Matt-Groening

One of the greatest cartoonists, who has probably influenced as many kids as Joe Camel, was considered to be a longshot. Before Matt Groening became an all-known cartoonist, he worked at a sewage treatment plant and as a chauffeur to an old movie director. Many of his accomplishments include Life in Hell, Love, School, and Work is Hell. Groening has made over 45 books. Who knew that he would become so successful. Groening also made an animated primetime series called The Simpsons. He made another animated series called Futurama, which debuted in March 28, 1999.

Matt Groening was born on February 15, 1954 in Portland, Oregon. He is of Dutch, German, Norwegian extraction. He is the third of five children. His father was a cartoonist and filmmaker who ran his own advertising agency and his mother was a schoolteacher.

Groening started to show his talents in elementary school. Instead of listening, Groening spent a lot of his time doodling during the class time. This is the reason he was in the principal’s almost everyday. He never stopped his love for drawing. Groening vowed to take revenge on all the teachers. This is when he started to take a diary that later became the source of his book, School is Hell. Groening was also in the “Creature Club,” where he drew monsters from late-night horror movies and illustrations from monster magazines.

During High School, Groening was elected student-body president with a slogan of, “If you’re against decency, what are you for?” When he was elected, he tried to change the student government to have all power to himself. Groening applied to Harvard University but he was rejected. He then went to Evergreen State College, which is in Olympia, Washington. This college wasn’t exactly your average college. It didn’t give out grades or had required classes. The subjects he studied were Journalism, literature, filmmaking, popular culture, and philosophy. Groening was also working on the campus newspaper. People say that “Groening was a hippie, but hippier,” because he was very humorous yet militant. One of Groening’s friends, Lynda Barry, gave inspiration to him because she taught Groening that cartoons can be about anything you desire. He later then graduated in 1977.

Shortly after Groening graduated college, Groening moved to Los Angeles in a place were drug dealers were popular and physical fights. This later inspired his comic, Life in Hell, which he first sold for two dollars in a record store. It was being published by Wet Magazine. In 1979, he was hired to the Los Angeles Reader to deliver the newspaper to subscribers. His comic, Life in Hell first appeared in the newspaper in April 1980. The main character was called Bongo, a rabbit with big teeth and one ear. In 1983, the comic was held in more than 20 newspapers. Now, it is held in more than 250 newspapers.

The Simpsons, is one of Groening’s greatest achievements. Groening received a phone call from James L. Brookes who wanted him to do some animation for the Tracey Ullman Show. Matt quickly drew five characters for the presentation with Brookes. He called his five characters the Simpsons. The Simpsons first appeared on the show in September 8, 1986. It was a two-minute sketch. This was Groening’s first experience with animation. The Simpsons appeared in its own television show in 1990. This was the first animated prime-time series in 20 years. It debuted as Fox Networks highest-rated program. In The Simpsons family, all the names were named after his family besides Homer and Bart. In the television show, Abraham is the grandfather, Homer is the father, Marge is the mother, Lisa is the daughter, Maggie is the another daughter but an infant, and Bart is the son. In Groening’s life, Abraham is his son, his mother is named Marge, and he has two sisters named Lisa and Maggie. Bart however, is an anagram of “brat.” Homer comes from a Nathanael West novel about Hollywood, The Day of the Locust. The Simpsons were so successful that it had a multimillion-dollar merchandising bonanza comprising seventy licenses and about 200 products such as T-shirts, posters, buttons, air fresheners, and 3 different kinds of bubble gum. There is more than 100 people involved creating The Simpsons. There are six writers and fifty animators. One episode can take as long as six months to actually be finished. The episode goes through storyboards and layout drawings. The finishing animation is done in Seoul, South Korea, because the labor costs are lower there. The Simpsons received their first Peabody Award in July 1997. Also, Emmy nominated 6 times for best-animated series. The Simpsons are Emmy Award winners for 1990, 1991, and 1995. The Simpsons is now in its ninth year.

Futurama became a success right off the bat. Its premier had 19 million viewers, and next week had 14 million. The ratings went down when the show was moved to Tuesdays, but Groening says, “We haven’t been picked up yet, but I assume we will be.” Groening also comments, “At Fox, there’s an atmosphere of scrambling to repair the failures of their previous decisions. There’s no anticipation of success.” This is Groening’s opinion about Fox. Groening receives notes from the executives who are trying to make the show better. They don’t seem to listen to what Groening intended the show to be like. Groening believes that he should be the one giving notes to Fox Network.

Groening formed the “Bongo’s Comics Group,” where he is a publisher for many books based on many characters from The Simpsons. Two years later, he formed the “Zongo Comics,” which included two more books.

Groening lived in Venice, California in a home located along a canal so he can canoe without leaving his own front yard, but now he lives in Los Angeles with his wife Deborah Caplan and son. He is six feet tall with a beard and auburn hair. Groening’s jobs consist of Animation, a Cartoonist, Producer, Screenwriter, and a writer. These jobs are certainly better than working at a sewage treatment plant as he did before.

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