Difference between revisions of "Maggie Simpson"

Revision as of 00:40, December 19, 2007

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"Suck suck" -Maggie's catch phrase

Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the youngest of the five main family members, and is a baby. She first appeared in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night" and was quite prominent during the Ullman days, often being featured alongside Bart and Lisa. Maggie has since become the least seen of the five main Simpsons.

Role in The Simpsons

Like average babies, Maggie is impressionable and easily influenced by what she sees around her. She once hit Homer on the head with a mallet, shot a suction dart at his picture, brandished a pencil in imitation of Itchy and Scratchy. Despite her age, Maggie is a formidable marksman, as seen in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?"^[1] and "Papa's Got a Brand New Badge," where she is able to shoot the fingers off of a group of mobsters in rapid succession with a rifle.^[2]

During the early seasons of the show, Maggie's equivalent of a hallmark or calling card would be to trip over her clothing and fall on her face while trying to walk, causing a loud smack on the floor. Indeed, throughout the Tracey Ullman shorts, Maggie fell down a total of 39 times. ^[2]

She is keenly aware of her surroundings, and can usually be seen imitating the flow of action around her. Like Bart, Lisa and Homer, she is not fond of spending time with her aunts Patty and Selma.^[3] It is also known that she dislikes the One Eyebrowed baby very much.

Character

Creation

Matt Groening first conceived the Simpson family in the lobby of James L. Brooks' 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.^[4] He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family, and named the characters after various members of his own family.^[4] Maggie was named after Matt Groening's younger sister Margaret "Maggie" Groening.^[5] She often sucked on a pacifier and wore a sleep suit, two traits Groening used for Maggie.^[6] Maggie then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons clan on 19 April, 1987 in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night".^[7] Groening thought that it would be funny to have a baby character that did not talk and never grew up, but assigned any emotions that the scene required.^[6] Her comedic hallmarks include her tendency to stumble and land on her face while attempting to walk (though this has been downplayed in later seasons), and a penchant for sucking on her pacifier, the sound of which has become the equivalent of her catchphrase and was originally created by Groening during the Tracey Ullman period, and by Nancy Cartwright during the regular series.^{[citation needed]}

During the show's opening credits, Maggie is run through a supermarket checkout scanner, which reads that she is worth $847.63 (a reference to the monthly cost of infant-rearing in 1989)^[8]. In "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular," the scanner instead reads "NRA4EVER," a reference to the running joke that the show's creators are right-wing radicals.

Voice

With few exceptions, Maggie never speaks but is very participatory in the events around her, emoting with subtle gestures and facial expressions. Maggie has spoken in "Good Night", the first short to air on The Tracey Ullman Show, after the family falls asleep. On this occasion, Liz Georges provided the voice of Maggie.^{[citation needed]}

Maggie's first word spoken in the normal continuity of the series occurred in "Lisa's First Word", when she was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor and says "Daddy" in an empty room.^[9][10] Elizabeth Taylor's performance as Maggie was later named the 13th greatest guest spot in the history of the show.^[11] James Earl Jones, who voiced Maggie in Treehouse of Horror V, was in seventh place.^[12] She would later have brief dialogue in Treehouse of Horror IX, voiced by Harry Shearer, who used his Kang voice.^[13] Her squeaks and occasional speaking parts are regularly done by Nancy Cartwright or Yeardley Smith.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Maggie Simpson at TheSimpsons.com
• The Maggie File at The Simpsons Archive