Stimpy
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| Stimpson "Stimpy" J. Cat | |
|---|---|
| File:Stimpy.jpg Stimpy | |
| Created by | John Kricfalusi |
| Portrayed by | Billy West (1991-1996; Nicktoons Racing, Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots) Eric Bauza (2003-2006); Nicktoons MLB) |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Cat |
| Gender | Male |
Stimpy or Stimpson J. Cat is a fictional character originating from the Nickelodeon series The Ren & Stimpy Show as one of the two titular characters, the other being Ren Höek. Ren and Stimpy were created by John Kricfalusi during his stay in Sheridan College and they first appeared on film in the pilot episode "Big House Blues". Stimpy is a good-natured, fat, stupid cat who is often at odds with Ren on the show, though they do share moments of closeness together.
Overview
Stimpy is a red and white, rotund cat with a blue nose, purple eyelids, no tail, hands with gloves that have fingernails, human-style buttocks, flat feet, and a brain the size of a peanut. He is portrayed as intelligent enough in some episodes to be a chef or a scientist, and sometimes as nonsensically stupid. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Stimpy as "obese," and "brain-damaged."[1] Andy Meisler of The New York Times described Stimpy as "bosom," "barrel-chested," and "good-natured."[2]
Stimpy's trademark facial expression is a blissfully ignorant smile with his tongue flopping out. Most of the time when he gets excited, he says his famous catchphrase, "Oh, Joy!" or simply "Jooooooy". Stimpy is named after an art school classmate of Kricfalusi, whose nickname was "Stimpy Cadogen" ("Killer Cadoogen" was Stimpy's pseudonym in several episodes, and in a few others he is referred to as Stimpleton Cadogen). West said that he based Stimpy's voice on a "amped up" Larry Fine of the Three Stooges.[3] West described Stimpy as one of his favorite characters.[4] Eric Bauza voiced Stimpy in Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" and Nicktoons MLB.
Stimpy likes to create destructive electronic devices and feels a fixation for, in the words of Andy Meisler of The New York Times, "sensory pleasures of fresh kitty litter."[2]
Wray described Stimpy as his favorite character to draw. Wray said that Stimpy does not have "a huge range of emotion."[5]
West said in an interview that he did not wish to voice Stimpy in the Adult Party Cartoon because he believed that the series was not funny and that voicing Stimpy in it would damage his career.[3]
History
In a 1993 interview by a comics magazine, Bill Wray stated that he believes that Kricfalusi created Ren and Stimpy around 15 years prior to the interview for Kricfalusi's and Kricfalusi's friends' personal amusement during the university years; Kricfalusi attended Sheridan College in Canada. Wray said that he had initially "forgotten about" the characters. When Nickelodeon requested new series, Kricfalusi assembled a presentation called "Your Gang," similar to a children's show with a live action host presenting various cartoons. Each cartoon parodied a genre, and Ren & Stimpy parodied the "cat and dog" genre. Vanessa Coffey, the producer of the show, said that she did not like the general idea, but that she liked Ren and Stimpy.[5]
Kricfalusi originally created Ren and Stimpy as the pets of George Liquor and Jimmy The Idiot Boy.[6]
Kricfalusi received inspiration, used when drawing the first drawings of Ren, from a black and white photograph of a chihuahua in a sweater next to a woman's feet.[7]
The characters and homosexuality
Kricfalusi discussed the sexuality of the characters in a January 28, 1997 interview with the San Francisco Examiner.
Jeffrey P. Dennis said in the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons" that Ren and Stimpy are within a world where "gay identities cannot exist," so the series portrays homosexual romantic desire as "anomalous and perverse." Dennis added that the critics of the series "made much" of the homosexual connotations of Ren and Stimpy, such as their sharing of a house and bed, their reminiscing of a wedding, and Stimpy's "giving birth" to flatulence.[8] Dennis said that Ren is "socially and sexually" the aggressor in the relationship; in addition he says that some episodes portray Stimpy as "a stereotypical 1950s wife" who cleans, cooks food, and irons Ren's underwear. Dennis stated that the aspects "may adhere to a reading of a sexual relationship." Dennis concludes that the relationship between Ren and Stimpy is a parody of heterosexual relationships rather than an actual homosexual or an actual romantic relationship. Dennis adds that in other situations Ren and Stimpy are "read more appropriately" as coworkers, enemies, friends, and house pets. Dennis argues that Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo are more consistently homosexual than Ren and Stimpy.[8] Dennis also stated that the scenes of Ren and Stimpy as a couple emulate a heterosexual couple instead of being a union between two men.[8]
In a response to Dennis' statements, Martin Goodman of Animation World Network said that Kricfalusi had outed Ren and Stimpy as homosexual and adds that while the Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" had not yet been released and therefore Ren and Stimpy had not been explicitly portrayed as homosexual, Ren and Stimpy would qualify as a consistently homosexual couple since they share a bed, live as partners, discuss a planned wedding, and had a "child," with the child being flatulence.[9]
References
- ^ Goodman, Martin. "Cartoons Aren't Real! Ren and Stimpy In Review." Animation World Magazine. Issue 5.12. March 2001. Retrieved on October 27, 2009.
- ^ a b Meisler, Andy. "TELEVISION; Ren and Stimpy's Triumphant Return." The New York Times. Sunday August 16, 1992. Retrieved on October 27, 2009.
- ^ a b Epstein, Daniel Robert. "Billy West Interview." UnderGroundOnline. Retrieved on October 27, 2009.
- ^ Billy West F.A.Q.. Billy West. Retrieved October 26, 2006.
- ^ a b Charles S. Novinskie (1993). "Bill Wray, interview". David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview issue 122. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff. Who's Who in Animated Cartoons. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2006. 187. ISBN 1-55783-671-X, 9781557836717.
- ^ "The Picture." (Direct image link) John K. Stuff. Retrieved on September 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c Dennis, Jeffrey P. "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons." Journal of Popular Film & Television. Fall 2003. Volume 31, Issue 3. 132-140. 9p, 3bw. Within the PDF document the source info is on p. 135 (4/10)
- ^ Goodman, Martin. "Deconstruction Zone — Part 2." Animation World Network. Wednesday March 10, 2004. Retrieved on October 27, 2009.
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