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Homer Jay Simpson

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Homer Jay Simpson
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Character Information
Gender: Male
Status:
Unknown
Age: 38
Hair: Black (Formerly Brown)
Occupation: Nuclear Safety Inspector
Relatives: Parents: Abe Simpson and Mona Simpson
Wife: Marge Simpson
Ex-wife: Amber Simpson
Children: Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson and Maggie Simpson
Half-siblings: Herb Powell and Abbie
Grandparents: Orville J. Simpson and Yuma Hickman
First appearance: Good Night
Voiced by: Dan Castellaneta


Homer Jay Simpson is the father of the Simpson family; he is overweight, lazy, and not too bright. His behavior is often absurd, selfish, dangerous, clumsy, idiotic, and insensitive. However, he has shown moments of great intellect, and can be a caring parent and husband at times. Over the years, he has evolved into an iconic symbol, recognized and understood by millions of misunderstood fathers across the globe.

Homer works as a low level safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, in Sector 7G, although "working" in this case refers largely to dozing and eating doughnuts. He spends a great deal of his time at Moe's Tavern with his lifelong friends Barney, Carl, Lenny, and bartender Moe. At home he can often be found sitting on the sofa mindlessly watching TV while snacking on food and drinking Duff.


Biography

File:Young Homer.png
Homer in his late teens.

Homer was born on May 12, 1956. He was raised on a farm by his parents, Mona and Abe. In the mid-1960s, while Homer was between nine and twelve years of age, Mona went into hiding following a run-in with the law. Homer attended Springfield High School and fell in love with Marge Bouvier in 1969. [1] Marge became pregnant with Bart in 1977, while Homer was working at a miniature golf course, turning the crank that spins the windmill. The two were wed in a small wedding chapel across the state line [2].They spent their wedding reception alone at a truck stop, before ending up at the Bouvier's House. After failing to get a job at the newly built Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Homer left Marge to find a job by which he could support his family. He briefly worked at a taco restaurant called the Gulp 'n' Blow, until Marge found him and convinced him to return. As a result, Homer confronted Mr. Burns and secured a job at the Plant.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, with Homer being named after his father.[3][4] Homer then made his debut with the rest of the Simpsons clan on 19 April, 1987 in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night".[5] Homer's middle initial "J", which was revealed to stand for "Jay",[6] was a "tribute" to Bullwinkle J. Moose from Rocky and Bullwinkle, a show Matt Groening loved as a child.[7]

According to Matt Groening, the whole family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.[8] However, the features of Homer's character design are not used in other characters.[9]

Voice

Homer's voice sounds different on the shorts than the later half-hour show. Dan Castellaneta's earliest portrayal began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but developed into a more robust and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show, allowing Homer to convey a wider range of emotions.[10] Castellaneta changed the voice, as he could not sustain his Matthau impression for the 9-10 hour long recording sessions and had to find something easier.[11] During an interview with the cast of the show on Inside the Actors Studio, Castellaneta stated that Homer's voice was based in part on his own father who often spoke with an exuberant tone.

Catchphrase

Homer popularized the annoyed grunt "D'oh!" (made memorable through Dan Castellaneta's distinctive voice work), which began as an abbreviated form of James Finlayson's annoyed "Dooooh" in Laurel and Hardy films and other comedy shorts. This modern interjection has found enough popular acceptance to be included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Reception

Homer uttering the legendary word "D'oh".

On May 30, 2003, Homer was made an honorary citizen of Winnipeg, Canada, in recognition of Matt Groening's father Homer Groening, who is believed to be from the Manitoba capital.[12]

Homer placed second on TV Guide's 2002 Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, behind Bugs Bunny.[13] In 2005, Homer was listed fifth on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters, one of only four cartoon characters on that list.[14] British TV viewers voted him as the greatest TV character of all time. [15] In 2007, Entertainment Weekly placed Homer ninth on their list of the "50 Greatest TV icons".[16]

The Simpsons has been recommended for use in the teaching of sociology to modern-day college students. The journal Teaching Sociology appraised it as "particularly effective for illustrating sociological themes and encouraging critical thinking among today's undergraduates".[17] The non-academic book The Simpsons and Philosophy, the D'oh! of Homer includes a chapter analyzing Homer's character from the perspective of Aristotelian virtue ethics.

Homer Simpson syndrome

A five-year study of more than 2,000 middle-aged people in France found a possible link between weight and brain function, dubbed the "Homer Simpson syndrome".[18] Results from a word memory test showed that people with a BMI of 20 (considered to be a healthy level) remembered an average of nine out of 16 words. Meanwhile, people with a BMI of 30 (inside the obese range) remembered an average of just seven out of 16 words.[18]

In Video Games

!WARNING! the following contains spoilers of the video games that Homer has been in. If you don't want to know them read another section or article instead.

The Simpsons: Minutes to Meltdown

in The Simpsons: Minutes to Meltdown Homer is the main character and the only character that you get to play. In the game Spider Pig starts a meltdown and Homer has to stop it.

The Simpsons Road Rage

In The Simpsons Road Rage Homer is one of the characters that you start off with. In the intro he is watching the news with the Simpson family when he sees that Montgomery Burns has bought out the Springfield Transit System and has turned all of the buses into nuclear buses. that gives him the idea to start his own transit company. In the game Homer has three cars the Pink Sedan, Mr. Plow and the car he designed for his brother. also when driving other characters Homer is a character that you can pick up. He is also in the second level where you have to drive him to work and avoid Mr. Burns while driving as Bart and in the last level where you drive as Homer and are against Mr. Burns.

The Simpsons: Hit and Run

In The Simpsons: Hit and Run homer is the character that you start off with. In the first level Homer becomes paranoid with the black surveillance vans driving around town (later revealed to just be pizza delivery vans). So he goes and investigates them. He is also in the last level. In the last level zombies start invading and he tries to stop them.

The Simpsons Game

Homer is the one with the most abilities and shares the honor of having the most appearances on levels with Bart. Homer has a variety of powers including: Gummi Homer Lava Homer( not on PS2 ) Homer Ball and many others.

Merchandising

Major Merchandising

Homer's inclusion in many Simpsons publications, toys, and other merchandise is evidence of his enduring popularity. He has played central roles in the Simpsons Comics series. The Homer Book, written about Homer's personality and attributes, has been published and is commercially available. Numerous other items such as bottle openers, alarm clocks and other merchandise are widely available for purchase.

Movie Merchandising

File:The Giant Homer Chalk Drawing.jpg
The chalk drawing of Homer in Dorset.

In 2007, an image of Homer was painted next to the hill figure, the Cerne Abbas giant in Dorset, England as part of a promotion for The Simpsons Movie. This caused outrage amongst local neopagans who performed "rain magic" to try and get it washed away.[19]

Appearances

* Ullman.png Simpsons short – "Good Night"

See Also

References

  1. The Way We Was
  2. I Married Marge
  3. Sadownick, Doug. "Matt Groening"Advocate, Issue 571. 
  4. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named americasfirstfamily
  5. Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers, pg. 14. ISBN 0-00-638898-1
  6. The Simpsons "D'oh-in in the Wind" November 15, 1998
  7. J is for Jay. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-06-12.
  8. Groening, Matt; Al Jean, Mike Reiss. (2001). The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  9. Groening, Matt; James L. Brooks, David Silverman. (2001). The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  10. Brownfield, Paul. "He's Homer, but This Odyssey Is His Own"Los Angeles Times. 
  11. Larry Carroll. "'Simpsons' Trivia, From Swearing Lisa To 'Burns-Sexual' Smithers"MTV. Retrieved on 2007-07-29. 
  12. Romaniuk, Ross. "Is Homer Simpson Canadian?". Winnipeg Sun. May 30, 2003.
  13. "TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time"CNN. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
  14. The 100 Greatest TV Characters. Bravo. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
  15. 100 Greatest TV characters
  16. "The 50 Greatest TV Icons"Entertainment Weekly{{{date}}}. Retrieved on 2007-11-15. 
  17. Scanlan, Stephen J. and Seth L. Feinberg. "The Cartoon Society: Using"The Simpsons" to Teach and Learn Sociology." Teaching Sociology Volume 28, #2. p. 127-139. April 2002.
  18. 18.0 18.1 "Obese people lose IQ through 'Homer Simpson effect'"Thisislondon. Retrieved on 2007-08-15. 
  19. "Wish for rain to wash away Homer"BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-07-19. 


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