223: The Simpsons Does a Riff on Lesbian Cult Classic

“Lisa the Drama Queen” (January 25, 2009)

So here’s an interesting one. In its twentieth season, The Simpson did an episode inspired by Heavenly Creatures, the 1994 Peter Jackson movie that has Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey playing schoolgirls who flee into a fantasy world and also each other. More than a decade later, this story would play out again, only with Lisa Simpson and a new character voiced by Emily Blunt, and that might seem like a strange combo, especially because the Simpson version nixes the sex and violence of the original, but it nonetheless works.

Special thanks to the writer of this episode, Brian Kelley, for sharing his memories of how this episode came to be.

For a limited time, you can still screen Heavenly Creatures via the GEE Patreon, but that window is closing. Info here.

Listen to Drew on the In Retrospect podcast’s episodes about the “lesbian/Lebanese” joke (part one & part two).

Episode artwork by Ian O’Phelan.