Bart Gets An Elephant - Cultural References

Cultural References

The Springfield Tar Pits are inspired by the La Brea Tar Pits located in Hancock Park in Los Angeles, California. Tar has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. The tar is often covered with water, which attracts wildlife. Over the centuries, the bones of animals that died in the pits sank into the tar and were preserved. The museum in the background of the scene where Homer sinks into one of the tar pits resembles the George C. Page Museum of the La Brea Discoveries, a museum dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from them. When Stampy runs away, he passes the Republican National Convention, with people cheering, and then he passes the Democratic National Convention, with people booing. This is a reference to the fact that an elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party. Homer uses Mr. Cleanser, a parody of the detergent brand Mr. Clean, to clean the basement. While waiting for Bill and Marty to call, Bart eats the chocolate part of a Neapolitan ice cream. As Bart cleans, he accidentally scrubs the paint off an American Gothic painting hanging on the wall. Under the paint is a message signed by the painter, Grant Wood, reading: "If you can read this, you scrubbed too hard."

The scene in which Stampy's eye is seen through a window of the Simpson family's house is similar to a scene with a Tyrannosaurus rex in the film Jurassic Park. While cleaning the house, Marge turns on the radio and the song "Sixteen Tons" by Merle Travis is heard. The scene in which Homer crashes his car into a deer statue at the Springfield Tar Pits parodies the lyrics to the Sound of Music song "Do-Re-Mi" as Homer shouts: "D'oh!" followed by Lisa: "A deer!" and Marge: "A female deer!" Homer reads an old TV Guide in which the synopsis of an episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. reads "Gomer upsets Sgt. Carter," a possible synopsis for every episode of that series. As Stampy wreaks havoc throughout Springfield, Patty and Selma are sucked up by a tornado and fly through the air in rocking chairs, similar to a scene in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.