ARE BART SIMPSON AND DENNIS THE MENACE ALTER-EGOS?
Are these lovable rogues good friends or the same character? Bart is an anagram of brat. Dennis wears his heart on his dirty sleeve. He’s a menace, no question. Matt Groening has been quoted as saying that Bart was based on Matt’s own character with a wee bit of Dennis thrown in. I think, maybe there’s a wee bit of Dennis in us all. The main character in my book, Spirals of Truth, is often seen in a Dennis the Menace T-shirt.
Below is a piece of street art by Kid 30 in Newcastle. He seems to be of the same opinion as me about the duality of the two scallywags. This dual character graffiti was stitched together on top of another artist’s drawing. I think there was a bit of collusion.
Somebody else in “Deathbattle” seems to think the two are in duel rathr than dual.
I think that a lot of the characters we create, whether in art or in story-telling are a fusion of people we know, famous people, other people’s creations and, often, a little bit of ourselves.
Just last week, I had to go down to our store of personal belongings and mementos. You know what I’m speaking about; boxes that were carefully labelled years ago but have since been condensed and mixed up. We’ve got old Billy Conolly videos in analog, achievement certificates from last century, an Aberdeen supporters scarf. In one box I came across three “Broons” annuals belonging to one of my sons. I looked down at the family of cartoon characters and thought, “You know, they’re like the Simpsons.”
I got out my laptop and did a Google search. There are several posts linking the Broons with the Simpsons but nothing conclusive. However, as I said above, it would appear that Dennis the Menace may have influenced the creation of Bart Simpson. Both the Broons and Dennis were created by Dudley Dexter Watkins who was cartoonist with DC Thomson of Dundee, so it will always be an open question.
Are you a mischievous character or a quiet mouse? Sometimes we can be both. Have you ever tried your hand at street art? I had to learn to sketch fast on the blackboard to teach English but sometimes my elephants looked like a horse with big, droopy ears. I love street art that is creative and I take photos of good graffiti everywhere I go. I like KID 30’s works but I haven’t seen any in real life. I wonder if he goes around, street-painting, in a Menace T-shirt or maybe Bart?
Below is a picture of when I was a bit mischievous with street art.
Our school was in an old building in a street just behind the main street; I wanted a bit of impact and the windows didn’t lend themselves to decals. So I just went ahead and had fun painting Big Ben and other London images. I looked out the window one day and saw the Mayor of the town, inspecting my work. “They’re going to make me strip it off,” I thought, until I looked closer. He had his son by the hand and he was showing him the images.
I have another story in the pipeline about our little school in Spain. It will be “Big Ben School in Palamos”. Like all my stories, it is free to read.
