[news] Man sues "The Simpsons"; claims Bart hijacked his life
Benjamin Robinson
Times, on page D2. I'm transcribing it here because I couldn't find a
link to it on the Times website.
Man sues "The Simpsons"; claims Bart hijacked his life
by Miguel Ortega
Times Staff Writer
Daniel Birch, a 25-year-old resident of Rome, New York, may not look
much like Bart Simpson, the trouble-making son on "The Simpsons," but
he says he is the inspiration for the character. He's not happy about
it -- in fact, he's suing Fox Entertainment for $14 million dollars,
$1 million for each year the program has been broadcast.
The troubles for Birch began when the late art photographer Diane
Arbus snapped his picture for a work entitled, "Child with Toy Hand
Grenade." In a series of interviews given when "The Simpsons"
launched in 1990, cartoonist Matt Groening claimed that Bart Simpson
was based in part on this photograph, which shows a little boy in
shorts standing in Central Park, holding a hand grenade and striking
an almost freakish pose. Word of this eventually got around to
Birch's hometown on Long Island, and he immediately became the butt of
jokes.
"It was hell," Birch says. "People were always coming up to me and
saying, 'What are you going to do this week, Bart?' or 'What's it like
to be an underachiever?' It's like they expected me to be this whole
other person." Eventually, he says, he slid into the very sort of
bad-boy behavior that his cartoon doppelganger became known for.
Birch could be the victim of a Sudden Fame Syndrome, says Dr. Deirdre
Bishop, a professor of abnormal psychology at the University of
Connecticut. A recently discovered, and still highly debated,
disorder, Sudden Fame Syndrome (SFS) afflicts ordinary people who
suddenly achieve a measure of fame through no deliberate action of
their own. "We first noticed the phenomenon in the 80s," says Bishop,
"When late-night talk show hosts would train their cameras on ordinary
people. [David] Letterman was notorious for doing this. When he was
on NBC, he'd almost literally spy on a woman who was working in the
building next door. Eventually, he started calling her on air, and
even built a routine around her. She became a minor celebrity just
because she happened to work late in her office one night."
Of course, fame in itself doesn't necessarily cause problems. Meg
Parsant, the object of Letterman's attentions, apparently took things
in stride. "It becomes an issue," according to Bishop, "when the
subject can't deal with the attention in a positive manner." In
Birch's case, the then-twelve-year-old boy found that he was unable to
escape a reputation as a problem child -- a reputation that wasn't of
his own making. "This sort of thing can be devastating, especially to
an adolescent. He could very well wind up thinking, 'People are
always expecting the worst from me; maybe that's what I should give
them,'" Bishop said.
Indeed, Birch appears to have lived down to expectations. Originally
a competent if not outstanding student, school records show his grade
point average declining from 2.7 to a barely-passing 1.5. Trips to
the principal's office became more frequent, too. He even began
imitating some of Bart's stunts from the show. Thom Moore, one of
Birch's childhood friends, remembers, "Once he ripped up some sod on
the football field to spell out his name. He was pretty wild."
[Well, that's close. Bart used herbicide in "Principal Charming
(7F05)," if I recall -- bjr] Even a move upstate to Rome, an attempt
to make a fresh start, didn't help. "By then, the pattern was pretty
much established," Moore says. Birch eventually dropped out of school
several months shy of graduation, and accumulated a police record for
various petty offenses. Recently, he completed a GED program and is
trying to get his life back on track. "I feel like I'm paying for a
mistake I didn't even make," he says. "It's not really about the
money. I just want them to admit they screwed up."
Fox Entertainment lawyers contend that the suit really is about the
money. Speaking in a press statement, Chief counsel Dennis Wilson
says, "We feel this whole thing is a transparent attempt by this young
man to shift the responsibility for his actions from himself to the
Fox Corporation. It is nothing more than a fishing expedition, and we
fully expect the suit to be dismissed as frivolous before it even
reaches trial." Other members of the psychiatric community agree with
Fox. Joseph Asbury, a psychology professor at UCLA, dismisses the SFS
diagnosis altogether. "There is no such thing described in the in any
of the literature that I'm familiar with. If you ask me, it's just
the syndrome-of-the-month psychobabble."
Even Matt Groening, perhaps surprisingly, sides with his corporate
partners. "Bart was never really based on Arbus's photograph," the
artist said in a telephone interview. "I was just playing with the
interviewer. It was just this funky photograph of hers that stuck in
my head. Bart is really more like every boy everywhere who has been
let down by the adult system." Groening expressed sympathy for Birch,
but thinks his troubles run deeper than an offhand remark he made in
an interview.
The Arbus estate, which is not involved in the lawsuit, declined to
comment.
[Three small photographs ran with the article: A copy of the Arbus
photograph on the left, a "stock" picture of Bart in the center,
holding a slingshot, and a Birch head shot (looking a bit scraggly, I
might add) on the right. The caption reads, "HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?
'Child with Toy Grenade,' left, is said to have inspired the character
of Bart Simpson, center. Dan Birch, right, was the subject of that
long-ago photo, and says his life has been difficult since it was
linked to the cartoon star." -- bjr]
--
Benjamin Robinson bj...@freenet.tlh.fl.us
This message may or may not contain sarcastic content; your burden to decide
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" -- Semisonic
NRobin1027
> Bart is really more like every boy everywhere who has been
>let down by the adult system."
Question, don't the credits at the end of some shows, (Simpsons I'm not sure)
say that the show or people in it were not based on any real people or events
and that any similarities were purely coincidental or something to that effect?
It sounds like this guy has watched WAY too many episodes of the simpsons,
LOL:)
JMHO,
Robin:)
NRobin1027
Paul M. Schobert
> >let down by the adult system."
>
> Question, don't the credits at the end of some shows, (Simpsons I'm not
sure)
> say that the show or people in it were not based on any real people or
events
> and that any similarities were purely coincidental or something to that
effect?
I could have sworn I saw the real Duff-Man the other day ...
> It sounds like this guy has watched WAY too many episodes of the simpsons,
> LOL:)
Silly, there are never enough, let alone too many episodes! ;-)
Aaron Hirshberg
> Here's an interesting article. It ran in the March 29, St. Petersburg
> Times, on page D2. I'm transcribing it here because I couldn't find a
> link to it on the Times website.
>
> Man sues "The Simpsons"; claims Bart hijacked his life
1. And that's the end of that story!
2. The person who claims that Bart Simpson's life is based on his
doesn't have a life worth hijacking.
Space
Jig Jew
started calling me "Homer Simpson", then I stubbed my toe when I was walking
away. I want my 14 mill too.
"Benjamin Robinson" <bj...@freenet.tlh.fl.us> wrote in message
news:3e891f61...@news.digital.net...
Chris®
Remember everyone, check the date on this post before you comment.
"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one
behind me" - General George S. Patton.
That Guy
"Aaron Hirshberg" <aaronhi...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:170bb020.03040...@posting.google.com...
> bj...@freenet.tlh.fl.us (Benjamin Robinson) wrote in message
news:<3e891f61...@news.digital.net>...
> > Here's an interesting article. It ran in the March 29, St. Petersburg
> > Times, on page D2. I'm transcribing it here because I couldn't find a
> > link to it on the Times website.
> >
> > Man sues "The Simpsons"; claims Bart hijacked his life
>
> 1. And that's the end of that story!
I think you mean "chapter." :-)
That Guy
"Jig Jew" <gig...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Y_iia.11967$Jf.11...@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
Theodore Jay Miller
>
> saying, 'What are you going to do this week, Bart?' or 'What's it like
> to be an underachiever?' It's like they expected me to be this whole
> other person."
Didn't he steal this lawsuit from a Simpsons episode? You know,
bumbling TV cop with the same name as Homer, everyone expects Homer to
do the same stupid things as the TV character, Homer tries to sue the
TV show?
StefanW
Happy April Fools Day!!!
Simon
> Times, on page D2. I'm transcribing it here because I couldn't find a
> link to it on the Times website.
>
>
Chris Fewer
> photograph on the left, a "stock" picture of Bart in the center,
> holding a slingshot, and a Birch head shot (looking a bit scraggly, I
> might add) on the right. The caption reads, "HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?
> 'Child with Toy Grenade,' left, is said to have inspired the character
> of Bart Simpson, center. Dan Birch, right, was the subject of that
> long-ago photo, and says his life has been difficult since it was
> linked to the cartoon star." -- bjr]
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/arbus/arbus_hand_grenade.html <-
Yeah... that's a creepy photo...
Hugh Lilly
in which Paul M. Schobert <spir...@gmx.de> speculated:
>>> Bart is really more like every boy everywhere who has been
>>> let down by the adult system."
>>
>> Question, don't the credits at the end of some shows, (Simpsons I'm
>> not sure) say that the show or people in it were not based on any
>> real people or events and that any similarities were purely
>> coincidental or something to that effect?
>
> I could have sworn I saw the real Duff-Man the other day ...
Duff-Man is thrusting in the direction of the lawsuit.
--
© 2002 Hugh Lilly. | PGP ID: 0x064D2C0D
blog: http://hugh.orcon.net.nz
nntp//rss: http://www.methodize.org/nntprss
Earth shutting down in 5 minutes - Please save all files and log out.
Metlhd3138
>
>1. And that's the end of that story!
Oh, so i guess everythings wrapped up in a nice little package huh?
Yama
Alan Hamilton
>
>> Bart is really more like every boy everywhere who has been
>>let down by the adult system."
>
>Question, don't the credits at the end of some shows, (Simpsons I'm not sure)
>say that the show or people in it were not based on any real people or events
>and that any similarities were purely coincidental or something to that effect?
So there really is no such thing as Alec Baldwin? Whew!
--
/
/ * / Alan Hamilton
* * al...@arizonaroads.com
Jake Over
parents
in the world could identify themselves as guardians of Bart and Lisa, and
don't try and make money from it, as well as every other character could be
any given person. How can one possibly claim that a TV show (unless you
were working for the show or something) ruined your life. Phenomenal.
"Benjamin Robinson" <bj...@freenet.tlh.fl.us> wrote in message
news:3e891f61...@news.digital.net...