David Cooper

0003 - Marge Simpson

Added 2021-08-04 08:06:48 +0000 UTC

My appreciation for Marge Simpson grows more with every year. She's not big or flashy, but she's such a unique sitcom character that I can't help but be in awe of how she's often used.

It takes a special alchemy to take what the show often presents as a "boring" character and use that effectively - and hilariously - over such a long period. Usually, when "boring" is used as a comedic tool, it's fairly one note. A "boring" character in a sitcom will show up for one episode, then exit swiftly to our regular character's relief. But Marge is sewn into the fabric of The Simpsons, and not just as counterpoint to the other wackier antics.

Take, for example, a beloved moment:

Where an unexplained love of potatoes might be considered silly and wacky for most characters, for Marge we find it somewhat mundane, quaint, and ultimately quite cute as a result. We're laughing at her, but it's gentle enough that we're also laughing with her, at least a little. She might not get the joke, but she wouldn't get offended by us. To get that kind of classic comedy character without relying on extremes is magical.

I apologise if it seems like I'm being dismissive. There's a lot to Marge beyond this aspect, but it's absolutely my favourite thing about her. She's been many things over many years - it would be hard for her not to be - but at heart she's a projection of the (unfortunately) mostly male writers' shared perception of what a "mom" is. It can be difficult to think of a parent beyond that role as a parent, and so that's largely what Marge gets to be.

In these early years she is the most frustrating version of that. Our POV characters in the Tracey Ullman shorts are usually the children, so Marge is the stereotypical strict mother here, nagging and baking and generally acting as a barrier to fun. I'm glad she evolved beyond that as things progressed. I'm glad she got to be more boring.

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