The Simpsons - Cape Fear (Amy Leadbitter)

In the early 60's J. Lee Thomson directed a film called 'Cape Fear'. In the early 90's, this film was remade with the same name, and again in the 90's, The Simpsons remade this with a slightly different name of 'Cape Feare'.

1962 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Fear_(1962_film)

1991 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Fear_(1991_film)

1993 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Feare

Mood - Dark mood; murder and revenge; with a comedy twist using physical jokes.

Mise en scene

There is low key lighting when there are scenes with Sideshow Bob writing death threats to Bart Simpson and also in the movie theatre and on the house boat, when Sideshow Bob is attempting to kill Bart. The rest of the episode is relatively light. Since it is usually only dark with Sideshow Bob, it is like he is making it dark for Bart.

The non diagetic soundtrack in this episode is in a minor key and is only usually when Sideshow Bob is in the scene. The same music is used every time we see Sideshow Bob, so from that we can associate that particular music with him, and when this music is playing, it builds tension in the episode. There is not much diagetic sound, apart from everyday sounds, which does not add suspense to the episode as a whole.

In this episode, Bart Simpson spends a lot of the time nervous, or scared, and his body language shows this. He shakes and shivers a lot, and when the family is on the houseboat, Bart runs up to Homer and Marge to tell them about Sideshow Bob, and his feet are still moving very rapidly when he gets there, in a panicked fashion. His eyes are also very big in this scene.

The whole episode has the same darkness of the films, but it has a comic twist by adding light-hearted jokes. In one scene, the family has moved into a houseboat to escape from Sideshow Bob. We see Bart in his bed, tossing and turning, trying to sleep, and then the door creaks open. Homer then runs in with a knife and a oven tray and he shouts very quickly "Bart do you want a brownie before you go to bed!!". Bart screams and Homer then starts cutting the brownies into squares and talking in a relaxed voice. He then leaves, but runs back into the room brandishing a live chainsaw and wearing a hockey mask (Friday 13th), shouts "Bart do you want to see my new chainsaw and hockey mask!!". Bart screams, and Homer leaves the room embarrassed. There is also a scene in which Sideshow Bob repeatedly steps on rakes.

In my opinion, this is a strange twist of a thriller, but personally I would still class it as a thriller, due to the mise en scene and plot of the episode.