CREATED BY: Matt Groening
FIRST APPEARANCE: The Simpsons (1987)
AREAS OF INFLUENCE: Deficient in those attributes that make a good husband (“What’s the point of going out? We’re just going to wind up back here anyway.”), loving father (“Well, it’s 1 A.M. — better go home and spend some quality time with the kids.”), and loyal employee (“If something goes wrong at the plant, blame the guy who can’t speak English!”), Homer Jay Simpson is the ultimate representation of that most comforting of modern archetypes: the Lovable Failure. It’s an appeal based on the universality of experience — we find humor in Homer’s aggrieved laments to the injustices visited upon him by an uncaring world (and a stellar writing staff) because there’s a bit of Homer in everyone of us.
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