Bart Simpson
- "Bart" redirects here. For other uses of "Bart", see Bart (disambiguation).
- "Eat My Shorts!"
- ―Bart's catchphrase
- "Ay caramba!"
- ―Bart's catchphrase
Bart Simpson
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Character Information
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Bartholomew JoJo[3] "Bart" Simpson (born April 1[3]), originally planned to be Mort Simpson[citation needed], also known as El Barto and Bartman, is the mischievousness, rebelliousness, misunderstood, and "potentially dangerous" eldest child of Homer and Marge Simpson, and the brother of Lisa and Maggie Simpson.
Contents
Biography
Bart is a self-proclaimed underachiever who is constantly in detention. He is easily distracted (even, strangely enough, by algebraic equations). His penchant for shocking people began before he was born: Bart "mooned" Dr. Hibbert while he performed a sonogram on Marge, and moments after being born he set fire to Homer's tie. His blood type is the very rare Double O Negative (OO-);[4] only he and Mr. Burns are known to have it.
Bart's interests include Krusty the Clown (he is "Krusty Buddy" number 16302), skateboarding, reading comic books (especially Radioactive Man), watching television (especially the Krusty the Clown Show and The Itchy & Scratchy Show), terrorizing Lisa, playing video 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 at his tavern). Bart also sprays graffiti under the alias 'El Barto', and regularly frequents the Kwik-E-Mart (for bubblegum and Squishees) and The Android's Dungeon.
Bart hinted that his favorite movies are Jaws and the Star Wars trilogy.[5] His best friend is Milhouse Van Houten.
Bart is a polyglot and can speak several language's with varying degree's of fluency. Though he has not demonstrated the ability since his trip to France as an exchange student, he speaks near-perfect French.[6] He also learned Spanish in a matter of hours in preparation for the family's trip to Brazil.[7] Upon learning that Brazilians speak Portuguese and not Spanish, Homer orders his son to forget what he learned, prompting Bart to strike himself over the head until he forgot the language. Bart also speaks Japanese (which he also learned in a couple of hours in prison along with Homer, and is also shown speaking Japanese,[8] Cantonese and Latin. His advanced linguistic skills may be inherited from Homer, who also speaks advanced languages, including penguin. He was also shown to be a skilled drummer.[9] He was a player in the Mighty Pigs Peewee Hockey League Team. He is also quite capable of firing advanced firearms with a frighteningly immense amount of accuracy, as evidenced when, while at Military School as a result of a prank involving bullhorns, he was given a RGB6 Grenade Launcher by the firing range instructor due to his belief that Bart would have most likely known how to operate handguns, and managed to destroy four out of five targets before one of his shots missed and ended up hitting Principal Skinner's car just as he was about to unlock it, to which Bart implied that he deliberately missed the fifth target and was actually aiming for Skinner's car that time.[10] He later displayed a similar proficiency towards weapons when he managed to hijack a tank by stealing the keys, drive it over to the park, and managed to shoot down a MLB satellite with surprising accuracy all by himself, although at that point, he was also under the effects of an experimental drug that was supposed to suppress Bart's Attention Deficit Disorder.[11]
Bart can also drive vehicles with surprising skill for his age. He has his own driving license, given to him after saving Springfield from a fire,[12] although he has been seen driving before with a fake license at times.[13] He still possesses it, using it to steal Principal Skinner's car to get to Jimbo's house.[14]
He is the most misunderstood of the family, constantly frustrated by the narrow-minded people of Springfield, who judge him merely by his thoughts and actions.
Bart is also a skilled chef. He cooked a three course meal for his parents and made a dessert.[15]
When he was made Hall Monitor, he also had a great degree of skill in enforcing the law and rules.[16] This trait was later exemplified when he, in a similar fashion to a bouncer, removed Homer Simpson from the premises of the La Maison Derrière after he continuously heckled Marge's ventriloquist performance.[17]
Behavior
- "I can't believe that it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows"
- ―Bart
Bart is considerably motivated in disrupting the routine at Springfield Elementary, and his pranks are often elaborately complex, but can lead to unfortunate consequences. Despite his behaviour, his actions and speech frequently show considerable mental agility, street-smarts, and understanding. When Bart became a hall monitor for Springfield Elementary, his grades went up, showing that he only struggles because he does not pay any attention.[18] Bart suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder[19] On the other hand, Bart often seems to have trouble understanding even the simplest concepts, such as the word "irony", what the equator is and that the logo on his globe ("Rand McNally") is not actually a country. It was also once implied that his mischievous behavior may have been a result of Marge accidentally ingesting a droplet of champagne while pregnant with him.[20]
Labeled as an "underachiever" by authority figures, Bart rides an academic rollercoaster, his grades, running the Loop-the-Loop from "F" to "D-" and back again. But he can be ingenious when the chips are down—as long as his ingenuity is not applied to anything school-related. He once learned portions of the Talmud to help reunite his idol, Krusty the Clown, with his father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky. Once, after an incident where Bart unleashed a surf wave across the school damaging property (and also saving Ned Flanders who was on fire at the time), he was given an experimental drug for Attention Deficit Disorder called Focusyn, causing his intellectual potential to reach its maximum, to the extent that he was even capable of tutoring a Navajo boy. Unfortunately, the drug also shortly thereafter drove him paranoid as a side effect, where he started sensing that Major League Baseball is actually spying on them with a satellite, and ended up going beserk when the prospect of being taken off of Focusyn became apparent, sneaking into Fort Fragg and stealing keys to one of its tanks, causing a wake of destruction by driving in the process, and later used its cannon to blow away a MLB satellite, proving his suspicions correct.[21]
Although he gets into endless trouble and is sometimes shallow and selfish, Bart also exhibits many qualities of high integrity. He has, on a few occasions, helped the love life of his school Principal and his teacher, despite the fact he often terrorizes them, and he often befriends outcasts like Milhouse. One example of his quasi sense of honor is when Bart stands up for Ralph Wiggum at the cost of peer popularity.[22] He was once sent to a juvenile detention center when he played a serious prank involving faux wedding gifts and a fake wedding.[23] He also has legitimate guilt whenever he got either Krabappel or Principal Skinner fired, especially if it was not his intention to do so, like in the former case where he and his classmates plan on getting her laid back by spiking her drink backfired when she ended up getting herself fired,[24] and the latter case where his dog ended up in the ventilation shafts and got trapped along with Willie when he intended to use Santa's Little Helper for show and tell.[25]
Appearance
Bart has yellow/blond spiky hair, although it is actually naturally red (but it stays yellow when he's out in the sun). He wears a red short-sleeved shirt, blue short pants, and blue-white shoes. He sometimes wears his "lucky" red baseball cap and carry around his skateboard or a slingshot.
Alter Egos & Aliases
Bart sprays graffiti around Springfield using the name "El Barto", and his superhero alter-ego is Bartman. He called himself Cupcake Kid[26] when Homer became Pieman. Bart is also known as "The Devil in Blue Shorts"[27] by the organizers of the Teacher of the Year Awards, but he was believed to be an urban legend.
Relationships
Family
Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson is the father of Bart. However, their relationship is often changing. Bart often refers to his father as "Homer" rather than "dad". Whenever Bart does something Homer disagrees with, Homer strangles him. However, he still loves his son.
Marge Simpson
Marge is the mother of Bart and, although she embarrasses him a lot, he still loves her. Although she isn't usually as popular as Homer is with Bart, she is more strict, Bart has occasionally hung out with her, such as when they got a tandem bike and went out together on that[28] and when she, Bart and Lisa made a food blog, the Three Mouthkateers.[29]
Lisa Simpson
Despite commonly fighting with his little sister, Bart's heart does occasionally show through, when he stands up for her. Despite their many fights and predicaments, they still do accept each other.
Maggie Simpson
Abraham Simpson
Patty and Selma Bouvier
Romantic relationships
Jessica Lovejoy
Jessica Lovejoy was Bart's first girlfriend. She liked Bart because of his bad boy attitude and the fact that her parents didn't like him. Bart liked her because she was "smart, beautiful, and a liar". However, she ultimately turned out to be too bad for Bart and he decided to stay away from her, only to be sat next to her in church and framed for stealing by her. After all this, he is still attracted to her.[30]
Laura Powers
Laura Powers is the daughter of Ruth Powers, who moved into 740 Evergreen Terrace. Bart took an instant attraction to her and they hung out and became good friends, although Bart wanted to be more than friends. Bart tried hard to impress her when she came round to babysit them. In the end, Bart was heartbroken when he found out that Laura was in love with Jimbo Jones.[31]
Greta Wolfcastle
Greta Wolfcastle and Bart end up in a relationship after Bart saves her from some bullies at her school. However, he and Milhouse decide to go and prank Principal Skinner instead of go to a dance with Greta. He then dumps Greta to spare her from standing her up in future. However, Bart realized he made a mistake and went to ask her back, only to find that she and Milhouse were now together. After making a trip to Canada to win her back, he has a fight with Milhouse and Greta decided that she doesn't want to be with either of them.[32]
Darcy
Darcy is a 15 year old girl who meets Bart when he gets a drivers license and uses it to pick up older girls. She was pregnant at the time and wanted her baby to have a father so decided to get married to Bart when she fell in love with him. However, she didn't know that Bart was only 10 but still went to get married to him anyway as she was desperate for her baby to have a father. Their parents stop them before the marriage though after Bart started to think that their relationship was becoming a little shaky and they agree to meet again at some point.[33]
Jenny
Jenny was a girl who helped out at the Springfield Retirement Castle at the same time Bart was forced to help out. Bart developed a crush on her and eventually they entered a relationship with each other which was based on lies as Bart pretended to be totally different. Eventually, she found out what Bart was really like and dumped him.[34]
Nikki McKenna
When both Fourth Grade classes are merged together, Bart is forced to sit next to Nikki McKenna who at first seems annoyed with Bart. She soon warms up to him though and become very close, until Bart kisses her, seemingly putting her off him. After a no touching policy is imposed on the school, Nikki kisses Bart again, confusing Bart. This hot then cold relationship continues between them until Bart gets knocked unconscious. Nikki gives him CPR and mouth to mouth to resuscitate him but then tells Bart that she'll never tell him why she was hot then cold.[35]
Melody Juniper
Melody Juniper was the daughter of Calliope Juniper, the new music teacher in school. Principal Skinner made Bart date her so that he could get a chance with Calliope. Melody was happy with this but Bart wasn't as happy. After Bart told her he wasn't happy with dating her, both her and her mother decided to leave Springfield.[36]
Becky
Bart's first kiss was from Becky when she was dared to kiss him when playing truth or dare.[37] However, he has not been in a relationship with her and never seemed to want one.
Springfield Elementary students
Milhouse Van Houten
Nelson Muntz
Nelson Muntz has a mixed relationship with Bart. He often bullies him, and Bart even made an army to defeat him.[38] Then again, they are also often seen as friends, and Bart even decided that he was more trustworthy than Milhouse, his long time best friend.[39] Their relationship often swings from being friends to being enemies.
Ralph Wiggum
Martin Prince
While Bart generally dislikes Martin Prince as he is smarter than him and a nerd, Bart has had to ask him for help occasionally. When Bart was failing and had the threat of retaking fourth grade again, he asked Martin to help him. In return, Bart helped Martin have fun.[40] Bart again had to ask Martin for help when he wanted a good science fair project and together they made the Robopet.[41]
The bullies
Springfield Elementary staff
Seymour Skinner
Principal Seymour Skinner can be seen as Bart's enemy, foiling him in his plans. Bart has been punished by Seymour often. Despite this though, Bart often helps out Seymour with his problems, helping to reunite him and Edna Krabappel.[42] After Skinner got fired as principal, he and Bart became friends, with Bart often checking in on him and they started to enjoy each other's company. After Skinner becomes principal again, they both decide that they can no longer be friends.[43]
Edna Krabappel
Gary Chalmers
Otto Mann
Willie MacDougal
Others
Ned Flanders
Krusty the Clown
Krusty the Clown is Bart's idol. Bart has helped him out several times, firstly saving him from prison[44], saving his career[45] and reuniting him with his daughter.[46] However, Krusty can never remember Bart and also can never remember all the things he's done for him.
Sideshow Bob
References
- ↑ No Loan Again, Naturally
- ↑ The Blue and the Gray
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Bart Book
- ↑ Blood Feud
- ↑ Bart the General
- ↑ The Crepes of Wrath
- ↑ Blame It on Lisa
- ↑ A Star is Burns
- ↑ Jazzy and the Pussycats
- ↑ The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
- ↑ Brother's Little Helper
- ↑ Little Big Girl
- ↑ Bart on the Road
- ↑ 24 minutes
- ↑ O Brother, Where Bart Thou?
- ↑ Separate Vocations
- ↑ Bart After Dark
- ↑ Separate Vocations
- ↑ Brother's Little Helper
- ↑ Double, Double, Boy in Trouble
- ↑ Brother's Little Helper
- ↑ This Little Wiggy
- ↑ The Wandering Juvie
- ↑ Bart gets a 'Z'
- ↑ Sweet Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song
- ↑ Simple Simpson
- ↑ Special Edna
- ↑ "Marge's Son Poisoning"
- ↑ "The Food Wife"
- ↑ "Bart's Girlfriend"
- ↑ "New Kid on the Block"
- ↑ "The Bart Wants What It Wants"
- ↑ "Little Big Girl"
- ↑ "The Good, the Sad and the Drugly"
- ↑ "Stealing First Base"
- ↑ "Flaming Moe"
- ↑ "Flaming Moe's"
- ↑ "Bart the General"
- ↑ "The Debarted"
- ↑ "Bart Gets an F"
- ↑ "Replaceable You"
- ↑ "The PTA Disbands"
- ↑ "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
- ↑ "Krusty Gets Busted"
- ↑ "Krusty Gets Kancelled"
- ↑ "Insane Clown Poppy"
Non Canon Appearances
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The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened or existed. |
Treehouse of Horror
In Treehouse of Horror VII, Bart learns that he has a twin brother named Hugo.
Future
As with other characters, his future follows no defined and logical pattern and simply changes to suit the episode. At the age of 18, Bart is a senior at Springfield High School. He styles his hair and wears an earring. He speaks three languages, apparently one being armpit noises, and one is hinted to be French. He pursues a relationship with a girl named Jenda who denies his proposal because he doesn't have a steady career plan. As a result, Bart pursues a career at the Kwik-E-Mart: Whether he kept the job is not mentioned. After saving Mr. Burns from a robbery, he is awarded a scholarship to Yale, which was meant to go to Lisa. He gives the scholarship back to her so she doesn't have to suffer a bleak future with Milhouse. At the age of 25, he is a building demolisher and vehicle crusher, and also attends law school. He is more kind in general, as opposed to his modern-day disposition. At age 32, he is taken to the hospital after eating too many fish logs. He seems to have lost his building demolishing company and works at a construction site. He got the "Mother" tattoo which Marge prevented him from getting, as well as a tattoo of Krusty the Clown on his chest. He receives a digestive tract transplant from Uter Zorker which saves his life. At age 40, he is a poor guitarist and alcoholic that dropped out of the DeVry Institute. He lives in a ratty beach house alongside Ralph, the only other member of Bart's band. He is addicted to a form of drug, likely marijuana. He helps Lisa, who is President, get out of debt with other countries. In return, Lisa legalizes the use of cannabis. At age 50, Bart appears to have straightened up and graduated law school, as he is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. At the age of 70, he lives at the Springfield Retirement Castle with Milhouse. At the age of 83, he finds true love, and dies one minute later (according to Professor Frink). Marge has also imagined Bart being a sleazy male stripper.
Behind the Laughter
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 force 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 various members of his own family, substituting "Bart" for his own name, as he decided it would have been too obvious for him to have named the character Matt. Bart then made his debut with the rest of the Simpsons clan on 19 April 1987 in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night". The name "Bart" is an anagram of the word "brat". Groening conceived Bart as an extreme version of the typical misbehaving child character, merging all of the negative traits of characters such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn into one person. Groening's older brother Mark provided most of the inspiration for Bart. Groening has also said that he found the premise of Dennis the Menace disappointing and was inspired to create a character who was actually a menace.
Voice Catchphrases
Nancy Cartwright originally auditioned for the role of Lisa, but soon thought that her voice would be better suited voicing Bart. Matt Groening let her try out for the part, and upon hearing her read, gave her the job on the spot. Bart's catchphrase "Eat My Shorts" was an ad-lib by Cartwright in one of the original table readings, harking back to an incident when she was at college. His other catchphrases included "¡Ay, caramba!" and "Don't have a cow man!" - the former being his first words after seeing Homer and Marge 'enjoying themselves' in bed - but these dropped out of use as the series progressed (as mentioned in "Summer of 4 Ft. 2", when Bart complains that Lisa stole his line). Whenever he introduces himself, he often says, "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?"
Reception
In 1998, Time magazine selected Bart as 46th of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century — the only fictional character to make the list. He had previously appeared on the cover the December 31, 1990 edition. Both Bart and Lisa ranked #11 in TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time".
During the show's early years, Bart was rebellious and frequently escaped without punishment, which led some parents' groups and conservative spokespeople to believe he provided a poor role model for children. This prompted George H. W. Bush to rally, "We're going to keep trying to strengthen the American family. To make them more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.", to which Bart replied with "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the Depression, too."
Bart's catchphrases, "¡Ay, caramba!", "Don't have a cow, man!" and "Eat my shorts!" were featured on t-shirts in the early days of the show's run. The latter two phrases were rarely actually spoken on the show itself until after they became popular through merchandise, and the use of many of these catchphrases has declined in recent seasons. The use of catchphrase-based humor was mocked in the episode "Bart Gets Famous" in which Bart gets famous on the Krusty show for saying the line "I didn't do it."
In his book Planet Simpson, Chris Turner describes Bart as a nihilist. Bart's character traits of rebelliousness and disrespect for authority have 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. Bart is the most depicted Simpsons character on various memorabilia such as toys, books, comics, T-shirts, car decals, and even graffiti art. Bart, and other Simpsons characters, appeared in numerous commercials for Nestlé's Butterfinger candy bars from 1990–2001, with the slogan "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!". This association was parodied in an episode when he discovered that he was in a TV commercial when he was a baby; Bart says that he doesn't remember being in a commercial, then holds up a Butterfinger and eats it. Bart briefly appears in the entrance video used by World Wrestling Entertainment Superstar Shawn Michaels Bart has appeared in several other shows. He is featured in the South Park episode "Cartoon Wars Part II". He is not referred to by name, nor do any of the characters react to him as if he were a well known personality, but the character specifically mentions the events of The Telltale Head when Cartman asks him to name the "most badass thing" he has done.
Trivia
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- Bart is left-handed, like Matt Groening.
- The name Bart is an anagram for the word "brat."
- In There's No Disgrace Like Home, Mr. Burns mistakenly reads Bart's name as 'Brat.'
- Bart is allergic to cauliflower[1], butterscotch, imitation butterscotch, glow-in-the-dark monster make-up[2] and shrimp.[3] However, Bart has been seen eating shrimp before[4] and once stated that he "ate so much shrimp".[5] so it is unknown why he was allergic to shrimp.
- Bart's middle name is JoJo, as mentioned in The Bart Book. It is likely he is named after his great-uncle, JoJo Bouvier.
Appearances
- Bart appears in almost every episode and every video game. The only episode he does not appear nor is mentioned is "Four Great Women and a Manicure".
See also
References
- Characters
- Male characters
- Articles needing sources
- Pages with broken file links
- Simpson family
- The Krusty the Clown Show
- Springfield High School
- Angry Dad
- Criminals
- Children
- Springfield Elementary School students
- Characters voiced by Nancy Cartwright
- Simpsons shorts characters
- Articles containing sourceless information
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