Patty and Selma
Patricia Maleficent "Patty" Bouvier'' and 'Selma Bouvier-D'Amico ) are fictional characters in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. They are twin sisters and are voiced by Julie Kavner, who also voices their younger sister, Marge. Patty and Selma, both gravel-voiced chain-smokers, work at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles. They have a strong dislike for their brother-in-law, Homer Simpson, who likewise loathes them. Selma, the elder by two minutes, longs for male companionship and has had multiple brief, doomed marriages, and has herself offered help in some fashion to Marge and Homer as she envies their loving relationship; she receives occasional compassionate support from Homer who even poses as her husband to help her adopt a child. Patty is an initially closeted lesbian who embraces celibacy until she begins dating women. Kavner voices them as characters who "suck the life out of everything". Patty and Selma debuted on the first Simpsons'' episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which aired on December 17, 1989.
Distinguishing features
Being twins, the two have a similar look, but there are several easy ways to distinguish them, including:- Hairstyle: Patty has an afro perm, while Selma's hair is parted in the middle.
- Attire: Patty wears a short-sleeved pink dress and pink shoes while Selma wears a hemmed sleeveless blue dress and blue shoes.
- Jewelry: Patty wears blue or orange triangular earrings and spherical beads connected by a visible string, while Selma wears orange or purple circular earrings and elliptical beads attached to each other.
Biography
Rarely seen apart, Patty and Selma are known for their distinctive gravelly voices, cynical outlook on life, bitter and unpleasant personalities, and love of cigarettes. They share an apartment at the Spinster City apartment complex and both work at the DMV. The two are avid, sometimes maniacal fans of the TV series, MacGyver. The two seem to be aroused by the character and smoke a cigarette after every viewing of the show.When Jay Sherman, on advice from Homer, told Patty and Selma that MacGyver is gay, they stripped him to his boxers and hung him from the gutters. On the eve of Selma's marriage to Sideshow Bob, he insulted MacGyver and the wedding was almost cancelled as a result. Selma and Patty once met the actor who portrayed MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson, and kidnapped him. Patty and Selma have taken many vacations together to various places including
Czechoslovakia and the Dead Sea, where Selma sunk to the bottom when she attempted to float on her back. Patty and Selma have also brought home "souvenirs" from their vacations, including a pillowcase full of seashells from their trip to Sulfur Bay that they forced the family to help them clean and organize. They drove away Richard Dean Anderson by showing him slides of their trip to the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston, Alberta.
Patty and Selma have a strong, mutually reciprocated dislike for their brother-in-law Homer. They regret that Marge chose Homer over her former boyfriend Artie Ziff, and have unsuccessfully tried to help Artie win her back. However, Marge made it clear to her sisters that she loves Homer and there is nothing they can do to change her mind. Homer usually tries to be polite to them out of respect for Marge, but Patty and Selma do not hide their contempt for him. They showed little concern when Homer suffered a heart attack. While he was undergoing bypass surgery, they tried to set Marge up with a sleazy man named Andre. They own a tombstone inscribed with the epitaph "Homer J. Simpson. We are richer for having lost him" and use it as a coffee table, stick pins in a voodoo doll which looks like Homer and even commissioned a billboard urging voters to evict Homer from Springfield. When Homer contemplated suicide, they encouraged him to go through with it and then pushed him off the bridge, though this was actually part of a plot by the townspeople to bring Homer to his surprise party on a cruise ship. Patty has also given stoner Otto Mann a driver's license due to their mutual dislike for Homer, and both she and Selma deliberately failed Homer on his limousine driver's test, but their victory smoking nearly cost them their jobs until Homer intervened. They once kidnapped Homer before his and Marge's third wedding and imprisoned him in a cellar in the hope that Marge would find someone else. Moved to tears by his obvious devotion to Marge, they let him go and paid for their wedding ceremony to avoid being exposed by Bart and Lisa. For his part, Homer regards them as the "Gruesome Twosome" or "Fatty and Smellma" and was delighted when he heard they had died.
As children, Patty and Selma were apparently domineering towards Marge and ridiculed her ambition of becoming an astronaut. In return for their allowance, Marge used to do chores for them. The free time they now had led to them taking up smoking. As adults, the Bouvier twins have a friendly relationship with their sister and seem very protective of her thus frequently visit the Simpsons. They seem relatively fond of their nieces and nephew, but seem to like them more when they are young, as one of them remarks "The older they get, the cuter they ain't." On occasions, they babysit Bart, Lisa and Maggie, something not relished by the kids. Bart and Lisa were left traumatized when they had to stay with their aunts for a week while a stressed out Marge left for Rancho Relaxo. Maggie managed to take evasive action and got to stay with Homer instead.
Patty Bouvier
Patricia Maleficent Bouvier is the younger of the two. Despite the similarities between her and Selma, Patty is more jaded than her sister, particularly towards relationships. It was once said by Marge that Patty chose a life of celibacy, and that Selma had it thrust upon her. Her decision to not have relationships has been implied to be due to her then closeted sexuality. Earlier hints of her closeted sexuality were also shown in some of the show's earlier episodes, when she was reluctant to date Principal Skinner in Principal Charming; in Treehouse of Horror III, on seeing Homer naked, she claimed the experience destroyed "the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality." Generally, Patty is more hostile to Homer than Selma. However, when Patty came out as a lesbian, she found a surprising supporter in Homer, and she swallowed her pride and asked him to perform her marriage ceremony. They also teamed up to try to scupper the burgeoning relationship between Selma and Homer's father Abe. Patty also joined Homer's group to ghost-write an original fantasy fiction novel, and also to stop their novel from being replaced with a drastically revamped version by the book publishing company. In one episode, where Patty stayed at the Simpson house during a fight with Selma despite Homer's reluctance, Patty privately admitted to Homer that she only mocks him because she is jealous of him having a successful marriage and family with Marge, while all she has is Selma, leaving Homer feeling grateful for her having opened, albeit briefly, a window of kindness.Relationships
Patty's only known relationship with a man involved Principal Skinner. On a blind date arranged by Homer, Skinner was supposed to fall for Selma, but he noticed Patty first and fell in love with her instead. They dated for a while, though Patty often showed signs of reluctance through things like unjoyful facial expressions and turned down his marriage proposal, claiming him she was too devoted to Selma to abandon her. However, she did consider Skinner a gentleman and ended their relationship with the words "Good night, sweet principal." Like Selma, Patty also has a long-running fixation on MacGyver, although this aspect of her personality has been played down in later episodes.Patty was revealed to be lesbian in the season 16 episode "There's Something About Marrying", which follows Homer Simpson as he is ordained to perform same-sex marriages. Producer Al Jean had announced that a character would come out prior to the episode's airing, prompting widespread speculation. Patty was the character that fans most suspected would come out. The episode aired in 2005, when same-sex marriage was a major political issue in the United States. The move was controversial, provoking outrage from opponents to same-sex marriage. Entertainment columnist Ray Richmond credited Patty's coming out as a significant milestone for the gay rights movement, as it proved that the movement was prominent enough to feature in an episode of a mainstream sitcom.
After coming out as a lesbian, Patty exclaims "you could see it from space!". There had been many previous hints of her sexuality: she was seen visiting a burlesque house; she exclaimed "There goes the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality"; she was seen hiding in a closet with Smithers on a parade float during a gay pride parade. In another nod to Patty's sexuality being obvious, Homer sarcastically quipped, "Here's another bomb for ya, Marge: I like beer!" when Marge was shocked at the revelation.
Patty wooed a tenured professor from Yale University away from her husband and has also been attracted to Edna Krabappel. When Selma claimed she couldn't face prison, Patty replied that she could, implying she would welcome a female-only environment. Patty's first serious relationship with a woman was with Veronica, a pro golfer. It was later discovered by Marge and revealed during Patty's wedding that Veronica was actually a man in disguise. Patty's next serious relationship with a woman was with Evelyn, who quickly bonded with Homer over similar traits during a trip to Costa Rica. When Marge pointed out that Evelyn was ruining the trip and was a female version of Homer, a horrified Patty broke up with her. However, when a remorseful Marge apologized to Patty and reassured her that the difference between Homer and Evelyn was that Evelyn truly loved her, Patty decided to reconcile with Evelyn.