0051 - Edna Krabappel

This might be a bittersweet one, because of the passing of Edna's voice actress, Marcia Wallace. It's hard to believe that Wallace has been gone for 8 years, but a testament to her work that I still consider Mrs Krabappel to be such a major character in the show. What's remarkable is how she would often only appear in 7 or 8 episodes a season - sometimes less - but still left quite an impact.

But let's focus on the wonderful character Wallace left behind. Early on many characters are introduced by way of how they relate to the Simpson family specifically - in this case to Bart. In that regard, Mrs Krabappel is designed mainly as a nemesis, a child's view of how teachers are the enemy of fun. But Edna is not depicted as evil or malicious towards the children she teaches - at worst she is disinterested.

The show is often making a commentary on the state of the public school system, how it fails the children as a whole, and where Edna falls within that can change from scene to scene. Sometimes she is the problem, allowing children under her educational watch to slip through the cracks as she does not give them the learning experience they deserve. Other times she is a by-product of the larger problems, she is overworked and underpaid by a system that fails her as much as the children. By and large, teachers are heroes, but whether Edna individually counts as a hero is certainly up for debate.

I'm a fan of how she is fleshed out beyond her role within the school. She's a older woman on the dating scene, enjoying her post-divorce life. Occasionally the show will verge into slut-shaming territory, but honestly, not often. Edna is presented as someone who is tired of being single, but also enjoys dating, it's a pretty positive representation of a stereotype unfilled by other Springfieldian characters. This aspect is downplayed following her relationship with Skinner, and later marriage to Flanders, but I always thought it made her more three dimensional beyond Bart's orbit.

Anyway. that was Edna Krabappel. You only get one character like Edna Krabappel. We'll miss you.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.