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Marge Simpson

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Template:Simpsons character Marjorie "Marge" Simpson (née Bouvier, approximately age 34), is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons and is voiced by Julie Kavner. She is the well-meaning and patient wife of Homer. Her most notable physical feature is her blue hair, styled into an improbably high beehive (kept in place by Johnson's Water Seal); she is proud to have never met anyone with taller hair outside Graceland. Homer once mentioned that she actually dyes her hair blue, being "gray as a mule since she was seventeen".

Marge spends most of her time doing housework, minding Maggie, being supportive of Lisa, and either disciplining Bart or protecting him from Homer's wrath. She was named after and loosely based on Margaret "Marge" Groening, mother of series creator Matt Groening. In many ways, Marge Simpson is modeled on the stereotypical 1950s suburban housewife, right down to the (faux) pearl necklace.

Biography

Marge's family are fairly recent immigrants, although she claims to be a third-generation Springfielder. The family originally chose to settle in Springfield rather than Stenchburg because they admired the life story of Jebediah Springfield.

As a child, Marge developed a fear of flying after being shocked to learn that her father was an flight attendant instead of the pilot he claimed to be. (Ironically, she had also harbored aspirations of becoming an astronaut). On her first day of school, she was teased for having a lunch box with a picture of The Monkees on it. Marge is a talented painter. She had an intense crush on Ringo Starr, and painted several portraits of him (including one in which they are depicted as married) and wrote to him as a teen, but received a response only 25 years later, which inspires her to enter an art contest.

Marge claims her most famous moment occurred in high school when she and her friend Chloe worked on the school paper, and busted a young Moe Szyslak, then a cafeteria worker who spat in some soup to "teach them to give him his first job outta prison!"

After high school, before marrying Homer and birthing Bart, Marge worked as a "roller-waitress" at a drive-through restaurant. She sometimes collects unemployment benefits from her short lived jobs.

Marge has two older sisters, twins Patty and Selma (both also voiced by Kavner). Her father, a former flight attendant and baby photographer, died as a result of a freak roller coaster accident [citation needed]. Her disapproving mother, Jacqueline, is still alive but rarely seen. All female members of the Bouvier family (except Marge) are heavy smokers with gruff voices and sarcastic, snarky demeanors. None of the other Bouvier family members approve of Marge's marriage to Homer.

Marge apparently makes very bad ice-cream sundaes, though she is otherwise a highly regarded cook, especially for her celebrated pork chops; she manages to feed her entire family with only twelve dollars a week. (She pads Homer's food with sawdust). She also prepares various commemorative hams, including an emergency ham, a condolence ham, an earthquake ham and a celebration ham. She is also quite jealous of women who seem to be better parents than she.

In spite of her image as a stereotypical sitcom mother with relatively high morals, Marge, who can appear naive and gullible, has her share of escapades to the disdain of Springfield's less forgiving residents. She once had a tumultuous stint as a police officer in the Springfield Police Department, took classes for road rage, was jailed for "misdemeanor shoplifting", became a gambling addict, showed alcoholic tendencies, engaged in a memorable cross-country police chase (à la Thelma and Louise), had sex with Homer at a miniature golf course (resulting in the couple running about completely naked, and eventually being photographed on a football field in broad daylight, to which a humiliated Marge grumbles, "It would have to be camera day..."), and mistakenly received breast implants (in "Large Marge"). These are just some of the strange situations in which Marge has found herself. She also displays a surprisingly strong will. In "The Joy of Sect", she escapes brainwashing by the Movementarian Church, and in "Bart-Mangled Banner", in prison she questions Lisa when Lisa begins losing her beliefs after watching propaganda cartoons. Marge is the only member of the family who actively encourages church attendance. She also appears to have significant athletic ability, as seen in her escape from the Movementarian cult.

Politically, Marge generally aligns with the United States Democratic Party. She once mentions that she voted for Jimmy Carter ("twice" according to Lisa) and supported the candidacy of their state's progressive governor Mary Bailey.

It was revealed in the episode "The Way We Weren't" that Marge first met Homer when they were 10 years old, attending summer camp. Although she never knew his real name (he told her it was "Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar"), they shared a brief mutual attraction. The short relationship ended when Homer did not show up for a date, leaving Marge heartbroken. It was later revealed that the stand-up was entirely unintentional, as Homer had fallen off a cliff and gotten trapped in a fat camp at the time.

Marge briefly participated in student activism as a teenager in high school. After engaging in her only protest, she is forced to serve school detention, where she happens to meet Homer for the second time (although she did not recognize him from their earlier courtship at camp), the couple begin dating. Marge becomes pregnant with first child Bart, in her mid- to late twenties. Consequently, she and Homer marry, in a low-budget wedding at a combined wedding chapel and casino across the state line. This is often contradictory as in some episodes it appears Marge gets pregnant right out of high school, but since Marge at the youngest is 34 and Bart is 10 than means she couldn't have gotten pregnant before age 23.

Besides Homer, Marge has had a number of admirers, including C. Montgomery Burns, Springfield Isotopes player Flash Baylor and high school classmate and ex-millionaire Artie Ziff (who recently got over her and is now interested in Marge's sister, Selma). Probably Marge's most persistent admirer (who never seemed to get completely over her) is Homer's friend and pub owner Moe Szyslak. On several occasions, Moe has tried to steal Marge from Homer. His first attempt occurs in Season 5 ("Secrets of a Successful Marriage"), and his most recent attempt occurs in Aruba in Season 16 ("Mommie Beerest"). Moe's and Marge's love-hate relationship has become a recurring gag.

Her favorite foods are buttered noodles, julienned potatoes and peach crumble. In the episode "Burns, Baby Burns", she mentions that spring and winter are her favorite seasons, followed by autumn.

She is afflicted with various untreated mental illnesses, including ludopathy and psychosomatic stress from her family and childhood. She has experienced a tapestry of psychological traumas, such as learning that her father was a pioneering airline steward, being raked by biplane machine gun fire in a cornfield, having her toy airplane cart catch fire, and being teased with her food as a baby. She also suffers from chronic foot pain.

Marge has a very parochial worldview that, for example, sees self-denying domestic servitude in the suburbs as the only valid life choice for women. This is evidenced both by her espousing this lifestyle to those around her as opportunity presents, and by her annoyance when more cosmopolitan influences come to town and broaden people's perspectives (especially those of her children). Her insistent adherence to a limited worldview is probably a coping mechanism which helps her justify being married to perhaps the most ape-ish man in Springfield.

Age

As with other Simpson characters, there are inconsistencies in Marge's actual birthdate. In first-season episode "Life on the Fast Lane", Marge's age was said to be 34, but her age was later changed to 38, possibly because she and Homer attended their twentieth anniversary high-school reunion in one episode. In seventeenth season episode "Regarding Margie", Homer mentions that Marge is his age, meaning she could be anywhere between 36 and 40. In "Bart After Dark" she claims to have lived in Springfield for 37 years. Her birthday was March 18 (considering the air date of "Life on the Fast Lane"), but the episode "Homer's Paternity Coot" suggests that her birthday is in February, when she mentions that her birthstone would be the emerald (the birthstone for May) if she were born three months later. However, in episode (17x17), "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", she says her birthday is in May.

Employment

Marge has taken on various jobs, many of which have lasted only one episode each, among them:

Health and appearance

Hair

There are times when her ample hairdo seems to take on a life of its own. In "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield", Marge plays cards with other club members, and when she realises she had a winning hand, her mind -- then her hair -- starts talking to her. The top of her hair says, "Don't listen to me, I'm just hair. Your head stopped 18 inches ago."

Marge has confessed that her hair isn't really blue but, in fact, gray. The fact that she dyes it was previously revealed by Homer, while teaching an adult education class.

Because of her unusually large hairstyle, her height is reported to be 8'6", as noted by Apu in the episode "Marge in Chains".

Interesting Facts

  • Marge was a junior member of The Cheery Red Tomatoes, a homage to the Red Hat Society.
  • In France, the actor and actress who voice Homer and Marge are married in real life [1].
  • Marge appeared on the cover of Maxim.[citation needed]
  • She's apparently fluent in French and German.
  • Elisabeth Volkmann, who voiced Marge in Germany, died in July 2006. Her replacement is comedienne Anke Engelke.
  • She is left-handed.
  • In the episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled", Marge appears in the episode with no lines of dialogue.
  • Marge once revealed that she was very talented in advanced mathematics, such as Calculus.
  • Her shoe size is 13AA.
  • In the episode "Homer to the Max", when Homer announces that he has changed his name to Max Power, Marge is concerned about her tattoo that is an undefined place on her body. This suggests that she has a possible tattoo related to the "Homer Simpson" name.
  • She is allergic to fish.
  • Marge delivered the Alternative Christmas Message in 2004.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Simpsons, Marge Gets a Job.
  2. ^ The Simpsons, The Twisted World of Marge Simpson.
  3. ^ The Simpsons, The Springfield Connection.
  4. ^ The Simpsons, Large Marge.
  5. ^ The Simpsons, Realty Bites.
  6. ^ The Simpsons, Marge Gets a Job.
  7. ^ The Simpsons, A Streetcar Named Marge.
  8. ^ The Simpsons, Brush with Greatness.
  9. ^ The Simpsons, The PTA Disbands!.
  10. ^ The Simpsons, Large Marge.
  11. ^ The Simpsons, Itchy & Scratchy & Marge.
  12. ^ The Simpsons, Diatribe of a Mad Housewife.
  13. ^ The Simpsons, I Married Marge
  14. ^ The Simpsons, In Marge We Trust.
  15. ^ The Simpsons, Strong Arms of the Ma.
  16. ^ The Simpsons, Mommie Beerest.
  17. ^ The Simpsons, Eight Misbehavin'.
  18. ^ The Simpsons, Homer and Marge Turn a Couple Play.
  19. ^ The Simpsons, Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em....
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