The Crepes of Wrath
Encyclopedia
"The Crepes of Wrath" is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons
' first season
, and originally aired April 15, 1990. The episode was written by George Meyer
, Sam Simon
, John Swartzwelder
and Jon Vitti
, and was directed by Wes Archer
and Milton Gray. In the episode, Bart
is sent to France on a student exchange trip
, where his hosts treat him as a slave. Meanwhile, an Albanian student takes Bart's place in the Simpsons family, and shows great interest in Homer
's work at the nuclear power plant.
The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, and in 1997, David Bauder from TV Guide
named this episode the greatest episode of The Simpsons, and the 17th greatest episode of any television show of all time.
trips over Bart
's skateboard and falls down the stairs, crippling his back, and is confined to the couch for several days. Marge
punishes Bart by forcing him to clean his room and as he does, he discovers an old cherry bomb
among his things. At school the next day, he decides to flush it down the toilet in the boys' restroom with friends, Milhouse, Richard and Lewis. On that day, Principal Skinner's mother accompanies Skinner to school. Bart ends up pulling his prank at the same time as Principal Skinner's mother is using the facilities in the girls' restroom. The resulting explosion blows her off of her seat and enrages Skinner. In order to punish him, Skinner proposes deportation
to Homer and Marge, by having Bart participate in a foreign exchange
program. They decide to send Bart to France, while the Simpsons host a student from the Socialist People's Republic of Albania, named Adil Hoxha. Bart is shown a picture of a lovely château
in the heart of France and he immediately agrees to go, much to Homer and Skinner's delight.
In France, Bart arrives at "Château Maison", which is actually a dilapidated farmhouse on a run-down vineyard. He is greeted by two unscrupulous winemakers, César and his nephew Ugolin, who proceed to treat him like a slave. Bart is starved while being made to carry buckets of water, collect and crush grapes, sleep on the floor, and test wine contaminated
with antifreeze
.
Meanwhile, in Springfield
, Adil arrives and turns out to be very friendly. Homer immediately takes a shine to him, and it is noticeable that he is a better son and role model than Bart ever was. Unbeknown to the family, Adil is actually a spy
sent by his government to obtain blueprints of the Springfield nuclear plant's reactor. Homer unwittingly takes him on a tour of the power plant and thinks nothing of the many photographs Adil takes, which Adil sends home by a secret fax
machine in Bart's tree house.
When Bart is sent by his captors to Paris
to buy a case of antifreeze, he sees a gendarme
and tries to ask for help, but the gendarme does not understand English, and only gives Bart a piece of candy. Bart walks away, despairing over his own stupidity, then suddenly begins speaking French to himself. Realizing he has become fluent in the language, he runs back to the gendarme and tells him everything. The gendarme is shocked that Bart has said that antifreeze was put wine due to being a serious crime. The winemakers are swiftly arrested and Bart finishes his stay in France being hailed as a hero. Back in Springfield, Adil is caught by the FBI. Bart returns to his family, bringing them gifts from France. During the outro scene, Homer has difficulty opening a wine bottle, but is surprised to hear his son speak French, and eventually opens the wine bottle.
. The writers did not know much about the country and could not think of a good name for the boy so they gave him the surname Hoxha
after the former leader of Albania, Enver Hoxha
. They used real Albanian
in the scene where Adil says goodbye to his family, and they tried to get the actual language right if they could at Sam Simon's instigation. They also used real French in the scenes of Bart in France. The writers did some research on a certain airport in France for the shots of Bart at the airport in Paris. Principal Skinner's mother, Agnes Skinner, made her first appearance on The Simpsons in this episode, although her voice was a bit different from what the viewers are used to in the later episodes of the show.
and Manon des Sources. Bart's French gift to Maggie
is a reference to Le Ballon Rouge, a short French children's film. On the way to the chateau, Bart and Ugolin cycle past scenes depicted in several famous paintings, notably Bassin aux nymphéas by Claude Monet
, Champ de blé aux corbeaux
by Vincent Van Gogh
, Le rêve by Henri Rousseau
and Déjeuner sur l'herbe
by Édouard Manet
.
"The Crepes of Wrath" received generally positive reviews from critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, said the episode was a "Tour de Force" and that this was "perhaps the first episode to make the viewer's jaw drop at the audacity and invention of the series' makers". In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 2.5/5, adding: "While the laughs are a bit dry in this episode, the over the top plot is indicative of zaniness to come." Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that "it’s clear that the writers had started to find their groove by the time this episode was produced. From start to finish, 'Crepes' offered a solid experience, as the show began to feature more style and subtlety." Scott Collura at Hollywood Video
praised the episode in a review, saying "it is one of the best of the first season." In 1997, David Bauder from TV Guide named this episode the greatest episode of The Simpsons, and the 17th greatest episode of any television show of all time. In 2006, IGN
listed "The Crepes of Wrath" as the best episode of the first season, saying it "features a strong central storyline, with Bart being shipped off to France as an exchange student and being forced to work for two unscrupulous winemakers that mix antifreeze in their wine." The episode's reference to Le Ballon Rouge was named the third greatest film reference in the history of the show by Nathan Ditum of Total Film
.
In Planet Simpson, author Chris Turner notes that many of the episode's French characters and settings are derived largely from American stereotypes of France, writing "[Caeser and Ugolin] are perfect embodiments of the stereotypical Frenchman so loathed in the United States." The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies."
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 1)
The Simpsons first season originally aired between December 17, 1989 and May 13, 1990, beginning with the Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". The show runners for the first production season were Matt Groening, James L...
, and originally aired April 15, 1990. The episode was written by George Meyer
George Meyer
George A. Meyer is an American producer and writer. Raised in Tucson, Arizona in a Roman Catholic family, Meyer attended Harvard University. There, after becoming president of the Harvard Lampoon, he graduated in 1978 with a degree in biochemistry. Abandoning plans to attend medical school, Meyer...
, Sam Simon
Sam Simon
Samuel "Sam" Simon is an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist. While at Stanford University, Simon worked as a newspaper cartoonist and after graduating became a storyboard artist at Filmation Studios. He submitted a spec script for the sitcom Taxi, which was...
, John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti is an American writer best known for his work on the television series The Simpsons. He has also written for the King of the Hill and The Critic series, and has served as a consultant for several animated movies, including Ice Age and Robots...
, and was directed by Wes Archer
Wes Archer
Wesley Meyer Archer is a television animation director. He was one of the original three animators on The Simpsons' Tracey Ullman shorts and subsequently directed a number of The Simpsons episodes before becoming supervising director at King of the Hill. A...
and Milton Gray. In the episode, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is sent to France on a student exchange trip
Student exchange program
A student exchange program generally could be defined as a program where students from secondary school or university choose to study abroad in partner institutions...
, where his hosts treat him as a slave. Meanwhile, an Albanian student takes Bart's place in the Simpsons family, and shows great interest in Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
's work at the nuclear power plant.
The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, and in 1997, David Bauder from TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
named this episode the greatest episode of The Simpsons, and the 17th greatest episode of any television show of all time.
Plot
HomerHomer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
trips over Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
's skateboard and falls down the stairs, crippling his back, and is confined to the couch for several days. Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
punishes Bart by forcing him to clean his room and as he does, he discovers an old cherry bomb
Cherry bomb
Cherry Bombs are approximately spherical shaped exploding fireworks, ranging in size from three-quarters-inch to one-and-one-half-inch in diameter...
among his things. At school the next day, he decides to flush it down the toilet in the boys' restroom with friends, Milhouse, Richard and Lewis. On that day, Principal Skinner's mother accompanies Skinner to school. Bart ends up pulling his prank at the same time as Principal Skinner's mother is using the facilities in the girls' restroom. The resulting explosion blows her off of her seat and enrages Skinner. In order to punish him, Skinner proposes deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
to Homer and Marge, by having Bart participate in a foreign exchange
Student exchange program
A student exchange program generally could be defined as a program where students from secondary school or university choose to study abroad in partner institutions...
program. They decide to send Bart to France, while the Simpsons host a student from the Socialist People's Republic of Albania, named Adil Hoxha. Bart is shown a picture of a lovely château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
in the heart of France and he immediately agrees to go, much to Homer and Skinner's delight.
In France, Bart arrives at "Château Maison", which is actually a dilapidated farmhouse on a run-down vineyard. He is greeted by two unscrupulous winemakers, César and his nephew Ugolin, who proceed to treat him like a slave. Bart is starved while being made to carry buckets of water, collect and crush grapes, sleep on the floor, and test wine contaminated
Wine fraud
Wine fraud is a form of fraud in which wines are sold to a customer illicitly, usually having the customer spend more money than the product is worth, or causing sickness due to harmful chemicals being mixed into the wine...
with antifreeze
Ethylene glycol
Ethylene glycol is an organic compound widely used as an automotive antifreeze and a precursor to polymers. In its pure form, it is an odorless, colorless, syrupy, sweet-tasting liquid...
.
Meanwhile, in Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
, Adil arrives and turns out to be very friendly. Homer immediately takes a shine to him, and it is noticeable that he is a better son and role model than Bart ever was. Unbeknown to the family, Adil is actually a spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
sent by his government to obtain blueprints of the Springfield nuclear plant's reactor. Homer unwittingly takes him on a tour of the power plant and thinks nothing of the many photographs Adil takes, which Adil sends home by a secret fax
Fax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
machine in Bart's tree house.
When Bart is sent by his captors to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to buy a case of antifreeze, he sees a gendarme
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
and tries to ask for help, but the gendarme does not understand English, and only gives Bart a piece of candy. Bart walks away, despairing over his own stupidity, then suddenly begins speaking French to himself. Realizing he has become fluent in the language, he runs back to the gendarme and tells him everything. The gendarme is shocked that Bart has said that antifreeze was put wine due to being a serious crime. The winemakers are swiftly arrested and Bart finishes his stay in France being hailed as a hero. Back in Springfield, Adil is caught by the FBI. Bart returns to his family, bringing them gifts from France. During the outro scene, Homer has difficulty opening a wine bottle, but is surprised to hear his son speak French, and eventually opens the wine bottle.
Production
"The Crepes of Wrath" was the first episode of The Simpsons for which George Meyer was credited as a writer, and he wrote it together with Sam Simon, John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti. The episode was inspired by the French movie Manon of the Spring. The writers were trying to figure out which country the foreign exchange student should come from when they came up with Albania. They had not seen many uses of the country on television and decided to make the episode a tribute to Albanian John BelushiJohn Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
. The writers did not know much about the country and could not think of a good name for the boy so they gave him the surname Hoxha
Hoxha
Hoxha is an Albanian surname and variant of the title Hodja, and could refer to several people:* Iljaz Hoxha, Albanian Janissary, scientist, and personal teacher to Ottoman Empire's sultan Bayezid II....
after the former leader of Albania, Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
. They used real Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
in the scene where Adil says goodbye to his family, and they tried to get the actual language right if they could at Sam Simon's instigation. They also used real French in the scenes of Bart in France. The writers did some research on a certain airport in France for the shots of Bart at the airport in Paris. Principal Skinner's mother, Agnes Skinner, made her first appearance on The Simpsons in this episode, although her voice was a bit different from what the viewers are used to in the later episodes of the show.
Cultural references
César and Ugolin are named after the peasants from the 1986 French films Jean de FloretteJean de Florette
Jean de Florette is a 1986 French historical drama film directed by Claude Berri, based on a novel by Marcel Pagnol. It is part of a duology, and is followed by Manon des Sources. The film takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers scheme to trick a newcomer out of his newly inherited...
and Manon des Sources. Bart's French gift to Maggie
Maggie Simpson
Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James...
is a reference to Le Ballon Rouge, a short French children's film. On the way to the chateau, Bart and Ugolin cycle past scenes depicted in several famous paintings, notably Bassin aux nymphéas by Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Champ de blé aux corbeaux
Wheat Field with Crows
Wheatfield with Crows is a July 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh. It is commonly but mistakenly stated that this was Van Gogh's last painting...
by Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, Le rêve by Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier , a humorous description of his occupation as a toll collector...
and Déjeuner sur l'herbe
The Luncheon on the Grass
Le déjeuner sur l'herbe – originally titled Le Bain – is a large oil on canvas painting by Édouard Manet created in 1862 and 1863. The painting depicts the juxtaposition of a female nude and a scantily dressed female bather on a picnic with two fully dressed men in a rural setting...
by Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "The Crepes of Wrath" finished 29th place in the weekly ratings for the week of April 9–April 15, 1990 with a Nielsen rating of 15.9. It was the second highest rated show on the Fox Network that week."The Crepes of Wrath" received generally positive reviews from critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, said the episode was a "Tour de Force" and that this was "perhaps the first episode to make the viewer's jaw drop at the audacity and invention of the series' makers". In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 2.5/5, adding: "While the laughs are a bit dry in this episode, the over the top plot is indicative of zaniness to come." Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that "it’s clear that the writers had started to find their groove by the time this episode was produced. From start to finish, 'Crepes' offered a solid experience, as the show began to feature more style and subtlety." Scott Collura at Hollywood Video
Hollywood Video
Hollywood Entertainment Corporation , known as Hollywood Video, was a VHS, DVD, and video game rental shop company started in 1988...
praised the episode in a review, saying "it is one of the best of the first season." In 1997, David Bauder from TV Guide named this episode the greatest episode of The Simpsons, and the 17th greatest episode of any television show of all time. In 2006, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed "The Crepes of Wrath" as the best episode of the first season, saying it "features a strong central storyline, with Bart being shipped off to France as an exchange student and being forced to work for two unscrupulous winemakers that mix antifreeze in their wine." The episode's reference to Le Ballon Rouge was named the third greatest film reference in the history of the show by Nathan Ditum of Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
.
In Planet Simpson, author Chris Turner notes that many of the episode's French characters and settings are derived largely from American stereotypes of France, writing "[Caeser and Ugolin] are perfect embodiments of the stereotypical Frenchman so loathed in the United States." The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies."
External links
- "The Crepes of Wrath" at The Simpsons.com