Matt Groening its That He’s More of a Milhouse Than a Bart
It’s no secret that five of the most beloved, profitable and cromulent cartoon characters in the history of pop-culture were thrown together at the last minute. Matt Groening famously scrapped his pitch for a series of named after his own relatives.
In retrospect, since Groening had a mother named Marge, a father named Homer, a grandfather named Abe and two sisters named Lisa and Maggie, does that mean that Bart Simpson was based on ‘lil Matt? Well, not exactly.
As we’ve mentioned before, the Bart Simpson character was inspired by Groening’s disappointment with the Dennis the Menace sitcom, and his fascination with Eddie Haskell, Wally Cleaver’s sociopathic best friend on Leave It to Beaver. Plus, it turns out that another Simpsons character is really a better representation of Groening’s youth.
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Groening just accepted the Honorary Cristal Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in . After examining the secrets of the show’s longevity, as Deadline reported, Groening made a startling ission while discussing Bart’s origins. “I’ll let you into a little secret,” the cartoonist told the crowd, “Je suis Milhouse.”
Obviously Milhouse wasn’t named after Groening, or even a member of his family, but rather, after Richard Nixon’s middle name. And clearly the look of Bart’s best friend wasn’t patterned off of a young Matt Groening, it was based on writer Rob Cohen.
But the Simpsons creator’s childhood does sound as though it aligns more with Milhouse the dorky outcast than Bart the mischievous rebel in some ways. “I felt misunderstood at school,” Groening once explained in an interview. “I couldn’t understand why stuff that brought me such joy could annoy so many teachers. I drew comic strips and they ripped them up.”
Groening was also a dedicated reader of science fiction, which later influenced his work on Futurama.
But those nerdy pursuits did lead him to getting punished like Bart. Reportedly, in addition to having his cartoons confiscated and destroyed in school, Groening was forced to write out “I must be quiet in class” 500 times on a blackboard on “at least one occasion.” Which sounds familiar…
He also ran for student body president in high school on the “Teens for Decency” ticket, and actually won. Bart similarly ran for school office, with a memorable campaign strategy.
Not to mention how it was Bart who once created his own cartoon series:
So contrary to his recent speech, certain aspects of both Milhouse and Bart were seemingly informed by Groening’s childhood. And after decades of receiving giant checks from Fox, he can probably draw on his life experience for Mr. Burns now as well.
