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Bart Simpson

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For the comic book series of the same name, see Bart Simpson (comic book series).

Template:Simpsons character

File:1F11ConanOBrien.jpg
Bart with Conan O'Brien

Bartholomew Jojo Simpson (born April 1, 1981, remains 10 through the series), better known as Bart, is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is the oldest child and only son of Homer and Marge Simpson, and the brother of Lisa and Maggie. Along with his father Homer, Bart is arguably the most well-known and recognizable character on the long running animated series. Both Bart and Lisa ranked #11 in TV Guide's Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright, who claimed that he is the only person in the Simpson family that has the middle name Jojo, mentioned in Simpsons Comic Royale. He, and The Simpsons, were created by Matt Groening.

Age

According to The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album, his birthday is April Fool's Day. According to the show's chronology, Bart was born in 1982 as he is two years and 38 days older than Lisa, who was born during the 1984 Summer Olympics. However, in "I Married Marge", it was revealed that Bart was conceived in June 1980 (Homer and Marge had just seen The Empire Strikes Back), which would make his birthday April 1, 1981. The year is clearly not consistent as Bart is always described as being 10 years old. Indeed, Krusty the Klown expresses surprise when Bart tells him he voted for him (multiple times) for Congress: "But you're only ten."

Profile

He is a self-proclaimed underachiever who begins each show in detention writing lines on the blackboard. He is pretty much distracted by anything, even, strangely enough, algebraic equations. His penchant for shocking people began before he was born: Bart "mooned" Dr. Hibbert while he performed a sonogram on Marge, and moments after being born (presumably on purpose), he set fire to Homer's tie. He is considerably undermotivated and takes great joy in disrupting the routine at Springfield Elementary, yet his pranks are often elaborately complex, while his actions and speech frequently show considerable mental agility, street-smarts, and understanding, so he cannot be called "stupid" per se. Bart also shows amazing intelligence outside of his pranks. Out-smarting Sideshow Bob, figuring out how to save the snakes on Whacking Day, getting the lemon tree back in a Trojan Horse method, giving advanced knowledge about George Washington in the French and Indian war, and learning other languages are just a few examples. In "Separate Vocations" when Bart becomes hall monitor, his grades go up showing that he only struggles because he doesn't pay attention, not because he's dumb. Despite this, however, he seems to have trouble understanding even the simplest things, such as the word "irony", what the equator is and that the logo on his globe isn't actually a country. However, this may be because he remembers more advanced knowledge like the date George Washington surrendered a fort to the French. The fact that he is the son of Homer and shares many of the same mannerisms and behaviors may account for his antics. Homer even described Bart as "a younger, more in-your-face version" of himself. There are other moments however, where it is hinted that Bart represses a startling intelligence. His inability to channel this hidden intellect at will is most-likely attributed to the Simpson gene. See below for details on this.

Bart's interests include anything from Krusty the Klown, skateboarding, reading comic books (especially Radioactive Man), terrorizing Lisa, playing video games/computer games, helping Lisa solve various problems (e.g. reuniting Krusty with his estranged father), and pulling off various pranks (such as mooning unsuspecting people and prank calling Moe Szyslak at his tavern).

It had been also suspected for a long time by viewers that Bart had ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) even before the revealing of the Simpson gene, as Bart exhibited many of the traits of a child afflicted with ADD. His extreme mental quickness coupled with his inability to be able to keep his attention set on menial work at school such as in the episode Bart Gets an F are big hints. It was later confirmed in the episode Brother's Little Helper that Bart is indeed afflicted with ADD. This would explain a bit of his behavior as well.

Bart Simpson caused a diplomatic incident between the United States and Australia in "Bart vs. Australia" when he placed a very long collect call to an Australian boy to find out in which direction toilets flush in the southern hemisphere. (This is an oversimplification of that phenomenon, which amusingly popularized the legend even more.)

Although he gets into endless trouble and can be rather mean, even shallow and selfish, Bart also exhibits many qualities of high integrity. He has, on a few occasions, helped the love life of his school Principal Seymour Skinner and his teacher Edna Krabappel despite the fact he often terrorizes them. Although he hates school, he has also aided in various efforts to keep it open during times where it is dangerously close to being closed or actually is. He often befriends outcasts like his best friend Milhouse Van Houten. One great example of his quasi sense of honor is in the episode This Little Wiggy where Bart stands up for Ralph Wiggum at the cost of peer popularity. Bart even makes friends of former adversaries such as Nelson Muntz and Martin Prince. Although they have their animosity, Muntz has often helped out Bart with his various schemes, as well as when they fail. Bart also stole the head from the statue of Jebediah Springfield. Despite his tough attitude, Bart is also a total softie towards his mother. Most of Bart's antics are usually meant to cause a ruckus and rile up authority figures such as Principal Skinner, rather than causing any real malice or harm. Although he seems to enjoy driving people like Skinner crazy, Bart has also helped him on several occasions, from befriending him and helping him get his job back after he was fired to covertly helping him with his romance with Mrs. Krabappel, even at the expense of social humiliation. Most students know Bart as a clown, so he doesn't have very many real friends. Not counting Martin and Nelson who are seen with him very little and Lisa who doesn't hang out with him at school, Bart only has 3 friends (Lewis, Richard and Milhouse). He also later becomes friends with Ralph. When looking at the playground, one can clearly see bigger groups of friends than Bart's group (i.e. Sherri and Terri's group of girls). Lewis and Richard don't even seem very close. When Bart can't play with Milhouse in Homer Defined, he doesn't play with Lewis or Richard, he plays with Maggie. Bart isn't very popular at all when it comes to REAL friends. Bullies at the shcool are another problem for Bart. Although Lisa has problems socially for being a nerd, Bart is picked on more. He, Martin, Milhouse, and sometimes Ralph or Wendell are the biggest bullying targets tormented by Jimbo, Dolph, Kearney, Nelson, and some of the girls. Bart has as many male friends (Lewis, Richard, Milhouse and Ralph) as male bullies (Dolph, Jimbo, Kearney, and Nelson) terrorizing him. This means that before This Little Wiggy, the male bullies out populated Bart's male friends. The Girls (Sherri and Terri and their group) terrorizing him also out do the number of his female friend(s) (Lisa). On some websites Dolph, Jimbo, Kearney and Nelson have even been dubbed " Bart's Bullies".

Perhaps his greatest friendship and example of his better qualities is his relationship with his sister Lisa. Although they often butt heads in sibling rivalry, the two have come to each other's aid countless times and often think on the same plane of thought when it comes to mutual benefit. Many times when Lisa has been left alone in her endeavors, she's found Bart to be her most trustworthy as well as only ally. In the episode Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore, when Bart's best friend temporarily moves away, his friendship with Lisa is explored greatly. Bart isn't afraid to show that he considers Lisa his best friend and she the same as well. When Milhouse eventually returns to Springfield, it seems at first that Bart forgets this, leaving a nonchalant, but secretly depressed Lisa on her own again. In the end however, he catches her before bed and lets her know that he'll always be there for her, through mock Monopoly playing cards to emphasize this, including a free hug one.

Personality Traits

File:HomerStranglingBart.jpg
Homer strangling Bart(again).

Many times, when Homer finds out that Bart has said or done something stupid or bad, he yells out, "Why you little—!" and strangles Bart in anger. [1]

Bart will often address Homer by his first name instead of "Dad". This is parodied on an episode where Bart is a baby. Homer is trying to get Bart to say "Dad." Instead, he keeps calling him "Homer." Homer would then say "D'oh!" Bart had even addressed Homer as "Dohmer" after trying three times to call him "Dad". However, Bart often addresses Homer as "Dad".

His father often refers to him as "the boy" while his mother calls him her "special little guy". Marge is much more caring, understanding and nuturing then Homer. She often refers to Bart as "hand full" and is often embrassed by his antics. In many episodes, specifically Lisa on Ice, Bart favours his mother over his father. However, Bart actually loves his father, and often favours Homer over other people, even from Marge.

Bart speaks French fluently due to a summer he spent as an exchange student in France, illegally being worked by two men who were planning to sell wine spiked with anti-freeze, Bart became a national hero when he exposed the scheme to the police. He also was able to speak Spanish briefly on a trip to Brazil; however, Homer told him to forget it when Bart discovered that Brazilians speak Portuguese. He also had an exchange with Homer in Japanese. In "Bart on the Road," he makes a delivery to Hong Kong where he hauls a cooler labeled "HUMAN EYES" off the plane, and brings it to a man in a white lab coat where they converse in Chinese (specifically, the variety of Cantonese spoken in the city). This may be inherited from Homer, who has also demonstrated advanced language abilities, including penguin.

Bart's athletic ability is constantly shown to be quite high. Although his underachiever ways often conflict with this gift, when he has the will he either does very well, or flat out excels at what he asserts himself to. Bart is into skateboarding and is very good at it as well, capable of numerous acrobatic feats. In various sports such as hockey and baseball, Bart also does very well and even contributes a good amount of teamwork surprisingly. His one flawed physical activity however, is American Football. Although his father would wish otherwise, Bart acknowledges that he's not the best at the game. Bart is also very good at dancing, although most of the time he avoids this practice due to reservations over public image. When briefly practicing Ballet, Bart was the top student in the class and amazed the school audience during a show, although he was masked during this show to conceal his identity. When it comes to general performance, acrobatics, running, fighting, Bart shows that he's quite capable of taking care of himself. Although he cannot boast Homer's near superhuman ability to survive tremendous amounts of pain and injury, Bart himself has also survived a great deal of hazardous situations and injury as well. Generally, while Bart appears to not be in the best shape, he is potentially an athletic prodigy it would seem with all these potential talents.

Bart is allergic to butterscotch, imitation butterscotch, cauliflower, and glow-in-the-dark monster makeup. According to Marge in the episode "The Father, The Son, and the Holy Guest Star", Bart wore diapers until the age of 5, because he thought there was a monster in the potty.

Origin and influence

In an interview, Simpsons creator Matt Groening stated he chose the name as an anagram of brat. As all of the other Simpsons are named after and very loosely based off of members of Groening's own family, many naturally believe that Bart is specifically based off of The Simpsons creator himself. Groening has himself said in a DVD commentary that he had not so much in common with Bart when he was a child himself however, although he has never denied this claim either. Groening once said that Bart was partly inspired by the Diane Arbus photo "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City", but in the DVD commentary for Homer's Night Out he said that this relation between Bart and the child was false. He has also said that one of the inspirations for Bart was Groening's older brother Mark. Whether any of this is true or not is still unknown.

Groening has also stated that one of the biggest inspirations was the old Dennis the Menace TV series. The influence does not come from admiration, however. Groening has said that his desire to create came from the disappointing experience of watching the series premeire, which he described as "this namby pamby, Jay North type of show...". After this, he said he was inspired to create a character who was actually a menace.

The name Bart may also have come from the psychotic bad-seed child Bart who starred in V.C. Andrews’s incest romance novels which were wildly popular during the 1980s.

Bart is also without a doubt the most often used character from The Simpsons to depict on various memorabilia such as T-shirts to car decals, and even graffiti. Bart and other characters from The Simpsons appeared in numerous television commercials for Nestlé's Butterfinger candy bars from 1990 to 2001, with his and its slogan "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!". This was parodied when in an episode when he discovered a video tape with Lisa that he participated in a TV commercial for an anti-odor product when he was a baby; Bart says that he doesn't remember being in a commercial, then holds up a Butterfinger and eats it.

When he vandalizes property, Bart uses the alias El Barto, which is a Spanglish way of saying "The Bart". However, no one in Springfield has made the connection (except for Homer and Lisa), and Bart still vandalizes property without getting caught. He is also known to don a mask and cape as superhero alias Bartman.

Bart's impact on pop culture

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Since the inception of the Simpsons, Bart has become internationally recognized as a symbol of defiance to authority. This Maltese language anti-European Union bumper sticker became popular during the contentious deliberations regarding Malta's admission to the EU. (Photo taken in Tarxien in August 2005.)

In 1998, Time magazine selected Bart as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century—the only fictional character to make the list. There are many reasons for this.

When first airing in 1990, the Simpsons broke many walls of taboo, especially when it came to morals and ethics. For a significant period of time, Bart specifically struck a chord with countless young viewers for his rebellious tendencies, arguably becoming the show's most spotlighted character as well as subject. Bart in many ways symbolized the ever-changing youth of America, constantly questioned and criticised for its eroding morals and questionable conduct. Bart consistently outraged many liberals and even some conservatives and critics of the show for almost a decade for being a terrible role model to young children and pre-teens alike, often being a poster child for many parents denying their children access to the show. Although children with disruptive tendencies had been spotlit before the arrival of Bart, never before had a young character with such extremely delinquent tendencies and mannerisms been given such an amount of mainstream exposure as a protagonist or anti-hero rather than a villain (and as such, stereotyped negatively, dissuading emulation by youngsters). Fear of the character had grown to the point where T-shirts with Bart's likeness on them were banned from many schools. [2]

However, countless young people who grew up watching Bart and the Simpsons in general contest that Bart was and still is actually a very effective role model. Child characters in film and animations at the time tended to conform to idealistic and arguably unrealistic temperaments up to and around the time the Simpsons first aired. Bart was, in contrast, a cynical, seethingly jaded and in many ways more realistic portrayal of a child who often showed the dark side to childhood, as much a time of disappointment and frustration as it is idyllic and whimsical. Bart's delinquent tendencies do not go unexplained, as the show often satirizes adult arrogance and mistreatment of children's feelings and desires. Although Bart is a troublemaker, he is often extremely misunderstood by other children and adults alike on the show—something with which many young people can identify themselves. Bart is essentially good at heart, as he often does the right thing and struggles with personal moral dilemmas. In many ways, he defined and personified an entire generation. Although Bart's influence on both the show and pop culture is less extreme today than it has been in the past, he is still seen internationally as a symbol of defiance in the face of oppressive authority as well as a prototype of rebellion to children growing up in a radically changing world.

Bart also arguably influenced an entire new generation of anti-hero characters such as the raunchy young cast of South Park and many other characters both in animation and live action.

Attire

Bart's fashion sense is fairly straight-forward. His normal attire is an orange (or sometimes red) T-shirt, blue shorts, white socks and blue sneakers, although on most pieces of Simpsons-related merchandise, his shirt is light-blue (this is done to differentiate between counterfeit merchandise and official merchandise). This is poked fun at during the episode Pokey Mom, in which Homer is bullfighting and, after Lisa's red dress provoked the bull, he decided to "finish with a shade of blue". Realising Bart is wearing orange he asks "Where's your blue shirt?", to which Bart replies "I don't have a blue shirt." His churchgoing outfit consists of either a blue or brown two-piece suit (with shorts rather than long pants), white shirt, purple tie, blue shoes and white socks (episode: 'Two Dozen and One Greyhounds'). He is also sometimes seen parting his hair side to side for these occasions. The only other clothing "scenario" that comes up regularly is his "bed outfit," which consists of a green pajamas set (although he has been known to wear white socks on his feet to bed, he more regularly goes barefoot to bed). Bart's underwear style is of white briefs. The use of briefs over boxer shorts is commented on by the show's creators on the Series 4 DVD, where he says they were trying to be different as boxer shorts were the least taboo form of underwear on TV as they showed "less of a bulge". He wore the infamous droog outfit during Treehouse of Horror III, which is fitting considering Bart's anti-social tendencies. Also for publicity Bart did do a few pics in the nude but with objects hiding his dignity even though he's ten.

Episodes that feature Bart extensively include:

As Bart is one of the main characters, he is featured prominently in many more episodes as well.

Antics

  • Prank-calling (usually Moe's Tavern, but sometimes other places)
  • Stealing a policeman's car
  • Using his Junior Campers training to snag Homer in a series of booby traps, using pies as bait
  • Painting the parking lines two feet narrower than normal
  • Destroying the school's plumbing system with a cherry bomb while Agnes Skinner was using the toilets in the girl's bathroom
  • Mooning
  • Vandalizing (cars, public property, etc.)
  • Shooting a stink bomb at an entertainer
  • Pantsing a robotic version of George Washington
  • Robbing a bakery, then melting the plastic couple from a wedding cake on an electric chair
  • Strangling his father with a belt
  • Spitting or squirting ketchup and mustard at cars from an overpass
  • Shaking Homer's beer so that it would explode when opened
  • Tattooing the words "Wide Load" on Homer's rear end
  • Spraying the tag 'El Barto' in a variety of places in many episodes
  • Opening his Christmas presents two hours early
  • Writing his name in forty-foot letters on the school athletic field with grass killer, ("Principal Charming")
  • Writing his name in wet cement, ("Lemon of Troy")
  • Using several megaphones to cause a sonic boom, which destroyed half of Springfield's glass doors, windows, and Homer's beer stash
  • Switchin the hymn to be sung in the church with "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" of Iron Butterfly and masking it with "In the Garden of Eden", by "I. Ron Butterfly". (Bart Sells His Soul)
  • Beheading the statue of Jebediah Springfield

Made-up names for prank phone calls

Wikiquote has quotations related to List of Simpsons Prank Calls.

Relations

Bart is:

Skills

  • Bart has shown the ability to rap in the episode (Pranksta Rap).
  • Bart is an accomplished skateboarder.
  • Linguistics, on different occasions he knows French, Spanish, and Japanese.
  • Enjoys playing video games, and frequently switches the console he plays.

Jobs

Bart's jobs have been:

Future

The specific years listed below are inconsistent, given the general "timelessness" of the series.

  • 2013 (seven years from "now"): Bart is graduating from his senior year of high school, and has surprisingly managed to never get held back. He dates a rebellious girl named Jenda, but their relationship goes sour when Bart opts to sacrifice an easy path to college in order to save Lisa's chance. Bart is somewhat an older version of himself with a generally trendy and "cool" look, but many note that he appears far more mature and down to earth here than any of the other depictions which supposedly take place far afterwards chronologically. (Depicted in "Future-Drama")
  • 2025 (fourteen years from "now"): Is a demolition contractor. He "can't believe [he's] finally getting paid to do this" and mentions that he's "just getting all [his] aggression out before [he goes] to law school". Bart has a receding hairline and stubble, just like Homer. He also has a multitude of tattoos. He's been married twice, and is considering getting married again. (Depicted in "Lisa's Wedding")
  • 2030 (twenty-nine years from "now"): Bart lives with Ralph Wiggum and they have an unsuccessful band, the Tequilla Mockingbirds. Dropped out of the DeVry Institute. Mooches off of Lisa, now the President of the United States, and criticizes her for no longer being cool and promotes his band during her address to the nation. He has more hair in this scenario, enough to tie in a ponytail in fact, but he doesn't seem to be in the best physical shape. His dress style is more surfer bum, and he lacks the many tattoos he sported in the scenario shown in Lisa's Wedding. (Depicted in "Bart to the Future")
  • Thirty-nine years from "now": Is now Chief Justice of the United States (incorrectly referred to in the episode as "Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.") Finally sees "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" with Homer. (Depicted in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie")
  • One minute before death (at the age of 83): Finds true love, according to Professor Frink. His brain is put into a pauper's grave. (Mentioned in "Future-Drama")
  • 1000 years later: Having been revealed as God's last prophet, is the cause of holy war. According to one army of followers, the ones who wear Bart wigs and call him Bart Simpson, he preached a message of tolerance and love. By the other army, who dress in Bartman purple masks and call him by the same name, he preached a message of understanding and peace, before he was betrayed by his follower Milhouse and was pulled apart by snowmobiles until he died. This stemmed from a present-day scene when Bart tells paintball-warring Catholics and Protestants, "It's all Christianity". (Depicted in "The Father, The Son, and The Holy Guest Star")

Bartman

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Bartman in the video game Bartman Meets Radioactive Man
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Bart as The Cupcake kid.

Bartman is a comic book title and the alter ego of Bart Simpson. Essentially, in addition to his normal clothes, Bart wears a purple mask and cape to become Bartman. The name, when written, bears a striking resemblance to the name Batman, and Bartman is indeed supposed to be a superhero of some sort. Bartman makes a short appearance in the Simpsons episode "Three Men and a Comic Book".

This alter ego is the basis for the short-lived Bongo Comics series (1993-1995), which saw the young Bart adopt the mantle of crimefighting. He was aided by Milhouse, as the Robin-like Houseboy. Like Bart's costume, Milhouse's was simplistic, involving only a green mask and cape in addition to his ordinary clothing. The series only lasted 6 issues.

Bartman and Houseboy make a brief appearance in the Simpsons book The Simpsons Holiday Humdinger, published in 2004 by HarperCollins. In a parody of the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Bartman takes on Gil, who is stealing Christmas presents in hopes of destroying the holiday.

Bartman is also featured in the video game Bartman Meets Radioactive Man (1992-1993). Bartman also appears in the video game "Bart's Nightmare" for the SNES and Genesis when you jump into a sheet of lost homework and enter an almost "mini-game" featuring the Bartman. A comic book produced by Bongo also featured Bartman and Radioactive Man teaming up to defeat a managerie of super powered members of the regular cast, along with both Itchy and Scartchy, as well as Kang and Kodos.

Bartman recently appeared again in the official Simpsons comic issue Simpsons super spectacular alongside another two Bart Simpson alter egos: Stretch Dude, and the Cupcake Kid. Stretch Dude appeared in one of the Simpsons treehouse of horror specials, with Lisa as Clobber Girl (and featuring a guest appearance by Lucy Lawless), the Cupcake Kid is from the episode Simple Simpson. The three Barts battle against and defeat an evil version of Bart who has begun working to control the world. The three heroic Barts are recruited by a good version of Sideshow Bob, who is shortly thereafter vaporized.

Trivia

Influences

  • Bart's trademark "Eat My Shorts" catchphrase may be a reference to the film "The Breakfast Club," as John Bender tells Mr. Vernon to do the same.
  • Matt Groening drew Bart next to the words "Class of '72, Matt Groening" on the sidewalk of SW 18th Avenue in downtown Portland, Oregon, behind Lincoln High School (which he attended) and across from Kings Hill Station in 1996 after the new sidewalk was laid following the construction of the Station. The city has opted not to remove the "graffiti" or cite Groening for vandalism
  • Fluent in French, Japanese and Spanish (though Homer forced him to forget it).[citation needed]

Physical characteristics

  • Bart's hair consists of 9 spikes, though there are fewer when he is younger
  • Blood Type– Double O-negative ("Blood Feud")
  • Teeth– 16 permanent and 8 baby, however he now has 24 permanent teeth ("Blood Feud")
  • Allergies– Butterscotch, Imitation Butterscotch, cauliflower and Glow in the dark Monster Make-up ("Blood Feud")
  • In the episode "Don't Fear the Roofer", it is revealed that Bart is un-circumcised.
  • Bart is ambidextrous (left-handed as shown in any chalkboard gag but has been known to use his right in some episodes). For example, in the episode where Bart writes love letters to Edna in response to her personal ad, he is seen writing the letters with his left hand, but later in the episode when he is cleaning Edna's table with a rag, he is seen doing so with his right hand. He normally writes with his right hand during the course of the episode. Bart is a right-handed baseball player but a left-handed bowler. Bart also wears a watch on his right wrist.
  • Bart's eye color is (unusually) red-orange.[citation needed]

Appearances on other shows

  • Bart was featured in a major cameo role in the South Park episode "Cartoon Wars Part II". Although he is never referred to by name nor do any of the characters react to him as if he were a well known personality which hints he may not be breaking the 4th wall, he is quite obviously Bart or at least meant to be a homage or allusion to the character. His manner of speech, famous catch phrases, and dress style are all identical...although the character is drawn and animated as a traditional looking South Park child character.
  • Bart was lampooned in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures quite directly, early into The Simpsons' run as Brad Simpleton. The depiction was in a noticably negative light, as the character is treated rather harshly. The episode in question was Weekday Afternoon Live.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Bart Simpson.


Template:Simpsons characters

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