Homer Simpson

Template:Simpsons character Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He has become a popular character and an American icon; his signature annoyed grunt "D'oh!" has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary. Homer is named after and loosely based on show creator Matt Groening's father. His voice was originally based on Walter Matthau.

The early seasons of the show focused primarily on Bart, but as the series went on and "Bartmania" died down, Homer became more of a focus. Homer embodies several working class American stereotypes. He has a low-level job and is crude, overweight, intolerant, inept, and a borderline alcoholic. Despite being gluttonous, lazy, and often simple-minded, Homer has displayed flashes of brilliance. In spite of his apparently blue-collar status, he has had a number of remarkable adventures. Although often inept, he is a caring and devoted husband and father and has come to be known as a lovable oaf.

Character origins

Homer was first conceived by Matt Groening in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening was going to try to pitch his comic strip Life in Hell. However, he realized that doing so would force him to give up the rights, so he created a family of characters in literally fifteen minutes. He named the characters after various members of his own family, with Homer being named after his father. Homer made his debut with the rest of the Simpsons clan on April 19, 1987 in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night". In the Ullman Shorts, as well as the first season of the show, Homer's voice was based on Walter Matthau but Dan Castellaneta found it hard to have a complete emotional range and around the season 2 episode "Blood Feud", his voice began to evolve into what it is today.

Biography

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Homer as a teenager, with a full head of hair.

Although The Simpsons has a floating timeline, in which the characters do not age and the show is set in the current year, there have been certain dates given. For example, Homer Simpson was born c. May 12, 1955 in Springfield, is a Taurus, and was raised on a farm with his parents, Mona and Abraham Simpson. In the mid-1960s, while Homer was between nine and twelve years of age, Mona went into hiding following a run-in with the law. Homer attended Springfield High School and fell in love with Marge Bouvier in 1974. Marge became pregnant with Bart in 1980, while Homer worked at a miniature golf course, turning the crank that spins the windmill (sometimes too quickly). The two were wed in a small wedding chapel across the state line, spent their wedding reception alone at a truck stop, and the rest of their wedding night was spent at Marge's parents' house. After failing to get a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Homer left Marge to find a job with which he could support his family and briefly worked at a taco restaurant until Marge found him and convinced him to return. As a result, Homer confronted Mr. Burns and secured a job at the Plant. Marge became pregnant with Lisa in 1983, shortly before the new couple bought their new house. In 1985 and 1986, Homer saw brief success as the lead singer and songwriter for the barbershop quartet the Be Sharps, even winning a Grammy. During his time with the group, Homer was frequently absent from home, putting stress on his marriage with Marge. After the group broke up due to creative differences, Homer went back to Springfield to continue his old life. Some time in the late 1980s, Homer and Marge carefully budgeted their money so Homer can work his dream job as a pin monkey in a bowling alley. Unfortunately for Homer, Marge became pregnant shortly after he started his new job, and not being able to support his family, he went back to the Nuclear Plant.

According to comments made on Simpsons DVDs by the writers and producers, Homer's age was initially 34, but as the writers aged, they found that Homer seemed a bit older, so they changed his age to 38.

Personality

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Homer frequently strangles Bart in response to something bad or stupid Bart has said or done, often prefaced with the exclamation, "Why you little...!"

Homer's personality is one of frequent stupidity, laziness and explosive anger, one might say the "Average Joe." He also suffers from a short attention span which complements his intense but short-lived passion for hobbies, enterprises and various causes. Homer is prone to emotionalism, he gets very envious of his neighbors, the Flanders, is easily enraged at his son Bart, and strangles him in an exaggerated manner. He shows no compunction about this, and does not attempt to hide his actions from people outside the family, even leaving Bart alone at a port. While Homer has repeatedly upset people and caused all sorts of mayhem in Springfield, these events are usually caused by either his explosive temper or a lack of foresight. Except for expressing annoyance at Ned Flanders, Homer's actions are usually unintentional. Most of his explosive anger is targeted on Bart, because of something stupid or bad he had said or done. Despite these disadvantages, these common outbursts save Homer from dying of pent-up rage.

While Homer's stupid antics often upset his family, he can still prove himself to be a surprisingly loving father and husband: Selling his cherished ride on the Duff blimp and using the money to enter Lisa in a beauty pageant so she could feel better about herself; giving up his chance at wealth to allow Maggie to keep a cherished teddy bear; using a portable nuclear pile to get Bart's money back from the crooked businessman who had swindled him; spearheading an attempt to dig Bart out after he had fallen down a well, even though Homer generally hates doing physical labor; and arranging a surprise second wedding with Marge to make up for their lousy first marriage, even going so far as to hire one of the Doobie Brothers as part of the wedding band and getting a divorce from Marge, essentially making their second wedding a "real" one.

Homer tends to derive amusement from the misfortune of others. Homer is a chronic petty thief and borderline kelptomaniac, stealing from Ned Flanders everything from TV trays to power tools and air conditioners, even an entire room of the Flanders' house (often, he will take advantage of Ned's good nature, borrowing things he has no intention of ever returning). He has also stolen golf balls from the local driving range, office supplies (including computers) from work, and beer mugs from Moe's Tavern.

Homer has a vacuous mind, but he is still able to retain a great amount of knowledge about very specific subjects. He shows small bursts of astonishing foresight, memory, creativity, and fluency with many languages in nearly every episode. (Example: "You can't sell that! Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos"). In some episodes, he has displayed a polished talent for singing and songwriting. However, Homer’s brief periods of intelligence are overshadowed by much longer and consistent periods of ignorance, forgetfulness and stupidity. Homer has low IQ due to his hereditary "Simpson Gene", his alcohol problem, exposure to radioactive waste, repetitive cranial trauma, and a crayon lodged in the frontal lobe of his brain. The crayon in his brain is one of the main factors, and possibly the biggest, that causes his stupidity. Homer's intelligence was said to be fifty points higher when he had the crayon removed, bringing him to an IQ of 105, above that of an average person, but he went back to his stupidity when he had it reinserted, presumably putting it back to the original 55.

It has been suggested in some episodes that Homer's normal functions do not require the use of his brain. Homer has, at times, debated against his own brain. Occasionally, a specific body part is portrayed debating with his brain, such as his face, stomach or liver. He has also been known to think of himself as two people. This is first hinted at in "Treehouse of Horror IV", when Homer ate his emergency donut and left a note for himself saying "Dear Homer, I.O.U. one emergency donut, Signed Homer". After reading the note later, he referred to himself as a bastard who is always one step ahead. He also frequently confuses himself with ontological paradoxes, in which he frequently confuses other's lives with his. He has been known from time to time to grow confused with the boundary between persons in large conversations that have rapid exchanges.

Homer's various talents include playing softball, bowling, he is also apparently talented at golf, working at Barney's Bowlorama, songwriting, playing the piano and trumpet, playing poker to the point where he often wins without realizing it (however, Homer is poor at playing Blackjack - hitting when his hand totaled 19, 20, and 21), singing in barbershop quartets, having the ability of hearing pudding, retaining a thorough knowledge of the politics of Iran, speaking certain languages including klingon and eating tremendous amounts of food, enough to nearly put the owner of one all-you-can-eat restaurant out of business and make another "sorry he ever saw the likes of me". Homer's capacity for food is almost superhuman. He has eaten things that are not normally meant to be consumed, such as an entire ten-pound bag of flour and prop plastic lobsters used by the seafood restaurant he nearly ran out of business. He was also skilled at spelling before the Simpson Gene ruined his abilities.

Although bald and fat, Homer has an unknown quality that is very attractive to women. Although he is hated by Marge's sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier, many one time characters have fallen in love with Homer, such as fellow workmate Mindy Simmons, country singer Lurleen Lumpkin (whom Homer briefly managed), and many others.

Cultural influence

Due to the success of The Simpsons, Homer has been an influence in various facets of society, such as the introduction of the expression "D'oh!" into the Oxford English Dictionary. In 2002, Homer placed second on TV Guide's Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, after Bugs Bunny. In 2005, Homer Simpson was listed fifth on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters. He is one of only four cartoon characters on the list, along with Eric Cartman (#19) and Rocky & Bullwinkle (#54). Furthermore, viewers of the UK television channel Channel 4 have voted Homer first place in 2001's 100 Greatest TV Characters. On May 30, 2003, Homer was made an honorary citizen of Winnipeg, Canada. This was to recognize the fact that Matt Groening's father - Homer Groening - was likely from the Manitoba capital.

External links

• Biography from the official Simpsons website
• Homer Simpson Fansite
• The voices behind various Simpsons characters on a talkshow