YMMV / The Simpsons S11E17 "Bart to the Future"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Though this version of the future looks bad for Bart, the story is supposed to serve as a cautionary tale for what would happen if he does not change his ways. The storyteller aims to be pessimistic for that purpose. This also suggests that this future is not fixed and that Bart still has the option to build a more successful life for himself if he starts taking his life more seriously.
  • Bart's references to two current lawsuits: is he the plaintiff, or the attorney? Bart isn't seen practicing law in the episode, but other future scenarios depict him as planning to go to law school and becoming Supreme Court Justice, and he did want to follow in Lionel Hutz' footsteps, which explains his frivolous cases and lack of money.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Ned is revealed to have been rendered completely blind from Lasik eye surgery, which caused his eyeballs to fall out. In the years since this episode's airing, eye surgery has come under fire for its side effects and long-term impacts on people's vision.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This episode did not slouch in predicting a Donald Trump presidency. (Note that around the time the episode was made, Trump actually tried to run for President, albeit as a third-party candidate; it just took him until 2015 to catch on).
  • While the episode did not accurately predict a woman succeeding Trump (that would be Joe Biden), Kamala Harris did become the first woman to serve as Vice President immediately after Trump left office. Not only that, but at the inauguration, she wore almost an exact replica of what President Lisa wears in the episode◊.
  • In the end of the episode, Lisa asks Bart how she could repay him for helping her administration out. He simply says "Legalize it," and she responds with "Consider it done." In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. Throughout The New '10s, more states followed through with either legalizing it fully or relaxing some of their laws. As of 2021, recreational marijuana is legal in 15 states, decriminalized in 16 states, and several others are making efforts to legalize it in the future.
• Memetic Mutation: Bart's line that he uses to convince people to give him what he wants, "What happened to you, man? You used to be cool!", sees a lot of use among the Latin American fandom, usually to describe someone popular who does something perceived as unpopular.
• Signature Scene: Lisa's first day as President, where it's revealed that Donald Trump was her predecessor, became very famous in 2016 due to memes involving his election. It has since become one of the biggest examples people use as a staple of the show “predicting the future.”
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • Lisa's comment that she was the "first, straight female President" was likely a reference to a popular contemporaneous satirical supermarket-tabloid story that Abraham Lincoln was secretly a woman in drag.
  • Lenny's line, "Don't blame me. I voted for Chastity Bono," readily dates the episode to before Chaz Bono came out as a trans man in 2009.

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