forced at the end, but the character development and storytelling is perfect. "
- ↑ a b Goldman, Eric; Iverson, Dan; Zoromski, Brian: Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances . IGN . Archived from the original on May 26, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2012: “Although none of these appearances were really large, the fact that the most popular band of all time appeared on The Simpsons is a large statement on the popularity and importance of the show. "
