0002 - "Bart Simpson"
Added 2021-08-03 08:01:34 +0000 UTC
Oh, so THAT's who the son from yesterday was!
It can be argued that Bart is the main character of The Simpsons. Look, I swear I'm not going to say that for every character, but it's true! Bart was certainly the gateway character for many of the target young audience in the 1990s, and the so called "Bartmania" that ensued is evidence of this.
For me, Bart was aspirational in all the wrong ways. I was a good boy, a well behaved wimp, really more of a Milhouse or even a Martin. But I wished I had the confidence to be a Bart, to operate without inhibition and do what I want. Even when the show framed Bart as a failure (The Simpsons basically frames all of its characters as failures), I admired him.
But the perspective of the show shifts, as a whole, from Bart to Homer I think, as the more relatable scenarios become easier to give to an adult character. There's only so much experienced childhood a writer can draw from.
Thanks Bart, for staying forever young, so we don't have to get depressed watching you grow up and experience consequences.
This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
