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Goo Goo Gai Pan |
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Trivia[]
- Dana Gould was in the middle of adopting a girl from China when this episode was made. Fearing the episode's content might have a negative effect on the process, Gould was credited under the assumed name, "Lawrence Talbot," which led some people into thinking that Talbot was a new writer hired to the show.
Previous Episode References[]
- "Monty Can't Buy Me Love": Comic Book Guy gets stuck in Mr. Burns' cow catcher.
- "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" and "Blame it on Lisa": A Simpsons episode is banned from airing in the country its mocking due to being culturally insensitive.
- "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo": The Simpsons go to an East Asian country (Japan/China).
- "Homer vs. Dignity": Homer has bad luck with a panda (gets sexually assaulted by one/gets physically assaulted by one).
- The Otto Show: A Bouvier sister (Patty/Selma) conducts a driving exam with a character voiced by Harry Shearer (Otto Mann/Mr. Burns).
- "Selma's Choice", "Black Widower", "A Fish Called Selma", and "Principal Charming": Selma wants to have children so she won't die alone.
- "Bart Carny" and "Simpson Safari": Someone gets a bad feeling after someone else far away declares something (Marge shuddering after Homer offers Cooter and Spud to stay over their house/the African tribe leader naming someone else the new leader after Homer announces that The Simpsons are going to Africa/Homer suddenly feeling nauseous after Selma names Homer her husband on the adoption application).
- The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons:
- A Simpsons character poses as the fake spouse of another character (Marge being Apu's wife/Homer being Selma's husband).
- Homer poses as a non-Christian religious figure (Ganesh from Hinduism/Buddha from Buddhism)
- She of Little Faith: Lisa wants Tibet to be free.
- Marge Gets a Job, Homer's Triple Bypass, Viva Ned Flanders, and Team Homer: An episode is edited/altered in reruns (Mrs. Krabappel's "Tourette's syndrome" line is changed to "rabies"/"1-900-Doctorb" is changed to "1-600-Doctorb"/Barney's birthday is now on July 15th [which is also the birthday of the first dog to play Lassie] instead of April 20th [which is also Adolf Hitler's birthday]/Homer's Oscar now belongs to Don Ameche instead of Dr. Haing S. Ngor/Mao Zedong's flag at his mausoleum is changed from the Communist Party of China flag with the hammer and sickle to the People's Republic of China flag with the five stars in the upper left corner).
Cultural References[]
- When Selma says the car is too hot, Burns says it is actually cooler than Guy Lombardo, a famous Canadian band leader.
- Mr. Burns says his car once outraced the Flying Finn, Paavo Nurmi, an athlete who won 9 Gold Medals at the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics.
- The Simpsons watch a bad performance of Death of a Salesman with a dragon in the back that has 'American dream' written on it.
China References[]
- The title of this episode is a pun on moo goo gai pan, the name of a popular pseudo-Chinese American recipe, based on the Cantonese dish mah gu gai pin, which is composed of fresh button mushrooms and other vegetables with sliced chicken. "Goo goo" is what babies say.
- China (except for Hong Kong and Macao) uses the Simplified Chinese characters, but many signs in this episode are clearly using Traditional Chinese. However, there are still signs that use Traditional Characters in China.
- The correct spelling of the place would be "Tian An Men", not "Tien An Men" (as this is the Wade system).
- When Selma stands in front of the tank piloted by Wu, the shot is highly reminiscent of the famous image of the Unknown Rebel (dubbed in the international press as the "Tank Man") blocking the line of tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests.
- While flying to China, the plane passes over a monument to "Warrior and spicy chicken pioneer" General Zuo Zongtang.
- Lisa mentions the Great Wall of China was built to repel invaders, though historically it was unsuccessful.
The Flag of the Communist Party of China (first United States broadcast of Goo Goo Gai Pan.)
- The original broadcast portrayed the body of Mao Zedong covered by the flag of the Communist Party of China with the hammer and sickle (as is the case in the actual mausoleum). Later broadcasts of the episode has the flag substituted for the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
- In the Chinese consulate there is a map behind the consulate official showing Taiwan as a separate country, extremely unlikely given the PRC's position regarding Taiwan (Republic of China).
- In the Chinese consulate, alongside the flag of the People's Republic of China, the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is displayed.
- There is a plaque reading, "On this spot in 1989, nothing happened", in Tiananmen Square, a reference to the Chinese Government's denial of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. It is also a reference to the year The Simpsons first aired.
- In addition to being a sardonic reference to the massacre, the sign in the square ("On this site in 1989, nothing happened") is a parody of real signs. Available from catalogues, they are mock-historical plaques that say: "On this site in 1897, nothing happened."
- What's written on the adoption paper is gibberish, not Chinese, though this may be a play on the fact that computers which do not have Chinese text support installed may transcribe gibberish and random symbols in its place (mojibake).
- The Simpsons leave on a Junk from Hong Kong, as evident from the background.
Goofs[]
- When Homer falls from the chairs he is falling face-down. When he lands on the chairs, he is on his back.