Bart Simpson
Bartholomew Jo-Jo "Bart" Simpson is one of the main characters in the American animated television series The Simpsons who is part of the titular family. Widely regarded as one of the greatest fictional characters of all time, he was named by Time as one of the most important people of the 20th century.
Bart made his television debut in the short "Good Night" on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed Bart while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Initially called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip Life in Hell, Groening developed a new set of characters. Unlike the other Simpson family members, who were named after Groening's relatives, Bart's name is an anagram of brat. After two years on The Tracey Ullman Show, the Simpson family received their own series, which premiered on Fox on December 17, 1989. Bart has appeared in every episode of The Simpsons except "Four Great Women and a Manicure".
Always ten years old, Bart is the eldest child and only son of Homer and Marge Simpson and the brother of Lisa and Maggie. Known for his penchant for mischief, rebelliousness and disrespect for authority, Bart's most iconic traits include his chalkboard gags in the opening sequence, prank calls to Moe's Tavern, and catchphrases like "Eat my shorts", "¡Ay, caramba!", "Don't have a cow, man!", and "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?". Bart has also appeared in The Simpsons-related media, including video games, the 2007 film version of the series, The Simpsons Ride, commercials, comic books, and an extensive line of merchandise. Nancy Cartwright, Bart's voice actor, intended to audition for the role of Lisa, and Yeardley Smith auditioned for Bart. Smith's voice was deemed too high-pitched for a boy, while Cartwright found Lisa less appealing as a character and opted to try out for Bart—a role she felt better suited her.
Bart's protagonist status during the show's first two seasons led to "Bartmania", which spawned Bart-themed merchandise touting his rebellious persona and pride in underachieving. The traits were criticized by parents and educators, who viewed him as a negative influence on children. By the third season, Homer became the show's figurehead character and the series shifted its focus to the family as a whole, although Bart remains a breakout character. He is considered one of the most iconic fictional television characters of the 1990s. Entertainment Weekly named him Entertainer of the Year in 1990. Cartwright has received accolades for her portrayal of Bart, including a Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 and an Annie Award in 1995. In 2000, Bart and the rest of the Simpson family were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Role in ''The Simpsons''
The Simpsons employs a floating timeline, in which characters either do not age or age minimally; the show is always presumed to take place in the present year. Always ten years old, Bartholomew, best known by his short-form name Bart, is the eldest child and only son of Homer and Marge Simpson; he has two younger sisters, Lisa and Maggie. In several episodes of The Simpsons, events have been tied to specific times, though these timelines are sometimes contradicted in later episodes. In "I Married Marge", Bart's birth is placed in the early 1980s. In "Simpsorama", Bart states his birthday as February 23, while The Bart Book by series creator Matt Groening lists it as April 1. In "Bart's Birthday", Bart, in a hypothetical series finale, celebrates his eleventh birthday, much to his dismay, as he has always identified as being ten years old.Bart lived with his parents in Springfield's Lower East Side before the family purchased their first home. When Lisa was born, Bart initially felt jealous of the attention she received but soon warmed to her when her first word turned out to be "Bart". Bart's first day of school occurred in the early 1990s. Initially excited, his enthusiasm was quickly crushed by an indifferent teacher, prompting Marge to worry about him. During recess, Bart befriended Milhouse and began entertaining classmates with gestures and rude jokes. Principal Skinner warned Bart, "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?" Bart replied, "Eat my shorts". However, the episode "That 90's Show" contradicted much of this timeline, revealing that Homer and Marge were childless during the early 1990s.
Bart's hobbies include skateboarding, watching television—particularly The Krusty the Clown Show and its segment The Itchy & Scratchy Show—reading comic books, especially Radioactive Man, playing video games, and causing general mischief. His favorite movies are Jaws and the Star Wars trilogy, while his favorite board games include Hippo in the House, The Game of Lent, and Citizenship. Throughout the series, Bart has been a student at Springfield Elementary School, where he is part of Edna Krabappel's fourth-grade class. Although too young for full-time work, Bart has taken on several part-time jobs over the years. He works as a bartender at Fat Tony's social club in "Bart the Murderer" ; as Krusty the Clown's assistant in "Bart Gets Famous" ; as a doorman in Springfield's burlesque house, the Maison Derrière, in "Bart After Dark" ; and briefly owns his own factory in "Homer's Enemy".
Character
Creation
conceived Bart and the rest of the Simpson family in 1987 while waiting in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks's office. Groening was invited to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show and initially planned to adapt his comic strip, Life in Hell. Realizing that adapting the strip would require him to relinquish publication rights, he decided to create something new. Groening sketched a concept for a dysfunctional family, naming the characters after members of his family. For the rebellious son, he chose "Bart", an anagram of brat, instead of his own name because he felt that "Matt" would not "go over well in a pitch meeting". Bart's middle initial "J" is an homage to the animated characters Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, who were named after creator Jay Ward. Although numerous interpretations of his middle initial have been given, Groening said that Bart's full middle name is "Jo-Jo", which was chosen by Cartwright during a recording session.According to The Oregonian, Bart was conceived as "a much milder, troubled youth given to existential angst who talks to himself"; the character was changed due to Nancy Cartwright's voice acting. Groening has credited numerous sources as inspirations for Bart's character. His older brother, Mark Groening, influenced Bart's rebellious attitude. Mark introduced him to a variety of comics, including Mad, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Little Lulu, and Tales From the Crypt; all were sources of inspiration for Matt. Bart was envisioned as an exaggerated version of a typical misbehaving child, combining the extreme traits of characters such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Groening described Bart as "what would happen if the son of Eddie Haskell got his own show". He was disappointed with the premise of Dennis the Menace, which inspired him to create a character who was genuinely mischievous. Bart first appeared with the Simpson family on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night". On December 17, 1989, the shorts were developed into The Simpsons, a half-hour series on the Fox Broadcasting Company, where Bart and the Simpson family became the central characters.
Design
The Simpson family was designed to be easily recognizable in silhouette. The characters were initially crudely drawn because Groening submitted rough sketches to the animators, expecting them to refine the designs, but they simply traced over his drawings. Bart's early design, featured in the first shorts, included hair with spikes of varying length; this was later standardized to nine spikes of equal length. Groening primarily worked in black-and-white at the time and, without considering the eventual use of color, designed Bart's spikes to look like an extension of his head. This design feature is not replicated in other characters, although some background characters in the first few seasons shared his spiky hairline.Bart's head was described by director Mark Kirkland as a basic rectangular shape resembling a coffee can. Homer's head is also rectangular, with a dome on top, while spheres define the heads of Marge, Lisa, and Maggie. In the season-seven episode "Treehouse of Horror VI", Bart, alongside Homer, was first rendered as a three-dimensional character in the episode's "Homer3" segment. The computer animation was by Pacific Data Images. Designing Bart's 3D model, the animators did not know how they would depict his hair; realizing that vinyl Bart dolls were in production, they purchased one to use as a model.
Voice
Bart's voice is provided by Nancy Cartwright, who also voices several other child characters on The Simpsons who include Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and Kearney Zzyzwicz. After Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner were cast as Homer and Marge due to their roles on The Tracey Ullman Show, the producers held auditions for Bart and Lisa. Yeardley Smith initially auditioned for Bart, but casting director Bonita Pietila felt that her voice was too high-pitched. Smith recalled, "I always sounded too much like a girl. I read two lines as Bart, and they said, 'Thanks for coming!. She was subsequently cast as Lisa instead. On March 13, 1987, Cartwright auditioned for Lisa. Discovering that Lisa was described only as the "middle child", with little personality at the time, she became interested in Bart, who was characterized as "devious, underachieving, school-hating, irreverent, clever". Groening allowed her to audition for Bart, and offered her the role immediately after hearing her read. Cartwright is the only one of the six primary Simpsons cast members who had formal voice-acting training before joining the show.According to The Guardian, Cartwright's speaking voice has "no obvious traces of Bart". The voice she uses for Bart came naturally to her, since she had incorporated elements of it on shows like My Little Pony, Snorks, and Pound Puppies. Cartwright described Bart's voice as easy to create: "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 typically records five or six takes of each line for variety, allowing producers more options to work with. Even in flashforward episodes, Cartwright continues to voice Bart; in the episode "Lisa's Wedding", Bart's voice was electronically pitched lower to reflect his age. Despite Bart's fame, Cartwright is seldom recognized in public. When she is recognized and asked to use Bart's voice in front of children, she declines because it "freaks out". During the first season of The Simpsons, Fox Network barred Cartwright from interviews to avoid the revelation that Bart was voiced by a woman.
Cartwright was paid US$30,000 per episode for her work on The Simpsons until 1998. A pay dispute arose that year, during which Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors and began preparing for new casting. The conflict was resolved, and Cartwright's salary increased to $125,000 per episode. The voice cast pushed for higher wages in 2004, seeking $360,000 per episode. The dispute was soon settled, and Cartwright's pay was increased to $250,000 per episode. In 2008, further negotiations increased the cast's salaries to about $400,000 per episode. Fox demanded production-cost reductions in 2011, threatening to cancel the series if costs were not cut. In response, Cartwright and the other main cast members agreed to a 30-percent pay reduction, lowering their per-episode earnings to just over $300,000. Cartwright was paid $315,000 per episode by 2016, which, according to Variety, made her one of the highest-paid voice actors.