Cape Fear
Cape Fear (the film) The plot of Cape Fear was adapted from John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel, The Executioners. The novel was not nearly as brutal as the 1962 and 1991 film adaptations. Here is a link for the 1962 trailer and here is a link for the 1991 trailer. Here is a link to Cape Fear song that Matt mentions on page 3.
Plot: Fourteen years ago, Max Cady was charged as a violent sex offender and his attorney, Sam Bowden knowingly withheld evidence that would acquit Max. After spending fourteen years in prison Cady is released and devotes himself to destroy Sam. He kills the family’s dog, attacks a young woman connected to the family, and threatens Bowden’s family. The police refuse to interfere and Cady deflects all of Bowden’s attempts to track him down. Bowden and his family move to a houseboat on Cape Fear but Cady follow them. Cady finally murders Bowden on a confrontation on a boat.
Cape Feare (The Simpsons episode) Cape Feare is considered one of the best episodes into the entire series and the score received an Emmy Award nomination. Click here to watch the full episode.
Plot: After receiving death threats in the mail, Bart becomes paranoid. Sideshow Bob turns out to be the letter-writer, who is incarcerated in the Springfield State Prison. The parole board is convinced that Sideshow Bob is no longer a threat 
and Marge tells Sideshow Bob to stay away from Bart when they run into him at the cinema. The Simpsons relocate to Terror Lake, become part of the Witness Protection Program and change their surname to “Thompson.” Despite taking these drastic measures to escape their enemy, Sideshow Bob has tied himself to the underside of the car. While the Simpsons sleep comfortably in their houseboat, Sideshow Bob cuts the houseboat from the dock and ties up the whole family and their dog. As Sideshow Bob prepares to kill Bart, Bart compliments Sideshow Bob on his beautiful voice and asks him to sing the entire score of the H.M.S. Pinafore to stall time for the houseboat to float to Springfield. After the performance, Sideshow Bob tries to kill Bart, but the boat has reached Springfield. Sideshow Bob is arrested, and the Simpsons return home.
The Simpsons Characters
Bart: (pg. 1) Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright) loves pranks which range from being harmless to very cruel and destructive. He dislikes authority figures and spends much of his time in detention from his elaborate schemes. Bart is also very intelligent; in Crepes of Wrath, Bart went on an exchange trip learned French simply from being in the presence of Cesar and Ugolin.
Lisa: (pg. 1) Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) is a saxophonist, middle child, and strong advocate for her beliefs. In Last Exit to Springfield Lisa leads the town in a strike against the nuclear power plant which has turned off the power for the whole town. Here is a link to the Union Fight Song that I think is very characteristic of Lisa as a liberal voice of reason. Lisa is also a vegetarian, a Buddhist, and advocates for the Tibetan independence movement.
Marge: (pg. 4) Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner) portrayed as the stereotypical sitcom mother provides the voice of reasons amidst the chaos of her children and her husband. Her family is entirely dependant on her as evidenced in the episode Marge in Chains where Marge goes to jail and her family and the entire town spirals. She is usually able to handle her family’s problems, in Homer Alone, her workload and stress result in a mental breakdown. Marge occasionally exhibits superhuman strength. She has been seen “lifting Homer off the ground easily several times, including picking him up and throwing him through the bedroom door.
Homer: Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) is the protagonist of the show. He exhibits frequent stupidity, laziness, and explosive anger. Director, Silverman describes him as “creatively brilliant in his stupidity” as evidenced by this clip. While Homer is frequently dim-witted, he has a surprising amount of knowledge about specific topics and is fluent in many languages. Homer is characteristically over-confident, no matter has much actual skill or knowledge he has.
Moe: Moe Syzlak (Hank Azaria) is the owner and bartender at Moe’s Tavern, a Springfield bar that Homer and his friends frequent. Moe is characteristically irritable except to his bar pals, Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney. According to Wikipedia, “Moe is portrayed with a generally disagreeable personality: he has a short, violent temper, a penurious nature, a crass and undiplomatic manner of speech, and a mood that rapidly vacillates between anger, indifference, and suicidal despair…He is easily irritated, frequently threatening the patrons at his bar with a shotgun he keeps behind the counter. He is also gullible, and Bart’s unending chain of successful prank calls to his bar are particularly infuriating to him, inevitably prompting a torrent of Red Deutsch-style threats of gruesome bodily harm in return.”
The Itchy & Scratchy Show: (pg 2) Itchy & Scratchy (Dan Castellaneta and Harry Shearer) centers around Scratchy, a dim-witted black cat who is at the mercy of the sadistic mouse, Itchy. The Itchy & Scratchy Show is a favorite of Bart and Lisa who laugh uproariously. Itchy & Scratchy parodies traditional cartoons. The most obvious example is the 1940’s slapstick cartoon Tom and Jerry which also focuses on a cat and mouse who torture each other. Animator, Mike Reiss said, “People for years have asked when we’re going to do an Itchy and Scratchy spin-off. To test the possibility, our production team cut together every single ‘Itchy & Scratchy’ short. It lasted just fourteen minutes – some of those cartoons are only nine seconds long – and contained such concentrated gore and mindless violence that it made people physically ill.”
Mr. Burns: (Harry Shearer) Charles Montgomery Burns is the 104-year-old owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Matt Groening based Mr. Burns off of his high school teacher, Mr. Bailey, and oil moguls, John D. Rockefeller and David Rockefeller, two of the wealthiest people in modern history. Mr. Burns embodies corporate greed and releases his attack hounds on those who request charity. His plant is full of safety violations and was fined $3 million for illegally dumping nuclear waste in a public park. Despite his power and wealth, he has the physical strength of an infant and relies on his servant, Smithers (who harbors an unsaid, unrequited love for Mr. Burns) to do his bidding. Animator David Silver based Mr. Burns’ appearance on Fox founder Barry Diller and modeled his body off of a praying mantis. Due to his extreme age, Mr. Burns often makes outdated references and his notably rubs his hands together and says, “Exxxxcellent.”
Sideshow Bob: (pg. 5) Robert Underdunk Terwilliger Jr., PhD, is a member of the Republican Party, a graduate of Yale University, and self-proclaimed genius. He worked for the Krusty the Clown tv show where he adopted the name “Sideshow Bob.” Bob is morally slippery and notably framed Krusty the Clown for armed robbery after enduring constant abuse. The plan was ruined by Bart and Sideshow Bob was sent to prison.
Blinky: Blinky is a three-eyed mutant fish, frequently found outside of Mr. Burns’ nuclear power plant. In the episode, Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish Marge attempts to serve him for dinner.
Prosecutor/Lawyer: (pg. 10): The Blue Haired Lawyer (Dan Castellaneta) is one of Mr. Burns’ lawyers and often opposes the Simpsons in court. His voice is based on Roy Cohn’s.
Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play 