Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 June 5

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June 5

Ah, the ballet...

Some days ago I have seen the Simpsons episode "Marge on the Lam", translated to Spanish for Latin America. Marge gets a pair of tickets for the ballet, and Homer likes the idea. But then, we have a view of Homer thoughts: he thinks that "ballet" is a bear driving a small car in a circus. Of course, this causes problems when Homer finds out the real meaning of ballet: people dancing with boring music.

I did not understand that joke. Is it a joke about multiple meanings of "ballet" in English, which got lost in the translation? (in Spanish, "ballet" is the dance, and nothing else). Or is it some type of non sequitur humor, with Homer confusing ballet with the bear in the little car absolutely for no reason at all? Cambalachero (talk) 17:52, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

The second one. I guess the joke is suggesting that Homer really isn't that cultured to know what ballet is, and/or the last thing he saw wearing a tutu was a bear in the circus. --McDoobAU93 17:56, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Agreed, many Homer jokes come down to him being ignorant. Some interesting reading and refs at Homer_Simpson#Analysis. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:51, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

This time the joke extends to Lenny and Carl too - in the next scene, Lenny also thinks ballet is "the bear driving around in the tiny car". Just a funny non sequitur. Adam Bishop (talk) 23:45, 5 June 2014 (UTC)