Did someone catch the "reverse Cyrano" in episode "Stupid Girl"!?

I thought there was a very clever allusion in the episode where Malcolm would like to date this very plain and pretty dumb girl Allison, and Reese offers his services to 'dumb down' Malcolm's speech to impress her, actually prompting him behind his locker door!

In Edmond Rostand's play "Cyrano de Bergerac" (there are movie versions of this piece, a musical and a Steve Martin movie parody called 'Roxanne'), noble Roxane is in love with young cadet Christian, a very handsome and courageous young man, who happens to lack the fancy words to woo her. Cyrano, Roxane's cousin, is Christian's superior at the academy, and thinks Christian would be an excellent match for Roxane. Because Cyrano is quite the orator and poet, he decides to make up for Christian's one flaw by reciting beautiful love poetry to her in the dark, pretending to be Christian.

So, in MITM terms, athletic and quite handsome (in his way) Reese could have enlisted Malcolm to write or prompt words for him to impress a girl far cleverer than him, but here we see the reverse happen! I thought that was a very smart twist!

Rich

well yes that was quite obvious. But I wouldnt say "very clever allusion" lol. (but maybe it's not as obvious for non-french ppl.)

tedwilder said:

well yes that was quite obvious. But I wouldnt say "very clever allusion" lol. (but maybe it's not as obvious for non-french ppl.)

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No one's remarked on it yet, so I did . Well, I've seen a British stage version of the play starring Derek Jacobi, and of course I've seen the great Rappeneau movie version with the commanding Gérard Depardieu. Nice alexandrins too .

Rich

By the way, Ted, what did you make of the 'French' phrase you wondered about and I replied to? It's on the next forum page, a bit down. In the meantime, I got another possibly French source of inspiration in. Le Ballon Rouge is on the next page too.

Yes the movie with depardieu is so cool. ( Im french ) . I think you are refering to my question about what the guy from the school says in the inter school contest.. Well I dont know. Still dont have any clue. Some words seems to be french however the whole sentence doesnt mean anything. that's why having the script of this episode would be great.

tedwilder said:

Yes the movie with depardieu is so cool. ( Im french ) . I think you are refering to my question about what the guy from the school says in the inter school contest.. Well I dont know. Still dont have any clue. Some words seems to be french however the whole sentence doesnt mean anything. that's why having the script of this episode would be great.

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Bien entendu, I'm aware that you are French, so excuse me for sometimes deliberately referring to that. Sans penser à mal! C'est drôle (et enrichissant!) de rencontrer des gens d'autres nationalités!

Rich