''Don't Ask me, I'm Just a Girl'': Feminism, Female Identity, and The ...

Don’t Ask me, I’m Just a Girl 277
thinking about her past and her family, reconsiders her choice. Instead
of going on to the Fiesta Terrace to meet Jacques, Marge drives to the
Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. What we are given next is a beautiful
parody of the ending of An Officer and a Gentleman, complete with
cheesy theme music, although in this situation the gender norms—
and, by extension, the conventions of romance in mass media—are
inverted, for it is the woman, Marge, who surprises the man, Homer, at
the workplace and offers a confession of love.
In ‘‘Homer’s Night Out,’’ infidelity is again the issue, but this time
the roles are reversed. The problems begin when Bart uses his novelty
spy camera to snap a photo of Homer dancing suggestively with a
stripper at a friend’s stag party. The image is soon photocopied by
Bart’s friends and quickly circulated around Springfield. When Marge
discovers the photo, she is understandably upset and kicks Homer out
of the house for the night. When Homer returns, he apologizes to
Marge, although it is clear to both her and the viewer that he does not
really know what he is apologizing for. As she and Homer discuss the
situation, Marge says that what bothers her most is that Homer
‘‘taught Bart a very bad lesson,’’ and she explains her feelings to Homer
as follows: ‘‘Your boy idolizes you . . . and when he sees you treating
women as objects, he’s going to think it’s ok. You owe your son better
than that, Homer.’’ What follows in the rest of this episode is an
assertion of a feminist sensibility, initiated by Marge but intriguingly
voiced through Homer. Marge insists that Homer take Bart to meet
the ‘‘exotic belly-person’’ and apologize for the way he has treated her
because she wants Bart to see that ‘‘this other woman is a real human
being with real thoughts and real feelings.’’ Homer finds Princess
Kashmir at a local dance club and explains that he is there ‘‘to apologize
for treating [her] like an object.’’ He then reiterates Marge’s sentiments
and states: ‘‘I also want my boy to find out that you’re more
than just a belly. I want him to meet the woman behind all the
spangles and glitter, and find out that she has thoughts and feelings
too.’’ In typical Simpsons fashion, nothing remains completely serious
for long: as Homer is talking, he is inadvertently lifted up in the air
along with Princess Kashmir in the cage in which she will perform and
subsequently dropped back onto the stage below. When members of
the audience recognize Homer as the ‘‘swinging cat’’ from the photo,
they begin to cheer; at this point, the music starts up again, the dancers
begin their routine, and Homer spontaneously participates, but when