Bart Simpson

Bartholomew Jo-Jo "Bart" Simpson is a main character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Nancy Cartwright. He is the oldest child and only son of Homer and Marge Simpson, and is the brother of Lisa and Maggie. According to The Bart Book he was born on 1st April. He, along with many of Springfield's citizens, is ambidextrous. Along with his father, Bart is arguably the most well-known 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".^[1]

Character origins

In an interview, Simpsons creator Matt Groening claimed he chose the name "Bart" as an anagram of "brat". As the other members of the Simpson family are named after and loosely based on members of Groening's family, many believe that Bart is specifically based on Groening himself.^[2] Groening has made conflicting statements about this, saying both that he never had much in common with Bart,^{[citation needed]} and that Bart is partly based on himself. Groening's older brother Mark also provided some inspiration for Bart.^[3]

Groening once claimed that Bart was partly inspired by the Diane Arbus photo "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City",^{[citation needed]} but in the DVD commentary for "Homer's Night Out", has denied this to be true. Groening has also said that he found the premiere of Dennis the Menace disappointing and was inspired to create a character who was actually a menace.^{[citation needed]}

Personality

He is a self-proclaimed underachiever who begins each show in school detention writing lines on the blackboard, which are known as the Chalkboard Gags. He is easily distracted by almost anything, even, strangely enough, algebraic equations. He is considerably under motivated and takes great joy in disrupting the routine at Springfield Elementary. 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. His best friend is Milhouse Van Houten. His antics terrify everyone, including Springfield's powerful citizen Charles Montgomery Burns.

He shares a sibling rivalry with his younger sister, Lisa, but has a buddy-like relationship with his youngest sister Maggie (due to her infant state). Whilst Bart has often hurt her out of jealousy, and has even fought her physically, he loves Lisa as deeply as she loves him, and has always apologised for going too far. He also believes Lisa to be his superior when it comes to solving problems, and always comes to her for advice. Both siblings formed a dynamic crime-solving duo during many of their encounters with Sideshow Bob, Bart's nemesis.

Bart's interests include 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).

Whenever Homer finds out that Bart has said or done something stupid or bad, he yells out: "Why you little–!", and strangles him in anger.

In his book Planet Simpson, Chris Turner describes Bart as a nihilist.

Bart's character traits of rebellioness and disrespect for authority has been likened to that of America's founding fathers, rendering him an updated version of American icons Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, rolled into one."^[4]

Bart is allergic to butterscotch, imitation butterscotch, glow-in-the-dark monster makeup, cauliflower, and shrimp.

Bartman

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. Bartman makes a short appearance in the Simpsons episode "Three Men and a Comic Book". This alter ego was 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. Bartman is also featured in the video game Bartman Meets Radioactive Man (1992-1993) and the game Bart's Nightmare for the Super NES and Sega Genesis. More recently, Bart can dress up as Bartman in The Simpsons Hit & Run. Some 17 years after his first and only appearance on the television show, Bartman was featured again in the season eighteen episode "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Three Times."

Cultural influence

In 1990, Bart became one of People Magazine's most intriguing people of the year. The only other fictional character to do this was Jessica Rabbit. In 1998, Time magazine selected Bart as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century (he came in number 46)—the only fictional character to make the list.

Appearances on other shows

• Bart was featured in a 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.
• Bart was lampooned in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures quite directly, early into The Simpsons' run as Blart Simpleton, also voiced by Nancy Cartwright. The depiction was in a noticeably negative light, as the character is treated rather harshly. The episode was Weekday Afternoon Live.
• Bart appeared several times in Futurama; in the episode "Mars University" a Bart Simpson doll can be seen at the circus and in "A Big Piece of Garbage" a pile of Bart Simpson dolls is found on a giant ball of trash. When one of the dolls says Bart's "Eat my shorts" line, Bender actually does so.
• Bart made a brief appearance in the extended version of Michael Jackson's video for Black or White near the end. He was jumping up and down on the couch watching the video when Homer came in and turned off the noise causing the screen to go fuzzy. In the video, he wore a black Michael Jackson shirt.
• In an episode of Garfield and Friends, Garfield is put into a computer. One of the characters the controller digitizes him into resembles Bart.
• He appeared with the rest of the family in the Monster in the Mirror segment on Sesame Street. He had a solo and shared a brief dialogue with Homer at the end of the song.
• In the first annual of Ultimate X-Men when Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman is talking to his dad while in hiding, on the wall you can partially see a picture of Bart.
• In the episode "Simpsons Already Did It" on South Park, Butters attempts to cause problems in the fictional community of South Park as Professor Chaos. Upon realizing that all good ideas have been already used in previous The Simpsons episodes, Butters goes insane. He begins to see all South Park characters as their Simpson counterparts, including his sidekick General Disarray who turns into Bart Simpson and follows Butters taunting him by constantly saying "Thimpthons did it. Thimpthons did it."
• In one scene of Basic Instinct, as well in a scene of Three Kings, a Bart Simpson figurine is shown on a keychain.

See also

Template:Wikiquote

• Bart's chalkboard gags
• Do The Bartman

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