Reverend Timothy Lovejoy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Simpsons character | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Timothy Lovejoy | |
| Gender | Male |
| Job | Minister of the First Church of Springfield |
| Relatives | Wife: Helen Daughter: Jessica |
| Voice actor | Harry Shearer |
| First appearance | |
| The Simpsons | "The Telltale Head" |
The Reverend Timothy Lovejoy is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Lovejoy is the minister at The First Church of Springfield — the Protestant church in Springfield which most of the show's characters regularly attend. Initially kind-hearted and ambitious, Lovejoy has become apathetic towards others because of Ned Flanders's constant personal worries.
Contents |
[edit] Role in The Simpsons
[edit] Profile
Lovejoy is the pastor of the Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism[1] church that almost everyone in Springfield attends.
He attended Texas Christian University.[2] He initially came to Springfield an eager, idealistic, guitar-playing,[3][4] Volkswagen Karmann Ghia-driving young man in the seventies, only to become cynical and disillusioned about his flock and ministry, mostly due to Ned Flanders, who constantly pesters him with religious non-emergencies such as "coveting his own wife or sometimes non-religious non-emergencies such as thinking he swallowed a toothpick."[3] Lovejoy would dispatch such concerns with maximum brevity so that he could return to playing with his model trains. At one point, Lovejoy "just stopped caring,"[3] but rediscovered the joy of helping others, though Ned still irritates him.[3] Lovejoy even suggests Ned join another religion, as Lovejoy says they are all much the same.
His sermons currently vary between dreary recitations of more opaque parts of the Old Testament,[5] to the occasional "fire and brimstone" about Hell,[6] with very little of the love and joy that his surname suggests. When congregation members begin to nod off, Lovejoy can awaken them by pressing a button on the lectern which results in pre-recorded irritating noises.
[edit] Tolerance
His tolerant side is demonstrated when he performs a marriage for Hindus (though he apparently thinks Hindus are a Christian group, or he could believe that Jesus has commanded his followers to respect all people in his statement "Christ is Christ", and agreed to marry Apu and Manjula on the basis that he believes all people should take part in matrimony.)[7], co-hosts a religious radio program with Krusty the Klown's rabbi father[8], and admits evolution may be true. However, despite the fact that he married a Hindu couple, he lists Apu's religion as "Miscellaneous" in the 4th season episode Homer the Heretic ("Hindu!" snaps Apu, "there are 700 million of us."; this occurred well before Apu's marriage, however).
However, Lovejoy has become increasingly intolerant. When Lisa Simpson converted to Buddhism, he referred to her as "Marge Simpson's devil-daughter"[9]. Moreover, he appears bitter about the tall Episcopal church across the street, wanting to build a larger steeple and, when mentioning the other church, placing the emphasis on "pis"[10]. While he seems to have originally believed in evolution, he later takes up the creationist cause to bolster his church's membership[11].
He is especially intolerant of the Roman Catholic Church as he is shown brawling with a priest, though the other man participates as well[12]. He tells Marge that he might as well do a Voodoo dance for Abe Simpson when asked to give him the last rites[13]. He also helps kidnap Bart to keep him from converting to Catholicism[1].
Rev. Lovejoy is firmly opposed to same-sex marriage[14], and declared that he couldn't marry two people of the same sex any more than he could put a hamburger on a hot dog bun.
[edit] Negative qualities
Despite being a Christian pastor, Lovejoy does not always follow the word of the Bible, and has been shown to do things that would be considered sinful. Lovejoy has been known to exploit his congregation for money, brawl with a Roman Catholic priest[12], encourage his dog to foul Ned Flanders's lawn[15], and implied that he once burned down his church for insurance money[16]. In "Whacking Day", he made up a passage in the Bible to attempt to convince Lisa that "even God himself endorses Whacking Day." In "The Joy of Sect", the episode in which the whole town of Springfield is deceived into joining a cult, Lovejoy kidnaps Homer with Groundskeeper Willie from the cult and violently hits him across the head numerous times hoping to knock him out. Also, when Lovejoy sees the spaceship emerge from the "forbidden barn" he throws his religious collar on the ground and stomps on it several times. After it is revealed that the spaceship is fake, Ned Flanders notices his collar on the ground and informs Lovejoy. He instantly picks it up and puts it back on making it seem like an accident.
Lovejoy is not always enthusiastic about the Bible and is often disparaging about its content and purpose, even calling it a "2000-page sleeping pill"[9]; it is unsure if he even owns a Bible, as it was once said he borrows it from the library every week. He tends to stress attending church and community work over any involved study of biblical text. In another episode which dealt with marriage counseling, Lovejoy recommends Marge divorce Homer. When Marge objects that the Bible has strict guidelines concerning marriage and divorce, Lovejoy states that "just about everything is a sin, technically we can't even go to the bathroom".
[edit] Family
Lovejoy's rarely-seen daughter Jessica loves to pull pranks and manipulate people. Her hijinks are revealed to stem from her hunger for attention, which her father does not sufficiently provide[17]. Lovejoy sent her to boarding school in an attempt to curb her tendencies, but Jessica was expelled, having shown no improvement. He does nothing about it out of denial and refuses to believe his daughter is worse than Bart.
Lovejoy's wife, Helen was originally portrayed as a moralistic, judgmental gossip, but in voice actress Maggie Roswell's long absence her character was seen but not heard. Now Helen is rarely seen without being at her husband's side.
His father is also, briefly, shown in the episode Bart After Dark as an older version of Lovejoy (including clerical collar) who visits the Maison Derrière but has no speaking part.
[edit] Character
Matt Groening has indicated that Lovejoy is named after Lovejoy Street (which in turn is named for Portland co-founder Asa Lovejoy)[18] in Portland, Oregon, the city where Groening grew up.[19][20][21]
Lovejoy becomes the central character in the episode "In Marge We Trust". By season eight, the show had begun to explore secondary characters. Reverend Lovejoy was selected for this episode because, aside from being noted as "the priest who didn't care", he had not had much character development.[22]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "The Father, The Son & The Holy Guest Star". Warburton, Matt; Polcino, Michael. The Simpsons. Fox. 2005-05-15.
- ^ "Wedding for Disaster"
- ^ a b c d "In Marge We Trust"
- ^ In "Faith Off" he uses an electric guitar in the church to compete against Bart's faith healing musical show.
- ^ "Simpsons Bible Stories". Long, Tim; Doyle, Larry; Selman, Matt; Kruse, Nancy. The Simpsons. Fox. 1999-04-04.
- ^ "Bart Sells His Soul". Daniels, Greg; Archer, Wesley. The Simpsons. Fox. 1998-10-08.
- ^ "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons". Appel, Richard; Moore, Steven Dean. The Simpsons. Fox. 1997-11-16.
- ^ "Like Father, Like Clown". Kogen, Jay;Wolodarsky, Wallace; Lynch, Jeffrey; Bird, Brad. The Simpsons. Fox. 1991-10-24.
- ^ a b "She of Little Faith". Frielberger, Bill; Moore, Steven Dean. The Simpsons. Fox. 2001-12-16.
- ^ "Bart Has Two Mommies". Gould, Dana; Mercantel, Michael. The Simpsons. Fox. 2006-03-19.
- ^ "The Monkey Suit". Burns, J. Stewart; Persi, Raymond S.. The Simpsons. Fox. 2006-05-14.
- ^ a b "The Frying Game". Swartzwelder, John; Polcino, Michael. The Simpsons. Fox. 2002-05-19.
- ^ "Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"". Swartzwelder, John; Anderson, Mike B.. The Simpsons. Fox. 1998-12-06.
- ^ "There's Something About Marrying". Burns, Stewart J.; Kruse, Nancy. The Simpsons. Fox. 2005-02-20.
- ^ "22 Short Films About Springfield". Daniels, Greg; Reardon, Jim. The Simpsons. Fox. 1996-04-14.
- ^ "The Joy of Sect". O'Donnell, Steve; Moore, Steven Dean. The Simpsons. Fox. 1998-02-08.
- ^ "Bart's Girlfriend". Collier, Jonathan; Dietter, Susie. The Simpsons. Fox. 1994-11-06.
- ^ Corning, Howard M. Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956.
- ^ Turnquist, Kristi. Cover Story: D'oh! The Oregonian, July 27, 2007.
- ^ Carlin, Peter Ames. 'The Simpsons' Cleaverly captures an even bigger slice of Portland life. The Oregonian, November 4, 2000.
- ^ Levy, Shawn. Matt Groening: On what's so funny about Portland. The Oregonian, September 3, 1999.
- ^ Weinstein, Josh. (2006). The Simpsons: The Complete Eighth Season DVD Video Collector's Edition commentary for the episode "In Marge We Trust". [DVD]. Twentieth Century Fox.
