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."