 Kurt M. Koenigsberger analyzed a scene from the episode in his piece " Commodity Culture and Its Discontents " , published in the compilation work Leaving Springfield : The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture edited by John Alberti . He commented that The Simpsons ' literary and cultural awareness extends to the " conventions of its own medium " in this episode . Bart criticizes an Itchy & Scratchy episode because Itchy stakes down Scratchy 's appendages and props his belly to form a tent with faulty knots . With Homer looking on from the couch , Lisa reminds Bart that cartoons do not simply reproduce reality , a point hammered on as a second Homer meanders past the living @-@ room window . Koenigsberger said that " this moment and many others like it reveal a strong sense of self @-@ awareness within the show , an awareness especially characteristic of high modernism . " 
