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 cartoon character along with the rest of his family and is known especially for his annoyed grunt "D'oh" which has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary. Homer is named after the father of the show's creator Matt Groening. His voice was originally based on that of Walter Matthau.

The early seasons of the show focused primarily on Homer's son, Bart, but as the series went on and "Bartmania" faded, Homer became more of a focus. Homer embodies several working class American stereotypes. He is crude, overweight, incompetent, intolerant, clumsy and a borderline alcoholic. Despite his apparent blue-collar status, he has had a number of remarkable experiences. Although he is gluttonous and lazy, and often simple-minded and incompetent, he has displayed flashes of brilliance, and an integrity towards his own values.

Character Origins

Matt Groening first conceived the Simpson family in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. He had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts, and had intended to present his Life in Hell series. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction. He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, with Homer named after his father. Homer then made his debut with the rest of the Simpsons clan on 19 April, 1987 in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night".

According to Matt Groening, the whole family was designed so that they would be recognisable in silhouette. The features of Homer's character design are not used in other characters. Homer having the middle name "J.", which was revealed to stand for "Jay", was a "tribute" to Bullwinkle J. Moose from Rocky and Bullwinkle, a show Matt Groening loved as a child.

Voice

Homer is performed by Dan Castellaneta. Homer's voice sounds different on the shorts compared to most episodes of the half-hour show. His voice was in the beginning a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but developed into a more robust and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show, allowing Homer to cover a fuller range of emotions.

A number of Homer neologisms have come into everyday use. The most famous is Homer's annoyed grunt: "D'oh!" So ubiquitous is the catchphrase that it is now listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, but without the apostrophe. The first listed usage is not from The Simpsons, but from a 1945 BBC radio script in which the word was spelled "dooh." Dan Castellaneta has explained that he borrowed the phrase from James Finlayson, an actor in early Laurel and Hardy comedies, who pronounced it more stretched-out and whiny. Castellaneta was told by the show's director to shorten the noise, leading to the famous grunt in the TV series.

Biography

File:Young Homer.png

Homer as a teenager.

Although The Simpsons has a floating timeline in which the characters do not age, and the show is set in the current year, certain dates have been given. He was born on May 12, 1956. He was raised on a farm by 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 was working 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, (despite an earlier episode having Homer recall a party with lots of guests, alcohol "and a priest", and Marge informing him afterward that it was their wedding) and the rest of their wedding night at Marge's parents' house. After failing to get a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Homer left Marge to find a job by which he could support his family. He briefly worked at a taco restaurant called the Gulp n' Blow, 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 first 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, which put stress on his marriage. 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 so Homer could work at his dream job, 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 on The Simpsons DVD commentaries by the writers and producers, Homer's age was initially 34, but as the writers aged, they found that he seemed a bit older too, so they changed his age to 38.

Personality

Homer's personality is one of frequent stupidity, laziness, and explosive anger; one might say it is that of 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 emotional outbursts; he gets very envious of his neighbors, the Flanders family, and 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 showing disregard for his son's well being in other ways, such as 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 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 their disadvantages, these common outbursts save Homer from dying of a pent-up rage-induced heart attack. Perhaps one of the worst examples of Homer's negative behavior occurred in (the non-canon) Treehouse of Horror XII when Bart was killed by a gypsy and Homer could have brought him back by apologising to the gypsy who killed Bart, but chose not to because the gypsy wasn't "the boss of me".

While Homer's stupid antics often upset his family, he has also performed acts that reveal him to be a surprisingly loving father and husband: in "Lisa the Beauty Queen" (episode 9F02, first aired October 15, 1992), 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; in "Rosebud" (episode 1F01, first aired October 21, 1993), giving up his chance at wealth to allow Maggie to keep a cherished teddy bear; in "Radio Bart", spearheading an attempt to dig Bart out after he had fallen down a well, even though Homer generally hates doing physical labor; and in "A Milhouse Divided", arranging a surprise second wedding with Marge to make up for their lousy first ceremony, 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. He is a chronic petty thief and borderline kleptomaniac, stealing from Ned Flanders everything from TV trays to power tools and air conditioners, even an entire room of the Flanders' house. 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 short bursts of astonishing insight, memory, creativity and fluency with many languages in nearly every episode. Homer is also extremely confident; no matter how little skill or knowledge he has about anything he tries to do, he has no doubt that he will be successful. However, his brief periods of intelligence are overshadowed by much longer and more consistent periods of ignorance, forgetfulness and stupidity. Homer has a 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 possibly the largest causal factor in his stupidity. Homer's intelligence was said to jump fifty points when he had the crayon removed, bringing him to an IQ of 105, slightly above that of an average person, but he went back to his old self when he had it reinserted, presumably lowering his IQ back to its original 55.

Some episodes suggest that Homer's normal functions do not require the use of his brain, as Homer has at times debated against it. Occasionally, a specific body part such as his face, stomach or liver is also shown debating with his brain. In one notable scene Homer's mind actually leaves his body out of boredom, causing him to collapse. Homer is also inclined to retreat into fantasy, such as daydreaming of Germany as "the land of chocolate."

Cultural Influence

In 2002, Homer placed second on TV Guide's Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, after Bugs Bunny, as well as 14^th on its "List of the 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time". In 2005, Homer Simpson was listed 5th 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.

References

• Richmond, Ray (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers. pp. p. 178. ISBN 0-00063-8898-1. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Turner, Chris. Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation. ISBN 0-679-31318-4.

External Links

• Biography from the official Simpsons website