Warning: Spoilers for The Simpsons season 34, episode 15.
While The Simpsons has historically handed Bart some pretty terrible potential futures, season 34 finally hinted at the character’s more fittingly perfect fate. The Simpsons has jumped ahead into the future many times and, every time the series depicts the fate of its heroes, their life paths are different. In some versions of the future, Lisa is a successful businesswoman while in others, she is the President of the United States. Similarly, some versions of Bart’s future involve the character becoming a deadbeat dad, while others see him end up perpetually unemployed.
If that sounds a little lop-sided, that is because it is. Much like Bart and Lisa’s roles in The Simpsons are very different, their futures are also deeply divergent. Almost all the potential futures that viewers have seen for Bart involve him struggling to find gainful employment, being unable to keep his life in order, and repeatedly letting down his loved ones. This seems like a pretty harsh fate for a character whose academic limitations aren’t his fault but, in the meritocracy of Springfield, Bart’s fate is seemingly set in stone. That is, until The Simpsons season 34, episode 15, “Bartless,” provided him with an alternative path.
The Simpsons Season 34 Gave Bart A More Hopeful Outlook
In the opening scenes of “Bartless,” Bart displays a talent for getting kids interested in reading. This scene implies that (ironically) he might be suited to work as a children’s author. This promising future for Bart is a surprising first for The Simpsons as, much to Homer and Marge’s shock, Bart’s teacher and the rest of the school’s faculty are filled with praise for his ability to engage kids with reading materials through his playful brand of comedic commentary. While Homer and Marge are initially furious with Bart’s antics, his success in making children laugh and read proves that his parents may simply need to change their expectations.
Bart’s academic failings could reasonably be ascribed to the “Simpson” gene, an inherited genetic trait that supposedly ensures Bart’s intelligence will dwindle as he ages. However, there is no reason to believe that academic achievement alone is a reasonable metric for Bart’s potential success, judging by how much he impressed both the young readers of his school and their teachers. In a clever meta-joke, The Simpsons season 34 episode saw Marge and Homer wonder whether they even liked Bart when they realized how much they missed his potential calling. The creators of The Simpsons could reasonably ask the same of themselves, given how dark Bart’s earlier futures have been.
Bart’s Simpsons Future Makes Perfect Sense
Since Bart always hated school, it stands to reason that he would want to make it more fun for the next generation of kids. Furthermore, Bart’s academic struggles and his inability to pay attention in class could explain why he feels driven to help other children engage with school work. While Bart has often been written off as a troublemaker by his teachers (and even got in trouble for spoiling The Simpsons’ MCU parody), he could reasonably have expected his parents to have his back. However, Marge and Homer failed to trust in Bart’s potential, dooming him to a dark future until season 34 of The Simpsons.
