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| {{Distinguish|Separate Vacations}} | |||
| {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} | |||
| ⚫ | {{Good article}} | ||
| {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} | |||
| {{Infobox Simpsons episode | {{Infobox Simpsons episode | ||
| ⚫ | | image = | ||
| |episode_name=Separate Vocations | |||
| | caption = | |||
| ⚫ | |image= | ||
| ⚫ | | season = 3 | ||
| |image_caption= | |||
| | episode = 18 | |||
| |episode_no=53 | |||
| ⚫ | | director = ] | ||
| |prod_code=8F15 | |||
| ⚫ | | writer = ] | ||
| |airdate=February 27, 1992 | |||
| | production = 8F15 | |||
| |show runner=] & ] | |||
| | airdate = {{Start date|1992|2|27}} | |||
| ⚫ | |writer=] | ||
| | guests = * ] as ] | |||
| ⚫ | |director=] | ||
| * ] as Bart's electronically altered voice | |||
| |blackboard="I will not barf unless I'm sick" | | blackboard = ''']''': "I will not barf unless I'm sick" | ||
| ⚫ | |couch_gag=Bart leaps into everyone's lap | ||
| '''During the episode''': "I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty" | |||
| |focus=] | |||
| ⚫ | | couch_gag = ] leaps into everyone's lap. | ||
| |guest_star=] as Bart in a fantasy sequence | |||
| |commentary=]<br |
| commentary = ]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>] | ||
| | prev = ] | |||
| ⚫ | |season=3 | ||
| | next = ] | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| "'''Separate Vocations'''" is the eighteenth episode of the ] of the American animated television series '']''. It originally aired on ] in the United States on February 27, 1992. | |||
| In the episode, the students of ] take career ]s. ] and ]'s test results inspire drastic changes in their behavior: Lisa's test says she should become a ], her dreams of being a professional musician become shattered and she turns into a delinquent troublemaker at school; Bart's test says he should become a ], and ] makes Bart hall monitor. | |||
| The episode was written by ] and directed by ]. American actor and television personality ] guest starred in the episode as the voice of Bart in a fantasy sequence |
The episode was written by ] and directed by ]. American actor and television personality ] guest starred in the episode as the electronically altered voice of Bart in a fantasy sequence. | ||
| Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a ] of 14.8 and was the highest-rated show on Fox the week it aired. | |||
| ==Plot== | ==Plot== | ||
| The students at ] are assigned to take the Career Aptitude Normalizing Test (CANT). The test has been designed to tell each student which career they will be best suited for in adult life. | |||
| After taking career aptitude tests (scored by a malfunctioning computer), ] discovers that the occupation she is best suited for is homemaker, while ]'s test shows that he should be a policeman. Lisa is heartbroken over the result and is determined to prove the test wrong. She consults a music teacher for his opinion, but he tells her that, having inherited her father's stubby fingers, she can never be a professional saxophone player. Lisa is therefore required by the test to spend the day doing chores with her mother ], while Bart goes on a ] with the police. | |||
| After the test results come back, Lisa's test says she would be best suited for ]. Heartbroken, she tries to prove the test results are wrong and consults a music teacher about her dream of becoming a professional ] player. He tells her that she has talent, but she can never be a professional saxophone player because she has inherited ]'s stubby fingers. Believing she will never achieve any of her dreams, Lisa also loses interest in her academic pursuits and lapses into ]. | |||
| Lisa hates her role as a homemaker and, realizing that her future dreams have been shattered, loses interest in being a good student. Bart enjoys spending time with the police, and he even ends up stopping ] during a car chase. When ] discovers Bart's new interest in law enforcement, he enlists him as a hall monitor. Bart starts handing out demerits to his classmates for minor infractions and has order restored to the school. Meanwhile, Lisa becomes a sulky, rebellious student with no interest in school. She hangs out with girls in the bad girls bathroom, makes snippy comments at Miss Hoover, is disciplined by Skinner and her grades drop as a result. The girls are impressed with Lisa's recent bad behavior and offers her a cigarette. Though hesitant to accept, she takes it and tells them that she will smoke it in class. | |||
| Meanwhile, Bart's test says he would be best suited to be a ]. Bart goes for a police ] with ] and ], and he helps them apprehend ] during a car chase. Bart becomes impressed with the police officers' authority and ]. When Principal Skinner discovers Bart's new interest in law enforcement, he gives Bart the job of hall monitor. Bart issues demerits to students for minor infractions and restores order to the school. | |||
| One day while she is in detention for another snippy comment, Lisa secretly steals all of the Teachers' Editions of the schoolbooks and reveals the teachers' incompetence. When the books turn up missing, it is up to Bart to find out who stole them. He finds the books in Lisa's locker and realizes she is the culprit. Closing her locker, Lisa confesses to the crime and reveals she stole them because she was rebelling against her chosen occupation as a homemaker. She also tells Bart that before he became a hall monitor, he used to enjoy the simple freedom of rebellion. He admits so, but also tells Lisa that even he had his limits and that she could face expulsion for her actions. When Skinner finds the books, he is overjoyed, but then asks who stole them. Bart takes the blame and returns to his life as a bad student and detention hall regular. | |||
| Lisa begins rebelling at school. She encounters two delinquent students smoking in the bathroom and suggests they ] Skinner's beloved school mascot, a ] statue. After insulting ], Lisa gets put in ]; while serving detention alone, Lisa steals the teachers' answer keys, exposing the teachers' ignorance. Skinner and Bart set out to find the answer keys and punish the person who stole them. However, when Bart finds out that Lisa is the culprit, he takes the blame for the theft because he does not want her to ruin her promising future. Skinner sentences Bart with detention for the rest of the school year. While Bart is in detention, Lisa consoles him by playing her saxophone outside the classroom. | |||
| When Milhouse takes him to Skinner's office for punishment, Lisa asks Bart why he took the blame for her and not let her take the fall. He tells Lisa he did not want her ruining her future as she had the brains and talent to do what she wanted. Bart encourages her to keep pursuing her future dreams as a professional saxophone player and promises to be there for her when she needs his help again(as well as borrowing money from her). Lisa is touched by Bart's deeds and returns to her old life as a good student. As he spends his time in detention, Lisa plays her saxophone outside his classroom to comfort him. While hearing her play her sax, Bart makes encouraging comments that Lisa has a great future as a professional saxophone player regardless of what anyone else says. | |||
| ==Production== | ==Production== | ||
| ] guest |
] guest stars.]] | ||
| The episode was written by ] and directed by ]. ], ] of ''The Simpsons'' with ] at the time, said Meyer wrote most of the episode by himself without help from the show's other writers. Few changes were made to the first draft that he pitched to the producers; it was near identical to the final script.<ref name="Reiss">{{cite video |people=Reiss, Mike |date=2003 |title=The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Separate Vocations" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The episode was inspired by the ]al tests taken by several members of the show's staff when they went to school; Reiss, for example, said he was told he would become a librarian.<ref name="Reiss"/> Jean said "one of the first things that sold us on doing the episode" was the idea of Bart becoming a policeman. He said it was "a funny, realistic depiction of what a kid like Bart might wind up to become, and it wasn't something you would immediately think of."<ref name="Jean">{{cite video |people=Jean, Al |date=2003 |title=The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Separate Vocations" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> Jean said the episode deals with the emotion that many adults feel when they grow older and realize that they are not going to achieve the dreams they once had. " how people in life cope with that problem. Maybe Lisa, at eight years old, is a little bit young to worry about that, but that's what we were trying to explore here."<ref name="Jean"/> | |||
| The episode was written by George Meyer and directed by Jeffrey Lynch. ], ] of ''The Simpsons'' with ] at the time, said Meyer wrote most of the episode by himself without help from the show's other writers. Few changes were made to the first draft that he pitched to the producers; it was near identical to the final script.<ref name="Reiss">{{cite video |people=Reiss, Mike |date=2003 |title=The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Separate Vocations" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The episode was inspired by the ]al tests taken by several members of the show's staff when they went to school; Reiss, for example, said he was told he would become a librarian.<ref name="Reiss"/> Jean said "one of the first things that sold us on doing the episode" was the idea of Bart becoming a policeman. He said it was "a funny, realistic depiction of what a kid like Bart might wind up to become, and it wasn't something you would immediately think of".<ref name="Jean">{{cite video |people=Jean, Al |date=2003 |title=The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Separate Vocations" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> Jean said the episode deals with the emotion that many adults feel when they grow older and realize they are not going to achieve the dreams they once had. " how people in life cope with that problem. Maybe Lisa, at eight years old, is a little bit young to worry about that, but that's what we were trying to explore here."<ref name="Jean"/> | |||
| In one sequence Bart imagines himself testifying in court, with his voice electronically altered. The altered voice was provided by American actor and television personality Steve Allen. Series creator ] said he and some of the writers who were old enough to remember Allen's TV show from the 1950s–60s were thrilled to have him guest-star, especially ].<ref name="Groening">{{cite video |people=Groening, Matt |date=2003 |title=The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Separate Vocations" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> It took nine takes for Allen to pronounce Bart's catchphrase "]" correctly, to the point where the staff began to get slightly frustrated with him.<ref name="Reiss"/> There was a discussion amongst the writing team of whether the episode should end with a joke or have a "sweet" ending. Reiss said "With the better angels in our nature, we went with the sweet ending ."<ref name="Reiss"/> Allen would guest star again (this time as himself) in the ] episode "]". | |||
| This episode contains the first mention of Skinner being a Vietnam War veteran, a trope that would later become a recurring gag throughout the series. | |||
| ==Cultural references== | ==Cultural references== | ||
| ⚫ | The music school that Lisa visits has a sign out front with a picture of a diapered baby ] on it.<ref name="Jean"/> When Principal Skinner is questioning Lisa about her newfound sense of irresponsibility, he asks "What are you rebelling against?" She responds "Whaddaya got?", like ]'s character Johnny Strabler did in |
||
| ⚫ | The music school that Lisa visits has a sign out front with a picture of a diapered baby ] on it.<ref name="Jean"/> When Principal Skinner is questioning Lisa about her newfound sense of irresponsibility, he asks "What are you rebelling against?" She responds "Whaddaya got?", like ]'s character Johnny Strabler did in '']'' (1953).<ref name="irwin">{{cite book |last=Snow |first=Dale |title=] |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |date=February 28, 2001 |chapter=Aesthetics of Allusion |pages= |isbn=0-8126-9433-3 }}</ref> She has a toothpick in her mouth, like Johnny in the film.<ref name="book">{{cite book |last=Groening |first=Matt |author-link=Matt Groening |editor1-first=Ray |editor1-last=Richmond |editor1-link=Ray Richmond |editor2-first=Antonia |editor2-last=Coffman |title=] |edition=1st |year=1997 |location=New York |publisher=] |lccn=98141857 |ol=433519M |oclc=37796735 |isbn=978-0-06-095252-5 |page= |ref={{harvid|Richmond & Coffman|1997}} }}.</ref> The fifth graders whom Lisa talks to in the school washroom are smoking ] cigarettes.<ref name="book"/> | ||
| ⚫ | The car chase scene with Snake is a reference to the |
||
| ⚫ | The car chase scene with Snake is a reference to the chase scene in '']'' (1968).<ref name="BBC"/> Music similar to the soundtrack of '']'' is heard in the scene. ], a composer on ''The Simpsons'' who had previously worked on several police shows, wrote the music for the scene.<ref name="Jean"/> In another reference to ''The Streets of San Francisco'' and other ] productions, a ] and caption proclaims the name of act two of the episode, "Act II - Death Drives a ]", after the episode's first act break in the middle of the Snake car chase.<ref name="Reiss"/><ref name="BBC"/> In the sequence where Bart imagines himself testifying in court, his face is obscured with a blue dot; this is a references to the television coverage of the rape trial of ], in which the woman who accused Smith of raping her was obscured with a blue dot over her face.<ref name="Reiss"/> The way the scene changes from Bart and Skinner talking in Skinner's office to them searching through the lockers is a reference to the same style of scene change used in the 1960s '']'' television series, in which a close-up of Batman's face with dramatic music is shown for a brief moment before the scene changes.<ref name="Jean"/> The song heard when Bart and Skinner search through the lockers for the Teachers' Editions is a variation of ]'s "]" from '']'' (1984).<ref name="Reiss"/> | ||
| ==Analysis== | ==Analysis== | ||
| In the last scene of the episode, Bart is seen writing "I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty" on the blackboard as a punishment for exposing the ignorance of the teachers by removing the Teachers' Editions. In his book ''The Small Screen: How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age'', Brian L. Ott describes this scene as one of the "key ways ''The Simpsons'' appeals to audience, which tends to be younger, by critiquing authority figures, and in particular educators |
In the last scene of the episode, Bart is seen writing "I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty" on the blackboard as a punishment for exposing the ignorance of the teachers by removing the Teachers' Editions. In his book ''The Small Screen: How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age'', Brian L. Ott describes this scene as one of the "key ways ''The Simpsons'' appeals to audience, which tends to be younger, by critiquing authority figures, and in particular educators".<ref>{{cite book |last=L. Ott |first=Brian |title=The Small Screen: How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=July 2007 |pages=85 |chapter=Hyperconsious Television |isbn=978-1-4051-6154-1}}</ref> Toby Daspit and John Weaver write in their book ''Popular Culture and Critical Pedagogy: Reading, Constructing, Connecting'' that the writers of ''The Simpsons'' are "particularly interested" in questions about authority and the abuses of powers in school. Another scene from the episode sees ] telling the students to stare at the blackboard for fifteen minutes until class is over. Daspit and Weaver write that it is "the absolute power that teachers have over students' every action that allows for the image to be presented on ''The Simpsons''. It would be comforting to tell ourselves that this is simply parody run amok, that the writers are stretching reality to make a point, but the discussants in the study had memories of a reality very much like the one presented in this program."<ref name="daspit"/> One of the discussants said she believes everyone has experienced similar situations in their school years, and she thinks the thought that "an educator could ever do something so useless and pointless with the children's time" is "frightening".<ref name="daspit">{{cite book |last=Daspit |first=Toby |author2=Weaver |others=John |title=Popular Culture and Critical Pedagogy: Reading, Constructing, Connecting |publisher=Routledge |date=November 1, 1998 |pages=68–69 |chapter=School is Hell |isbn=978-0-8153-2870-4}}</ref> | ||
| ==Reception== | ==Reception== | ||
| ] |
] won an ] for her performance as Bart.]] | ||
| In its original American broadcast, "Separate Vocations" finished 29th in the ratings for the week of February 24–March 1, 1992, with a ] of 14.8, equivalent to approximately 13.6 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on |
In its original American broadcast, "Separate Vocations" finished 29th in the ratings for the week of February 24–March 1, 1992, with a ] of 14.8, equivalent to approximately 13.6 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week.<ref name=Rating>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=What we watch, what we don't{{nbsp}}... |work=] |page=15 |date=March 8, 1992}}</ref> ] won an ] for her outstanding ] as Bart.<ref name="PTE">{{cite web|url=http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php |title=Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search |publisher=Emmys.org |access-date=2009-02-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215195726/http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php |archive-date=2009-02-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Briefing–'Simpsons' score big in Prime-Time Emmys |date=1991-08-03 |page=L20 |work=]}}</ref> | ||
| Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought the episode displayed ''The Simpsons'' "at its best – not only hilarious but daringly outspoken on a whole range of issues – the failures of the education system, police abuses of power, the stifling of children's creativity".<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season3/page18.shtml |title=Separate Vocations |access-date=2009-06-07 |author1=Martyn, Warren |author2=Wood, Adrian |year=2000 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> | |||
| Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict said "Separate Vocations" represents ''The Simpsons'' "at its apex as a well tuned talent machine grinding out the good stuff with surprising accuracy and skill".<ref name="DVDVerdict">{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsonsseason3.php |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season |last=Gibron |first=Bill |date=December 15, 2003 |publisher=DVD Verdict |access-date=2009-06-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629194944/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsonsseason3.php |archive-date=June 29, 2009 }}</ref> Gibron added that the episode shows that "even in territory they're not used to (Bart as a safety patrol, Lisa as a cursing class cut up), the Simpsons' kids are funny and inventive".<ref name="DVDVerdict"/> | |||
| Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed rated the episode a four (out of five) and commented that the script's "departure from the traditional roles assigned to Bart and Lisa makes for a fresh experience with many laughs".<ref name="do">{{cite web |url=http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/displaylegacy.php?ID=6129 |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season |last=Meyers |first=Nate |date=June 23, 2004 |publisher=Digitally Obsessed |access-date=2009-06-06 |archive-date=2016-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313103432/http://digitallyobsessed.com/displaylegacy.php?id=6129 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Meyers thought the highlight of the episode was Bart's ride in the police car.<ref name="do"/> DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought the theme of the episode was unoriginal, but commented that Bart's "rapid embrace of fascism" and Lisa's "descent into hooliganism" provide "a number of funny opportunities, and 'Separate Vocations' exploits them well. Though it's not one of the year's best shows, it seems like a good one for the most part."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasonthree.shtml |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season (1991) |last=Jacobson |first=Colin |date=August 21, 2003 |publisher=DVD Movie Guide |access-date=2009-06-06}}</ref> | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
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| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| {{wikiquote|The_Simpsons# |
{{wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_3#Separate_Vocations|Separate Vocations}} | ||
| {{Portal|The Simpsons}} | {{Portal|The Simpsons}} | ||
| ⚫ | *{{snpp capsule|8F15}} | ||
| * at The Simpsons.com | |||
| ⚫ | *{{IMDb episode |id=0701204 |episode=Separate Vocations}} | ||
| ⚫ | * |
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| ⚫ | *{{ |
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| * at ] | |||
| {{The Simpsons episodes|3}} | {{The Simpsons episodes|3}} | ||
| ⚫ | {{ |
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| ] | ] | ||
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Latest revision as of 06:51, 4 January 2025
Not to be confused with Separate Vacations.18th episode of the 3rd season of The Simpsons
| "Separate Vocations" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 18 | ||
| Directed by | Jeffrey Lynch | ||
| Written by | George Meyer | ||
| Production code | 8F15 | ||
| Original air date | February 27, 1992 (1992-02-27) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| |||
| Episode features | |||
| Chalkboard gag | Opening sequence: "I will not barf unless I'm sick" During the episode: "I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty" | ||
| Couch gag | Bart leaps into everyone's lap. | ||
| Commentary | Matt Groening Mike Reiss Jon Vitti David Silverman Al Jean | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| The Simpsons season 3 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Separate Vocations" is the eighteenth episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 27, 1992.
In the episode, the students of Springfield Elementary School take career aptitude tests. Lisa and Bart's test results inspire drastic changes in their behavior: Lisa's test says she should become a homemaker, her dreams of being a professional musician become shattered and she turns into a delinquent troublemaker at school; Bart's test says he should become a police officer, and Principal Skinner makes Bart hall monitor.
The episode was written by George Meyer and directed by Jeffrey Lynch. American actor and television personality Steve Allen guest starred in the episode as the electronically altered voice of Bart in a fantasy sequence.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen Rating of 14.8 and was the highest-rated show on Fox the week it aired.
Plot
The students at Springfield Elementary School are assigned to take the Career Aptitude Normalizing Test (CANT). The test has been designed to tell each student which career they will be best suited for in adult life.
After the test results come back, Lisa's test says she would be best suited for homemaking. Heartbroken, she tries to prove the test results are wrong and consults a music teacher about her dream of becoming a professional saxophone player. He tells her that she has talent, but she can never be a professional saxophone player because she has inherited her father's stubby fingers. Believing she will never achieve any of her dreams, Lisa also loses interest in her academic pursuits and lapses into nihilism.
Meanwhile, Bart's test says he would be best suited to be a police officer. Bart goes for a police ride-along with Eddie and Lou, and he helps them apprehend Snake during a car chase. Bart becomes impressed with the police officers' authority and qualified immunity. When Principal Skinner discovers Bart's new interest in law enforcement, he gives Bart the job of hall monitor. Bart issues demerits to students for minor infractions and restores order to the school.
Lisa begins rebelling at school. She encounters two delinquent students smoking in the bathroom and suggests they TP Skinner's beloved school mascot, a puma statue. After insulting Miss Hoover, Lisa gets put in detention; while serving detention alone, Lisa steals the teachers' answer keys, exposing the teachers' ignorance. Skinner and Bart set out to find the answer keys and punish the person who stole them. However, when Bart finds out that Lisa is the culprit, he takes the blame for the theft because he does not want her to ruin her promising future. Skinner sentences Bart with detention for the rest of the school year. While Bart is in detention, Lisa consoles him by playing her saxophone outside the classroom.
Production
The episode was written by George Meyer and directed by Jeffrey Lynch. Mike Reiss, show runner of The Simpsons with Al Jean at the time, said Meyer wrote most of the episode by himself without help from the show's other writers. Few changes were made to the first draft that he pitched to the producers; it was near identical to the final script. The episode was inspired by the vocational tests taken by several members of the show's staff when they went to school; Reiss, for example, said he was told he would become a librarian. Jean said "one of the first things that sold us on doing the episode" was the idea of Bart becoming a policeman. He said it was "a funny, realistic depiction of what a kid like Bart might wind up to become, and it wasn't something you would immediately think of". Jean said the episode deals with the emotion that many adults feel when they grow older and realize they are not going to achieve the dreams they once had. " how people in life cope with that problem. Maybe Lisa, at eight years old, is a little bit young to worry about that, but that's what we were trying to explore here."
In one sequence Bart imagines himself testifying in court, with his voice electronically altered. The altered voice was provided by American actor and television personality Steve Allen. Series creator Matt Groening said he and some of the writers who were old enough to remember Allen's TV show from the 1950s–60s were thrilled to have him guest-star, especially John Swartzwelder. It took nine takes for Allen to pronounce Bart's catchphrase "¡Ay, caramba!" correctly, to the point where the staff began to get slightly frustrated with him. There was a discussion amongst the writing team of whether the episode should end with a joke or have a "sweet" ending. Reiss said "With the better angels in our nature, we went with the sweet ending ." Allen would guest star again (this time as himself) in the season 6 episode "'Round Springfield".
This episode contains the first mention of Skinner being a Vietnam War veteran, a trope that would later become a recurring gag throughout the series.
Cultural references
The music school that Lisa visits has a sign out front with a picture of a diapered baby Ludwig van Beethoven on it. When Principal Skinner is questioning Lisa about her newfound sense of irresponsibility, he asks "What are you rebelling against?" She responds "Whaddaya got?", like Marlon Brando's character Johnny Strabler did in The Wild One (1953). She has a toothpick in her mouth, like Johnny in the film. The fifth graders whom Lisa talks to in the school washroom are smoking Laramie cigarettes.
The car chase scene with Snake is a reference to the chase scene in Bullitt (1968). Music similar to the soundtrack of The Streets of San Francisco is heard in the scene. Alf Clausen, a composer on The Simpsons who had previously worked on several police shows, wrote the music for the scene. In another reference to The Streets of San Francisco and other Quinn Martin productions, a voice-over and caption proclaims the name of act two of the episode, "Act II - Death Drives a Stick", after the episode's first act break in the middle of the Snake car chase. In the sequence where Bart imagines himself testifying in court, his face is obscured with a blue dot; this is a references to the television coverage of the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, in which the woman who accused Smith of raping her was obscured with a blue dot over her face. The way the scene changes from Bart and Skinner talking in Skinner's office to them searching through the lockers is a reference to the same style of scene change used in the 1960s Batman television series, in which a close-up of Batman's face with dramatic music is shown for a brief moment before the scene changes. The song heard when Bart and Skinner search through the lockers for the Teachers' Editions is a variation of Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F" from Beverly Hills Cop (1984).
Analysis
In the last scene of the episode, Bart is seen writing "I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty" on the blackboard as a punishment for exposing the ignorance of the teachers by removing the Teachers' Editions. In his book The Small Screen: How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age, Brian L. Ott describes this scene as one of the "key ways The Simpsons appeals to audience, which tends to be younger, by critiquing authority figures, and in particular educators". Toby Daspit and John Weaver write in their book Popular Culture and Critical Pedagogy: Reading, Constructing, Connecting that the writers of The Simpsons are "particularly interested" in questions about authority and the abuses of powers in school. Another scene from the episode sees Ms. Hoover telling the students to stare at the blackboard for fifteen minutes until class is over. Daspit and Weaver write that it is "the absolute power that teachers have over students' every action that allows for the image to be presented on The Simpsons. It would be comforting to tell ourselves that this is simply parody run amok, that the writers are stretching reality to make a point, but the discussants in the study had memories of a reality very much like the one presented in this program." One of the discussants said she believes everyone has experienced similar situations in their school years, and she thinks the thought that "an educator could ever do something so useless and pointless with the children's time" is "frightening".
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Separate Vocations" finished 29th in the ratings for the week of February 24–March 1, 1992, with a Nielsen Rating of 14.8, equivalent to approximately 13.6 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week. Nancy Cartwright won an Emmy for her outstanding performance as Bart.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought the episode displayed The Simpsons "at its best – not only hilarious but daringly outspoken on a whole range of issues – the failures of the education system, police abuses of power, the stifling of children's creativity".
Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict said "Separate Vocations" represents The Simpsons "at its apex as a well tuned talent machine grinding out the good stuff with surprising accuracy and skill". Gibron added that the episode shows that "even in territory they're not used to (Bart as a safety patrol, Lisa as a cursing class cut up), the Simpsons' kids are funny and inventive".
Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed rated the episode a four (out of five) and commented that the script's "departure from the traditional roles assigned to Bart and Lisa makes for a fresh experience with many laughs". Meyers thought the highlight of the episode was Bart's ride in the police car. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought the theme of the episode was unoriginal, but commented that Bart's "rapid embrace of fascism" and Lisa's "descent into hooliganism" provide "a number of funny opportunities, and 'Separate Vocations' exploits them well. Though it's not one of the year's best shows, it seems like a good one for the most part."
References
- ^ Reiss, Mike (2003). The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Separate Vocations" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Jean, Al (2003). The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Separate Vocations" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- Groening, Matt (2003). The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Separate Vocations" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- Snow, Dale (February 28, 2001). "Aesthetics of Allusion". The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 51. ISBN 0-8126-9433-3.
- ^ Groening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia (eds.). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN 98141857. OCLC 37796735. OL 433519M..
- ^ Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Separate Vocations". BBC. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
- L. Ott, Brian (July 2007). "Hyperconsious Television". The Small Screen: How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-4051-6154-1.
- ^ Daspit, Toby; Weaver (November 1, 1998). "School is Hell". Popular Culture and Critical Pedagogy: Reading, Constructing, Connecting. John. Routledge. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-8153-2870-4.
- "What we watch, what we don't ...". Austin American-Statesman. Associated Press. March 8, 1992. p. 15.
- "Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search". Emmys.org. Archived from the original on February 15, 2009. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
- "Briefing–'Simpsons' score big in Prime-Time Emmys". Los Angeles Daily News. August 3, 1991. p. L20.
- ^ Gibron, Bill (December 15, 2003). "The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ^ Meyers, Nate (June 23, 2004). "The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season". Digitally Obsessed. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- Jacobson, Colin (August 21, 2003). "The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season (1991)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
