Bart Simpson

Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' short " Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed Bart while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip, ''Life in Hell'', but instead decided to create a new set of characters. While the rest of the characters were named after Groening's family members, Bart's name is an anagram of the word ''brat''. After appearing on ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' for two years, the Simpson family received its own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989. Bart has appeared in every ''Simpsons'' episode except "Four Great Women and a Manicure".

At ten years old, Bart is the eldest child and only son of Homer and Marge, and the brother of Lisa and Maggie. Bart's most prominent and popular character traits are his mischievousness, rebelliousness and disrespect for authority. Hallmarks of the character include his chalkboard gags in the opening sequence; his prank calls to Moe; and his catchphrases "Eat my shorts", "''¡Ay, caramba!''", "Don't have a cow, man!", and "I'm Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you?". However, with the exception of "''¡Ay, caramba!''", these hallmarks have been retired or are not often used. Bart has appeared in other media relating to ''The Simpsons'' – including video games, ''The Simpsons Movie'', ''The Simpsons'' Ride, commercials, and comic books – and inspired an entire line of merchandise.

In casting, Cartwright originally planned to audition for the role of Lisa, while Yeardley Smith tried out for Bart. Smith's voice was considered too high for a boy, so she was given the role of Lisa. Cartwright found Lisa uninteresting, so she instead auditioned for Bart, which she thought was a better role.

During the first two seasons of ''The Simpsons'', Bart was the show's protagonist and "Bartmania" ensued, spawning Bart Simpson-themed merchandise touting his rebellious attitude and pride at underachieving, which caused many parents and educators to cast him as a bad role model for children. Around the third season, the role of the protagonist was taken over by his father, and series started to focus more on the family as a whole, though Bart still remains a prominent breakout character. ''Time'' named Bart one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, and he was named "entertainer of the year" in 1990 by ''Entertainment Weekly''. Cartwright has won several awards for voicing Bart, including a Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 and an Annie Award in 1995. In 2000, Bart, along with the rest of his family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Role in ''The Simpsons''

''The Simpsons'' uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not age or age very little, and as such, the show is always assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Bart's year of birth was stated in "I Married Marge" (season three, 1991) as being in the early 1980s. In " Simpsorama" ( season 26, 2014) Bart states his birthday as February 23. "February 23rd." "Ha! February has no 23rd!" "Yes it does!" He lived with his parents in the Lower East Side of Springfield until the Simpsons bought their first house. When Lisa was born, Bart was at first jealous of the attention she received, but he soon warmed to her when he discovered that "Bart" was her first word. Bart's first day of school was in the early 1990s. His initial enthusiasm was crushed by an uncaring teacher and Marge became worried that something was truly wrong with Bart. One day during recess, Bart met Milhouse and started entertaining him and other students with various gestures and rude words. Principal Skinner told him "you've just started school, and the path you choose now may be the one you follow for the rest of your life! Now, what do you say?" In his moment of truth, Bart responded, "eat my shorts". The episode " That '90s Show" ( season nineteen, 2008) contradicted much of the backstory's time frame; for example, it was revealed that Homer and Marge were childless in the early 1990s.

Bart's hobbies include skateboarding, watching television (especially ''The Krusty the Clown Show'' which includes ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show''), reading comic books (especially Radioactive Man), playing video games and generally causing mischief. His favorite movies are ''Jaws'' and the '' Star Wars'' Trilogy. For the duration of the series, Bart has attended Springfield Elementary School and has been in Edna Krabappel's fourth grade class. While he is too young to hold a full-time job, he has had occasional part-time jobs. He works as a bartender at Fat Tony's social club in "Bart the Murderer" (season three, 1991); as Krusty the Clown's assistant in "Bart Gets Famous" ( season five, 1994); as a doorman in Springfield's burlesque house, the Maison Derrière, in " Bart After Dark" ( season eight, 1996); and briefly owns his own factory in "Homer's Enemy" ( season eight, 1997).

Character

Creation

Matt Groening first conceived of Bart and the rest of the Simpson family in 1987, while waiting in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for ''The Tracey Ullman Show'', and had intended to present an adaptation of his ''Life in Hell'' comic strip. When he realized that animating ''Life in Hell'' would require him to rescind publication rights, Groening decided to go in another direction. He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family, naming the characters after members of his own family. For the rebellious son, he substituted "Bart", an anagram of the word ''brat'', for his own name, as he decided it would have been too obvious for him to have named the character 'Matt'. Bart's middle initial ''J'' is a "tribute" to animated characters such as Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel from ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'', who received their middle initial from Jay Ward. According to the book '' Bart Simpson's Guide to Life'', Bart's full middle name is "JoJo".

Bart had originally been envisioned as "a much milder, troubled youth given to existential angst who talks to himself", but the character was changed based on Cartwright's voice acting. Groening has credited several different figures with providing inspiration for Bart: Matt Groening's older brother Mark provided much of the motivation for Bart's attitude.Groening, Matt. (2006). Commentary for "My Sister, My Sitter", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Eighth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox.Groening, Matt. (2006). Commentary for " Bart Carny", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. Bart was conceived as an extreme version of the typical misbehaving child character, merging all of the extreme traits of characters such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn into one person. Groening describes Bart as "what would happen if the son of Eddie Haskell rom_'' rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver''">Leave_It_to_Beaver.html"_;"title="rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver">rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver''got_his_own_show"._Groening_has_also_said_that_he_found_the_premise_of_''Dennis_the_Menace_(1959_TV_series).html" ;"title="Leave_It_to_Beaver''.html" ;"title="Leave_It_to_Beaver.html" ;"title="rom '' rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver''">Leave_It_to_Beaver.html"_;"title="rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver">rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver''got_his_own_show"._Groening_has_also_said_that_he_found_the_premise_of_''Dennis_the_Menace_(1959_TV_series)">Dennis_the_Menace''_disappointing_and_was_inspired_to_create_a_character_who_was_actually_a_menace.

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Design

The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette. The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings. Bart's original design, which appeared in the first shorts, had spikier hair, and the spikes were of different lengths. The number was later limited to nine spikes, all of the same size. At the time Groening was primarily drawing in black and "not thinking that artwould eventually be drawn in color" gave him spikes which appear to be an extension of his head. The features of Bart's character design are generally not used in other characters; for example, no other characters in current episodes have Bart's spiky hairline, although several background characters in the first few seasons shared the trait.

The basic rectangular shape of Bart's head is described by director Mark Kirkland as a coffee can. Homer's head is also rectangular (with a dome on top), while spheres are used for Marge, Lisa, and Maggie. Different animators have different methods of drawing Bart. Former director Jeffrey Lynch starts off with a box, then adds the eyes, then the mouth, then the hair spikes, ear, and then the rest of the body. Matt Groening normally starts with the eyes, then the nose, and the rest of the outline of Bart's head. Many of the animators have trouble drawing Bart's spikes evenly; one trick they use is to draw one on the right, one on the left, one in the middle, then continue to add one in the middle of the blank space until there are nine. Originally, whenever Bart was to be drawn from an angle looking down so the top of his head was seen, Groening wanted there to be spikes along the outline of his head, and in the middle as well. Instead, Wes Archer and David Silverman drew him so that there was an outline of the spikes, then just a smooth patch in the middle because "it worked graphically". In " The Blue and the Gray", Bart (along with Lisa and Maggie) finally questions why his hair has no visible border to separate head from hair.

In the season seven (1995) episode " Treehouse of Horror VI", Bart (along with Homer) was computer animated into a three-dimensional character for the first time for the "Homer³" segment of the episode. The computer animation was provided by Pacific Data Images. While designing the 3D model of the character, the animators did not know how they would show Bart's hair. They realized that there were vinyl Bart dolls in production and purchased one to use as a model.Oakley, Bill; Weinstein, Josh; Johnson, Tim; Silverman, David; Mirkin, David; Cohen, David X. "Homer in the Third Dimension" (2005), in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season'' VD 20th Century Fox.

Voice

Bart's voice is provided by Nancy Cartwright, who voices several other child characters on ''The Simpsons'', including Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and Kearney. While the roles of Homer and Marge were given to Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner because they were already a part of ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' cast, the producers decided to hold casting for the roles of Bart and Lisa. Yeardley Smith had initially been asked to audition for the role of Bart, but casting director Bonita Pietila believed her voice was too high. Smith later recalled, "I always sounded too much like a girl. I read two lines as Bart and they said, 'Thanks for coming! Smith was given the role of Lisa instead. On March 13, 1987, Nancy Cartwright went in to audition for the role of Lisa. After arriving at the audition, she found that Lisa was simply described as the "middle child" and at the time did not have much personality. Cartwright became more interested in the role of Bart, who was described as "devious, underachieving, school-hating, irreverent, ndclever". Matt Groening let her try out for the part instead, and upon hearing her read, gave her the job on the spot. Cartwright is the only one of the six main ''Simpsons'' cast members who had been professionally trained in voice acting prior to working on the show.

Cartwright's normal speaking voice is said to have "no obvious traces of Bart". The voice came naturally to Cartwright; prior to ''The Tracey Ullman Show'', she had used elements of it in shows such as '' My Little Pony'', ''Snorks'', and ''Pound Puppies''. Cartwright describes Bart's voice as easy to perform, saying, "Some characters take a little bit more effort, upper respiratory control, whatever it is technically. But Bart is easy to do. I can just slip into that without difficulty." She usually does five or six readings of every line in order to give the producers more to work with. In flashforward episodes, Cartwright still provides the voice of Bart. For "Lisa's Wedding