Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield

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The Simpsons episode
"Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield"

Marge at the country club
Episode no.	142
Prod. code	3F11
Orig. airdate	February 4, 1996
Show runner(s)	Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein
Written by	Jennifer Crittenden
Directed by	Susie Dietter
Couch gag	The living room is bathed in black light, with the Simpsons in fluorescent colors while a hard rock guitar riff plays. Homer turns the light on and everything returns to normal.
Guest star(s)	Tom Kite as himself
DVD commentary	Matt Groening Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein Susie Dietter
Season 7 September 17 1995 – May 19 1996
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two) Radioactive Man Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily Bart Sells His Soul Lisa the Vegetarian Treehouse of Horror VI King-Size Homer Mother Simpson Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular Marge Be Not Proud Team Homer Two Bad Neighbors Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield Bart the Fink Lisa the Iconoclast Homer the Smithers The Day the Violence Died A Fish Called Selma Bart on the Road 22 Short Films About Springfield Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish" Much Apu About Nothing Homerpalooza Summer of 4 Ft. 2
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"Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield" is the 14th episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. The title is an allusion to the film Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills.

Plot

Homer with Tom Kite

The family's TV breaks down (thanks to Grampa trying to figure out how to change the channel after having to sit through an episode of the Spanish Bumblebee Man's sitcom), and they go buy a new one at an outlet mall in Ogdenville. Homer sees TVs from electronic brands, including Panaphonics, a parody of genuine products from Panasonic, Magnetbox, a parody of Magnavox, and Sorny, a parody of Sony. Then, the owner of the store lets them choose a TV from French electronics giant Carnivale. While the family is there, Marge sees a $90 Chanel suit (marked down from $2800). After some coaxing from Lisa, she buys it, and is wearing it at the Kwik-E-Mart when she meets an old high school acquaintance, Evelyn Peters, who invites her to the Springfield Country Club. Marge begins visiting the country club with the family, and works hard to fit in with the snobbish members, finding less time for her children and spending it all socializing and altering her suit to appear like multiple outfits. Meanwhile, Homer takes a fondness to the game of golf, meeting PGA Tour pro Tom Kite, who considers Homer to be a natural. When he discovers Homer showing off his impressive skills in a bathroom at work, Mr. Burns has Waylon Smithers schedule a match for the two. Burns appears to be an amazing player before it is revealed that Smithers has been cheating on his behalf for decades by secretly placing a ball on the green for each shot, leading Burns to believe that he has reached the green himself. Homer wants to reveal the truth, but is told that Mr. Burns will block the family's Country Club entry if he goes public. He reluctantly obliges to keeping the secret. On the eve of the gala ball in which the Simpsons will be granted membership in the country club, Marge accidentally destroys the suit when Lisa is distracting her, and rushes back to the outlet mall to find another dress. Being unable to find one, she heads to a Chanel store to purchase an expensive replacement. As they approach the country club, Marge realizes how she has changed to fit in and decides that she would not want to join a club that would have the fictional, snobbish Marge, anyway. (It is revealed in a cutaway scene that the country club members really did like them, and were really looking forward to their joining.) The Simpsons then have dinner instead at Krusty Burger, reveling in the lower-class surroundings.

Cultural references

This episode features an appearance of the fictional electronics brands Panaphonics, Sorny and Magnetbox.
Marge's Chanel suit is similar to the one Jackie Kennedy wore to Dallas when her husband was killed; Marge's mother is named Jacqueline Bouvier.
Mr. Burns' having his assistant help him cheat at golf using new balls is a possible reference to Goldfinger, where the title character does the same, the difference being that Goldfinger's cheating was intentional, while Mr. Burns remained unaware.
Several of the golfing scenes also directly parody the movie Caddyshack, including when Homer throws his club in anger and accidentally hits a person (in this case Krusty), which is similar to when Judge Smails (played by Ted Knight) throws his club after missing a short putt. At this point, Tom Kite runs away from the injured Krusty in a fashion very similar to when Carl (played by Bill Murray) runs away from the bishop who is lying unconscious on the green after being struck by lightning.
Krusty's line "I always knew my kind wasn't welcome here" is a reference to the controversy surrounding some private golf clubs in the United States which at the time did not have any Jewish members.
While Marge is vacuuming, there is a scene on television of an opera. The opera is La Traviata, by Giuseppe Verdi. The aria being sung is called "Sempre Libera".