Mona Simpson (The Simpsons)
Template:Simpsons character Mona J. Simpson,[1] is a recurring fictional character in the FOX animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by guest star Glenn Close. She was the estranged wife of Abe Simpson, and the mother to Homer.[1] Mona, a criminal, was on the run and became caught up in the hippie movement, who Homer believed was dead. She is known for her rebellious, yet kind spirit.[2] Although she briefly appeared in a flashback in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" (voiced by Maggie Roswell), she stars in season seven's, "Mother Simpson", the first time she is voiced by Glenn Close.[2] Mona returns for season fifteen's, "My Mother the Carjacker", and appears for the last time in the season nineteen episode "Mona Leaves-a", where she dies.[3]
Profile
While Homer was still a small child in the 1960s, Mona became increasingly caught up in the hippie movement and participated in various acts of political activism, her beliefs being ignited by seeing Joe Namath's long hair during Super Bowl III. On one of these acts, Mona and a gang of other activists protesting germ research entered Burns's laboratory and destroyed all the biological warfare experiments. As the gang escaped, she stayed behind to help a fallen Burns, who in turn threatened her. Since that night, Mona was forced to leave her family. Seeking to comfort his son, Abe lied and said Mona had died while Homer was at the movies. He continued the lie by claiming Walt Whitman's gravestone was actually Mona's.
While Mona's whereabouts were unknown for most of her life, it was later revealed that for several years she resided at a hippie commune where she painted a mural dedicated to her son Homer. She continued to care for him from afar, sending him care packages every week. However because Homer never tipped his letter carrier, none of them have been delivered and have instead been stored at the post office for years. It was revealed that she was unfaithful to Abe during this period but Abe didn't realize this.
In "Mother Simpson", Mona hears the news and visits her son's open grave, into which Homer had just accidentally fallen. They are reunited, and Mona spends some quality time catching up with her family, but when Burns sees her at the post office and recognizes her face, she is forced to go on the run again. She is given secret information for escape from Chief Wiggum, because the chemicals she used to destroy Burns' biological samples inadvertently rid Wiggum of his asthma as well, which was holding him back from being a police officer. In "My Mother the Carjacker", Homer discovers a secret message left by her in a newspaper. After some time at a diner, she is found by the cops. She goes to trial for the crime she committed, but due to Homer's testimony she is acquitted. Mr. Burns later has her imprisoned for the minor charge of signing into a federal park under a false name (one pseudonym mentioned in this episode was "Anita Bonghit"). Homer attempts to break her free from the prison bus, but the chase ends in what appears to be her death when the bus drives off a cliff and lands in the water, where it explodes, and sets off a rock avalanche which buries it. In truth, she narrowly escaped before the bus went off the cliff, and is still on the run, last known to be eating Rhode Island style clam chowder.
Mona makes her final living appearance on a May 11, 2008, Mother's Day episode entitled "Mona Leaves-a". Mona returns to try and make up for lost time with Homer, but he angrily refuses, saying that she'll just wind up abandoning him again. The largest argument between Homer and any other character ensues, and that night, Mona arrives for one last apology, and says that by trying to fix the world, she learned she was destroying her own, but after Homer's anger reaches its highest, Mona decides to leave the room. Homer feels guilty about being mad at her and tries to make up with her only to find she passed away. She is cremated and according to her will, Homer is supposed to throw her ashes out on a mountain where they disrupt a missile guidance system which would have devastated the Amazon rainforest. After stopping the launch, Mona's ashes are finally scattered atop the mountain and the episode ends with a flashback of the time Mona spent with Homer.
Character
Creation
Prior to the seventh season, Mona Simpson had only made two brief flashback appearances, the first being season two's "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" and the second being season six's "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" and in both cases she was voiced by Maggie Roswell.[3] Mona's first major appearance was in the seventh season episode "Mother Simpson", which was pitched by Richard Appel, who was desperately trying to think of a story idea and decided that he had to really reach for an idea and decided to do something about Homer's mother, who previously had only been mentioned once.[5] The writers used the episode as an opportunity to solve several little puzzles, such as where Lisa's intelligence came from.[5] The character is named after Richard Appel's wife, whose maiden name is Mona Simpson.[5] (The real-life Mona Simpson is the full sister of industrialist Steve Jobs, although he had been given up for adoption at birth and the two didn't meet until adulthood.) Mona Simpson was designed in a way so that she has little bit of Homer in her face, such as the shape of her upper lip and her nose.[6] There were several design changes because the directors were trying to make her an attractive older and younger woman, but still be Simpson-esque.[6] The inspiration for the character comes from Bernardine Dohrn of the Weather Underground, although the writers acknowledge that several people fit her description.[7] Her crime was intentionally the least violent crime the writers could think of, as she didn't harm anyone and was only caught because she came back to help Mr. Burns.[7]
Glenn Close, who was directed in her first performance by Josh Weinstein,[7] was convinced to do the episode partially because of James L. Brooks.[8] When Mona gets in the van, her voice is done by Pamela Hayden because Glenn Close could not say "d'oh!" properly[7] and thus they used the original temp track recorded by Hayden.[5]
Development
Glenn Close would record original material for another episode, season fifteen's "My Mother the Carjacker", and a deleted scene featuring Mona from "Mother Simpson" would appear in season seven's "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". The character would also have a speaking appearance in season ten's "D'oh-in in the Wind", this time voiced by Tress MacNeille. Glenn Close returned as Mona for the third time in the season nineteen episode "Mona Leaves-a".[9]
Reception
"Mother Simpson" is one of Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein's favorite episodes as they feel it is a perfect combination of real emotion, good jokes and an interesting story[10] and they have expressed regret about not submitting it for the Emmy award in the "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)" category.[7]
IGN.com ranked Glenn Close's two performances as Mona as the 25th best guest star in the show's history.[3] In 2007, Entertainment Weekly called Glenn Close one of "fourteen guest stars whose standout performances on TV make us wish they'd turn up in a Simpsons Movie 2".[11] In 2008, Entertainment Weekly would also name Close one the 16 best Simpsons guest stars.[12]
References
- ^ a b Jeff Martin (writer) (1991-02-21). "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?". The Simpsons. Season 2. Episode 15. Fox Broadcasting Company.
- ^ a b The Simpsons episode: "Mother Simpson"
- ^ a b c Robert Canning (2008-05-12). "IGN: Mona Leaves-a Review; Homer's mother returns... breifly". IGN. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) Cite error: The named reference "IGN" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ Christine M (2008-05-12). "Recapist: "Mona Leaves-a"". Recapist. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c d Appel, Richard (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Mother Simpson" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b Silverman, David (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Mother Simpson" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b c d e Oakley, Bill (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Mother Simpson" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Groening, Matt (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Mother Simpson" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Fox unleashes a May sweeps to remember". FoxFlash. 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Weinstein, Josh (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Mother Simpson" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Bruno, Mike. "Simpsons Movie 2: Our Dream cast". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
- ^ "Springfield of Dreams: 16 great 'Simpsons' guest stars". Entertainment Weekly. 2008-05-11 author=Wook Kim. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
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