Intertextuality In A Streetcar Named Marge Is A Marxist

Intertextuality is the interrelationship of literary texts to give them more meaning and context. Matt Groening, the director of The Simpsons uses intertextuality throughout his episodes especially in, A Streetcar Named Marge by referencing dialogue, title, music and recreating scenes from classics. Groening incorporated intertextuality from iconic movies including The Great Escape by John Sturges, Elia Kazan and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds which enhance the episode by providing insight into characters and themes. Intertextuality in this episode has many benefits as well as limitations that help express ideas and situations.

The Simpsons features scenes from The Great Escape, specifically the

iconic scene where Hilts is bouncing a ball against a wall in solitary confinement which corresponds to Maggie being locked in a playpen where she also passes the time by bouncing a ball. This reveals that Maggie is similar to Hilts as neither of their spirits are broken in solitary confinement instead they persevere with trying to escape or in Maggie’s case, liberating all of the confiscated pacifiers. Other cognate scenes include the children making noise as a distraction, just like the prisoners sing to block the noise, the rope being pulled as a warning and the crawling through the air vent similarly to when the prisoner’s crawl through the tunnel to escape. These scenes allow the viewer to understand the determination of the babies and the importance of the pacifiers to them
which correlates to the determination of the prisoners trying to escape from the German POW camp and the importance of their freedom to them. Some of these scenes are accompanied by the anthem from The Great Escape, which is used to signify when something defiant or rebellious is occurring. This identifiable music helps reveal the disobedient nature of the babies and persistence when they want to retrieve something dear to them.

The Simpsons episode named, A Streetcar Named Marge is a clear reference to the film, A Streetcar Named Desire which acknowledges the famous playwright, Tennessee Williams.

Stanley and Blanche’s relationship is mimicked through Homer and Marge, illustrated by how cruelly Homer treats Marge: he ignores her, tells her off for interrupting him, making her doubt herself, makes her do the simple things such as opening his can of pudding for him, and not appreciating all she does. This is similar as to the way Stanley treats Blanche, slowly pushing her over the edge of madness. An iconic scene is also recreated when Homer yells, MAAAAAAAAARRGGEEEE! HEY, MAAAAAAARRGGEEEE! when she is rehearsing with Ned. This exhibits his disregard for Marge by belittling the things she finds important, in this case the musical. The breaking of the bottle was another important scene that was recreated. At first Marge could not even dent it but, as Homer became worse in his treatment of her, she became angrier, finally succeeding in smashing it. This demonstrates Stanley’s treatment of Blanche and how the abuse finally broke her. Marge also says, I have always relied on the kindness of strangers which is one of Blanche’s significant beliefs. It reveals the hard life Blanche has lived and what she has resorted to in order to survive. In The Simpsons, A Streetcar Named Desire is made into a musical which lightens the seriousness of the film as well as in the end, it shows Marge driving away, happy and

waving when in reality she was off to an asylum which is depressing. A major difference between the texts is that after the musical, Homer realises how similar his behaviour is to Stanley in his treatment of Marge and decides to change because of the impact the musical had on him. He recognises that he was a bully and treated Marge brutally, instead of respecting her.

Groening’s referencing of scenes from The Birds pays tribute to director, Alfred Hitchcock especially the recreated scene of Hitchcock walking his two dogs. This also adds humour to the episode as Hitchcock is in cartoon form. Another integrated scene was when Mitch went outside, he was surrounded by birds who were making noise and staring at him. This was similar to when Homer picked up Maggie from the childcare, all the children were sitting, staring, sucking on their dummies. Just like the birds, this made the children seem threatening, making Homer and Mitch proceed with caution.

Intertextuality has many benefits including giving characters more personality and identity which allows the viewer to better sympathise, empathise and relate to characters.

For example, the viewer can sympathise and empathise with Homer when he discovers his brutal treatment of Marge or relate to Blanch when she lost her husband at a young age. It can also convey important situations and issues in society including depression, loss of spouse and domestic abuse through a not so serious manner. It can also attract a wider audience especially since The Simpsons, are mostly viewed by a younger audience since it is a comedy/cartoon. It can also appeal to an older audience who have knowledge of the original texts as they grew up watching them. However, this can also be a limitation of intertextuality as some viewers, specifically younger ones will not be able to make the connections between the texts for example the scenes from A Streetcar Named Desire as it was released in 1951 therefore losing significant meaning and understanding of the show. Another weakness is that the referencing of the text may be done poorly, hence it can be seen as mocking or insulting the original writer and his

text.

Intertextuality is a powerful literary technique that can, if used correctly give new and more meaning to a text as well as better portray a story. It also gives the audience a greater understanding of the themes and characters with a deeper appreciation. Groening has effectively used intertextuality of literary texts to enhance The Simpsons episode as well as honouring and respecting past writers who have laid the foundational ideas for texts.