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

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

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