




Throughout the history of the Simpsons, some characters have often been portrayed as losers. Springfield residents like Moe Szyslak, Patty & Selma, and Lenny are just a few examples of characters who often don’t get their way, even if they deserve to have good things happen to them, or being liked by others around Springfield. In addition to the writing on the show, a lot of these characters’ foils are also seen in the animation. As a matter of fact, there are certain cases when the show is animated with the exclusive purpose of making lame characters seem as lame as a possible. Be it from the body language, facial expressions, setting, colors, or other design elements, the animation on the show is the driving force for having its “loser characters” fail to have positive experiences. 

The visual motif of facial expressions and body language, among other elements within a familiar character: Milhouse Van Houten. There is perhaps no other character on the show as synonymous with the word “loser” than Bart’s friend Milhouse. From his nerdy appearance to his little knowledge about social cues, the blue haired boy is constantly seen getting less than ideal results out of his plans. This is evident in this fan-inspired Simpsons comic strip. In the first panel, Milhouse is seen saying hello to a girl named Samantha. Before even seeing what Milhouse is saying, one can learn a few things about the situation.  The long distance shot shows that they’re outside, at some sort of art festival. Now it’s known that Milhouse has never really expressed artistic talent or interest, so it’s likely that there is some sort of ulterior motive for him being there. This could also mean that Milhouse is out of his element, a typical set-up for failure that’s seen often in cartoons. Looking more closely at him, aspects about his appearance also add insight to the situation. Milhouse’s eyes, eyebrows, relaxed smile, and an outreaching hand show that he’s trying to get Samantha’s attention, likely for some sort of romantic purpose. It can be interpreted that Milhouse’s face indicates a good deal of self confidence in himself, which could lead to trouble for him down the line. Since Milhouse often lacks good fortune or success, his bold expression hints at a troublesome conclusion for him. Conversely, the blank look on Samantha’s face and her walking motion suggests that she’s not thinking about Milhouse at all. It’s the polar opposite of the very opinionated and determined Milhouse. Before one even reads the text, it’s noticeable how Milhouse is pursuing a romantic interest with a girl who has little to no attention for him at that moment. On can also pick up that Milhouse may likely be unsuccessful at his pursuit, given his overconfidence and tendency to screw things up. The only actual text seen from the two characters is Milhouse saying hi to Samantha, more or less proving that the opening panel of this comic page is setting up the (likely non-existent) relationship that Milhouse and Samantha have together.

Moving on to the bottom left panel (third to last on the page), there is a much different mood. As opposed to the first panel, there is a much more intimate close up shot of Samantha hugging Milhouse. This set-up is interesting, because it shows that Milhouse is initially successful at getting Samantha's romantic interest. The body and facial language on the two fourth-graders is reversed now. Samantha now has the smile, raised eyebrows, and general hand placement Milhouse previously had. Meanwhile, the blank stare on Milhouse was the same one his crush had back when he was trying to get her attention. There is now a role-reversal in our two characters, as the imagery of the two children expresses that both have a level of interest with one another, just at different times. This proves that Milhouse now has Samantha’s full romantic interest, in what should be a very proud and successful endeavor on his part. The dialogue in the panel matches the appearance of the characters, as Samantha is telling Milhouse how much she misses him; thus confirming the puppy love that the two have for each other.

After studying the animation of the two characters and their contexts, one can begin to observe why all of this matters. The imagery of Milhouse and Samantha at the beginning and towards the end of the comic sets up for the humor that takes place primarily with Milhouse’s thoughts in the middle of the two scenes. Milhouse is seen trying to get attention to a girl he likes, and he ends up getting a positive response in the end. However, because of his time alone in between, he can no longer enjoy reaching his goal. He was so preoccupied with thinking he might be a future clone of himself, that he is now giving Samantha a lack of attention that he wanted to have before. Since Milhouse already has a connotation of being a dorky schlep, the humor makes sense for him to get what he wants but not have him really take full advantage of it. Very few characters on the show could pull off such a ridiculously unfortunate turn of events as Milhouse, but it makes sense for his character to suffer so tragically. This theoretically could have all worked with just the dialogue, but the imagery of the scene adds an incredible amount of perspective and exposition to the whole situation. 

The text in the comic shows that Milhouse’s unlucky plan of getting better acquainted with his crush may have failed because of his clone ideas. However, the animation in the comic tells a more complete story. Milhouse’s cockiness, him being out of his element, and his role-reversal with Samantha all paint a better picture of just how much of loser Milhouse can be. That sounds awfully cruel, but his context in the Simpsons universe gives it reason to be celebrated as a funny idea. If there were only had the dialogue without ever seeing the characters, much of the sense of clumsiness and dorkiness of Milhouse would be lost, ergo much of the humor of the scene. Fortunately, Milhouse’s perennially dorky exteriors gives him the loser appearance that gives the scene it’s comedy. 


