Itchy & Scratchy & Marge

"Dear Purveyors of Senseless Violence: I know this may sound silly at first, but I believe that the cartoons you show to our children are influencing their behavior in a negative way. Please try to tone down the psychotic violence in your otherwise fine programming. Yours truly, Marge Simpson."

- Marge's letter to Roger Meyers, Jr.

"Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" is the ninth episode of Season 2. It first aired on December 20, 1990. The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Jim Reardon. The episode features references to the movie Psycho and the Disney film Fantasia.

Synopsis
After watching an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon, Maggie strikes Homer with a mallet. Horrified, Marge vows to put a stop to violence on children's television. But when the ball of censorship starts to roll, where will it all end?

Plot
Homer attempts to build Marge a spice rack. While he is doing so, Maggie sneaks up and hits Homer on the head with a mallet. Marge is at first clueless as to why Maggie would do such a thing, but Maggie sees an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show, a cartoon which is known for its violence, and tries to stab Homer with a pencil. Marge immediately blames The Itchy & Scratchy Show for Maggie's actions and bans Bart and Lisa from watching the show. Despite the ban, Bart and Lisa still manage to watch Itchy & Scratchy at friends houses. Marge writes a letter to the producers of the show asking them to tone down their violence and in response, Roger Meyers, Jr. (the CEO of Itchy & Scratchy International) writes a letter to Marge, telling her one person can not make a difference and calls her a "screwball." In response, Marge decides to "show what one screwball can do!"

Marge forms "Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding, and Helping" (SNUH) and forces the family to picket outside the Itchy & Scratchy Studios. Unknown to her, Bart and Lisa have been sneaking off to their friend's houses to watch the shows, under the guise of 'playing sports,' or 'making the most of their childhood years.' Marge's protest gains momentum and soon more people join the group and even start to picket The Krusty the Clown Show, on which Itchy & Scratchy is shown. Marge appears on Kent Brockman's show, Smartline where she confronts Roger Meyers over the violence and suggests that concerned parents send letters to Meyers. Enough angry letters to fill enough truck to line up down the street are sent to the Studio, one of which says that the writer won't even stop if they see Meyers crossing the street. Roger Meyers admits defeat, and agrees to eliminate violence in Itchy & Scratchy. Eventually after angrily consulting with Marge over the phone, the first of the new shorts is released, in which Itchy & Scratchy sit on a porch drinking lemonade making small talk. Marge finds the cartoon to be better, but Bart, Lisa, and the other kids across Springfield reject the cleaned-up show. A lengthy montage follows, in which the children of Springfield go outside (rubbing their eyes as though they'd never seen sunlight) and engage in various wholesome activities and that night Bart and Lisa brag about their various outdoor activities while Marge listens happily.

Meanwhile, Michelangelo's David goes on a coast-to-coast tour of the U.S. and will stop in Springfield. The members of SNUH urge Marge to protest the sculpture, insisting that the sculpture is offensive and unsuitable. However, Marge an artist herself argues that the sculpture is a masterpiece. Dr. Marvin Monroe capitalises on this hypocrisy and asks Marge how she can believe that it wrong to censor one form of art but not another, to which Marge is forced to admit that she can't and admits defeat. She decides to give up her anti-cartoon violence protest. Itchy & Scratchy immediately returns to its old form and Springfield's children abandon their wholesome activities. Homer and Marge go to see David and Marge expresses her disappointment that the kids are watching cartoons rather than seeing the sculpture. She cheers up when Homer tells her that the school will be forcing them to go.

Production
"Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" is an acclaimed episode which dealt with censorship issues and allowed the writers to have a lot of Itchy &amp; Scratchy cartoons which many fans had been clamoring for. The episode was written by John Swartzwelder, who loved Itchy & Scratchy and wrote several episodes that have them at the center. The episode was partially inspired by Terry Rakolta, who protested FOX over the show Married... with Children. For the episode, which handles a large issue, the writers tried not to have a point of view and looked at both sides, despite what the writers personally felt. During the original airing of the episode, the Fox satellite blew out and the entire West coast of theUnited States missed the first act of the episode. This was the first episode directed by Matthew Chantelois, who had previously made a student film called Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown which was very violent and the experience served him well for this episode. There are several characters who work at I&S studios who are caricatures of real people: the cartoonist who draws the Marge/Squirrel is based on Eddie Fitzgerald, who worked at Filmation and the three people with Meyers when he is asking Marge for suggestions are caricatures of Rich Moore, David Silverman and Wes Archer.

Alex Rocco makes his first of three appearances as Roger Meyers. Many people behind The Simpsons were huge fans of The Godfather and Jim Reardon looked for a way to shoot him in the eye as a reference to Rocco's character, Moe Greene.

The long montage of the Kids of Springfield playing was directed by Bob Anderson and is making a satirical point by saying the opposite of what the writers believed. The segment was written by John Swartzwelder and the idea of using Beethoven's 6th Symphony was in the original script. James L. Brooks had wanted the episode to end with the montage, but the writers disagreed. Roger Meyers, Jr. makes his first appearance in this episode, as does Sideshow Mel, although he does not have any lines until the later episode "Radio Bart."

Reception
Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide praised the episode, stating that "Homer's doomed attempt to build a spice rack is only the start of another great episode, which works as a superb debate about television violence and politically inspired censorship." As well as noting that "the ending is especially poignant, as the pedagogues of Springfield swoop on Michelangelo's David as an example of filth and degradation". Empire named the Psycho parody as the second best film parody in the show. "The best throwaway gags blindside the unsuspecting viewer in episodes that are nominally about something else [...] Hitchcock is ripped off more than any other director but this is the most lovingly rendered reference."