The Computer Wore Menace Shoes - Cultural References

Cultural References

"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" makes fun of use of the Internet, which was rapidly growing in popularity at the time. " The Internet was just starting to turn into a serious waste of time around this point in history", staff writer Matt Selman said in the episode's DVD commentary. The episode was also written at a time when several The Simpsons producers invested in an animated web series' company called icebox.com, which was co-created by two former The Simpsons writers. Although the title of the episode is a reference to the 1969 Disney film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, the episode itself has "essentially nothing" to do with the film, according to M. Keith Booker in his book Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy. In the episode, the slogan of Homer's webpage is "All the muck that's fit to rake". This is a reference to the American newspaper The New York Times, whose slogan is "All the News That's Fit to Print". The word "muck" refers to muckrakers, a term closely associated with reform-oriented journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines after 1900.

The episode's third act, which serves as a parody of The Prisoner, features several references to the series. When the secret organization find out about Homer's discovery, he is taken to a secret location called the "Island". The "Island" is modeled after the "Village", where Number Six is taken in The Prisoner. While he is in the "Island", Homer is repeatedly gassed by unexpected objects, a reference to the way Number Six would often be gassed in The Prisoner. "George and I used to laugh a lot about how often would be gassed by unexpected devices in the show", Scully said in the episode's DVD commentary. "And we wanted to cram as many in as we could." While escaping the "Island", Homer is chased by a "big balloon". The balloon is a reference to Rover, a floating white ball in The Prisoner that was created to keep inhabitants in the "Village", which was also featured in the season 9 episode The Joy of Sect. The music heard in the scene is based on The Prisoner's theme music.