While at a nail salon, Marge and Lisa argue over whether or not a woman can be smart, beautiful, and powerful all at once, which leads to yet another Simpsons anthology show, featuring four stories of women trying to survive in a man's world: Aunt Selma defending England as Queen Elizabeth I, Lisa in a non-copyright-infringing retelling of Disney's Snow White, Marge pushing Homer to be a great Shakespearean actor in a modern-day version of Macbeth, and Maggie fighting against conformity in a parody of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: True to her feminist beliefs, Lisa's version of Snow White ends not with the princess being awoken by a prince but instead by a lady doctor.
- Adaptational Villainy: Sort of. In the original Macbeth, Lady Macbeth ends up so racked with guilt over the murders she convinces her husband to commit that she kills herself. Marge-as-Lady Macbeth feels no such guilt and dies because the vengeful ghosts of her husband's victims attack her.
- Anachronism Stew: Despite the fairy tale setting, the characters in Snow White have access to modern-day technology. Such as the dwarves operating an advanced mining system, the Evil Queen having a magic HD television, to Willie using construction paper.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Homer's acting is so bad that every single other member of the play, including those playing objects and the stage crew are in line to play the lead role before him.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- At the diamond mine, the dwarves use their pickaxes to hit the buttons of the panel that controls the mine's machinery.
- The King of Spain justifies his interest on Krusty by claiming he likes a man that makes him laugh, but he'll open an exception for Krusty.
- When Snow White is trying beds at the dwarves' home, she says the first one is too hard and the second one is too soft. Upon trying the third bed, she smiles and say it's just (her smile changes into a frown) as hard as the first one and settles for the too soft.
- At the start of the 3rd story, it appears that it will be a Simpsons style retelling of Macbeth. It furs out that Marge is just wearing a blanket and washing costumes on a castle set.
- Bullying a Dragon: Moe instinctively calls Elizabeth I Grendel when he sees her in a Modesty Towel.
- Comically Missing the Point: With how often Homer either reads the wrong lines, or fails to recognize the dialogue from Macbeth, it’s little wonder he was initially passed up for the role.
- Daycare Nightmare: The daycare center on Maggie's short is run by a man who forces kids to conform to be all alike... that is, mediocre and accepting it. When Maggie wishes to keep making pretty art and structures with anything at hand, he goes to war with her.
- Defiant to the End: Unlike the traditional and Disney versions where Snow White willingly ate the poisoned apple, this version tried her best to resist eating the fruit and had to be force fed by the Evil Queen.
- Die Laughing: Fittingly enough, Homer kills Dr. Hibbert by flooding his room with laughing gas in the "Macbeth" segment.Homer: He who laughs last, laughs dead.
- Distinction Without a Difference: When Marge says that Elizabeth I was missing something:Lisa: Please, don't say a manMarge: No, a husband!
- Driven to Suicide: Homer, when Marge suggests he start a career as a Shakespearian actor.Homer: The real murder would be having to read all those plays.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The evil witch is gored to death by the forest animals in the Snow White story. The camera points off screen to show their shadows on the wall.
- Gotta Kill Them All: Marge demands Homer kill everyone in the play who is ahead of him to take the lead role, which as his acting is so bad, is literally 'everyone'. Including those who weren't actually actors.
- Herbivores Are Friendly: Lampshaded when the Wicked Witch of Snow White mocks a group of cute Woodland Creatures, most of which are herbivores. The critters proceed to gang up and tear the witch apart as she screams in agony.
- Hidden Depths: Homer can play a good Macbeth. But he literally would prefer to die than make the effort.
- Insulting from Behind the Language Barrier: Maggie holds up a U block and points to her pacifier while sucking on it, with the subtitles "You suck".
- Jerkass:
- The daycare center guy in Maggie's story decides to be a complete jerk to Maggie when she proves herself to be exceedingly talented unlike the other babies.
- Marge was at her worst in the Macbeth story. She was obsessed with making Homer the lead of the play and she selfishly orders him to murder every single person in it, ignoring her sisters warning and Homer's unhappiness. Even as a ghost, she still didn't learn her lesson until Homer shoots himself.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Based on the author's photo for The Fountainhead, Agnes Skinner thinks Ayn Rand is a really hot guy.
- Lady Macbeth: Marge plays this role during her story. She wants Homer to succeed as an actor, but she encourages him to kill people to achieve that success.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The ghosts of all the people Homer killed get back at Marge by giving her a fright-induced heart attack that leads to her death as punishment for encouraging Homer to kill them in order to be a better actor. Even in death as a ghost she doesn't get the last laugh; instead of seeing Homer succeed thanks to her drive, Homer shoots himself dead, leaving Marge no way to have him do what she wants.
- Laughing Gas: In the Macbeth segment, Homer uses laughing gas on Dr. Hibbert. He dies of laughter after he can't open a window and failed to call for help.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After the Macbeth segment, Marge declares, "That's it. Three stories. That's all we always tell." However, since the show switched to a four-act format with this season, there's time for a fourth.
- Lysistrata Gambit: When the ghosts of Homer's victims confront Marge, Lenny mentions this as the main reason Homer listened to her.
- Married to the Job: In the end of her segment, Elizabeth I declares that she doesn't need a man to be happy as she has her country instead. Moe sarcastically tells her to keep saying that.
- Never My Fault: When all of Homer’s victims in the Macbeth story turn their rage towards Marge, she tries to get them to leave her alone by throwing Homer under the bus. They remind her that she pushed Homer to murder due to her selfish ambition.
- Off with His Head!: One of Elizabeth I's suitors was Ralph Wiggum, who shouted "Off with my head!"
- The witch in the "Snow White" segment gets torn apart by woodland creatures and her head is seen impaled on a deer's antlers.
- Public Domain Character: Discussed before the "Snow White" segment; a lawyer insists that Lisa's telling would be infringing copyright because, according to him, the story is owned by Disney. Lisa retorts that "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" is a classical fairy tale and thus no one actually owns it.
- Running Gag: Groundskeeper Willy can’t bring himself to do things like stabbing Snow White, a pig, or even red construction paper.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: A really brutal example. After Homer manages to act his ass out as "Macbeth", Marge's ghost praises him and then shows him all of the other Shakespeare works she wishes him to do. Homer blows his brains out right then and there.
- Shout-Out: While looking for the seven dwarves' home, Snow White sees a house of gingerbread and Grandma's house. The wolf is already at the second one. Later, when she's trying beds at the dwarves' home, she says the first one is too hard and the second one is too soft.
- Smoking Hot Sex: Elizabeth I (as represented by Selma) tries tobacco for the first time and comments, "If I ever have sex this'll be great afterwards."
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: While singing a Song Parody of "Heigh-Ho", the dwarves claim that it's not like any song the viewers have ever heard before.
- Take That!: Lisa calls The Fountainhead "The bible for right-wing losers."
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: Affects Maggie in Marge's retelling of The Fountainhead.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: King Julio, who kills one of his servants for showing typical Springfieldian idiocy.
- The Voiceless: Subverted with Maggie in her story. She has a scene where she actually speaks in fluent English (with the voice of Jodie Foster). This is one of the few scenes where she speaks.
- Writing Around Trademarks: The dwarves in Lisa's version of Snow White don't have the same names the dwarves in Disney's version have. There's a close call with Doc... tor Hibbert.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Queen planned on killing Willie after he finished murdering her step-daughter.
- You Wanna Get Sued?: The version of the Dwarves song that plays over the closing credits has them singing "if Disney sues we'll claim fair use."
