Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the
animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first
appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He
is the next-door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally loathed by Homer
Simpson. A devout Evangelical Christian with an annoyingly perfect family, he is
among the friendliest and most compassionate of Springfield's citizens
and is generally considered a pillar of the Springfield community.
He was one of the first characters outside of the immediate Simpson family
to appear on the show, and has since been central to several episodes, the
first being season two's "Dead Putting Society". His last name comes from
Flanders St. in Portland, Oregon, the hometown of Simpsons creator Matt
Groening. When he was created, he was intended to just be a neighbor who was
very nice, but whom Homer loathed. In May 2015, Harry Shearer quit the role
and the voice of Ned and the role would be recast. However, as of July 7, it has
been announced Fox signed all of its main cast members, including Shearer.
Role in The Simpsons Ned Flanders, whose real first name is
Edward, is a genuinely well-meaning good-natured person and is one of the
few in Springfield to whom that description applies. Firmly religious,
he can be timid and something of a pushover. He is a Republican and a
devout Evangelical Christian who strictly follows the Bible literally and
is easily shocked when challenged on any point of dogma. This has led to his
frequent calls to Reverend Lovejoy, who has become increasingly frustrated with
and uninterested in Flanders. Flanders grew up in New York and was the
son of "freaky beatniks" who did not discipline Ned and let him run wild.
Eventually they took him to Dr. Foster, a psychiatrist, who put the young Ned
through the University of Minnesota Spankalogical Protocol, which involved
eight months of continuous spanking. The treatment worked so well that it
rendered Flanders unable to express any anger at all and resulted in his
trademark nonsensical jabbering at moments when he was particularly close
to losing his temper, causing Ned to unknowingly repress his anger.
Flanders got his diploma from Oral Roberts University in an unspecified
field and worked as a salesman in the pharmaceuticals industry for the bulk of
his adult life. Having saved much of his earnings, Flanders decided to quit his
job and invested his family's life savings into a store in the Springfield
mall called "The Leftorium" specializing in products for left-handed people.
Despite a meek outward appearance, Ned hides an exceptionally well-toned
physique. In the episode "Hurricane Neddy" a flashback to 30 years earlier
shows Ned as a young child despite the fact that he is later said to be 60
years old, attributing his youthful appearance to his conformity to the
"three Cs"—"clean living, chewing thoroughly, and a daily dose of vitamin
church". Flanders is very honest and sincere in
carrying out the Christian doctrines of charity, kindness, and compassion. He is
frequently shown doing volunteer work, and is rigorously honest and upright,
even going so far as to spend an entire day tracking down a Leftorium customer
in order to give him the extra change that he had forgotten to hand over. In
"Homer's Triple Bypass", he donates a kidney and a lung out of the goodness of
his heart to whoever needs them first. He also is a good neighbor to the
Simpsons, regularly offering his assistance. Ned’s dogged friendship
inspires the loyalty of others; when his Leftorium appeared on the verge of
bankruptcy shortly after it opened, Homer arranged a George Bailey-esque
bailout with the help of many people in Springfield.
Flanders is a widower, having been married to the equally religious Maude.
They had two children together; the sheltered and naive Rod and Todd
Flanders. In the eleventh season, Maude dies an untimely death in a freak
accident involving a T-shirt cannon, leaving Flanders alone and grieving.
While still married to Maude, Ned married Ginger, while on a drunken
bender in Las Vegas. Ginger came to live with Ned and his sons for a brief period
following Maude's death in a later episode, but she quickly grew tired of
the Flanders' sickly-sweet personalities and fled. Despite his outward
nerdishness, Flanders has also been connected romantically with a beautiful
Christian-rock singer, Rachel Jordan, movie star Sara Sloane and eventually
marrying local teacher Edna Krabappel. In the early years of The Simpsons,
Homer Simpson generally loathed Flanders, because Ned's family, job,
health and self-discipline are of higher quality than he could ever hope to
attain himself. Homer is often shown borrowing items from Flanders, such as a
weather vane, a camcorder, a diploma, a toothbrush and an air conditioning unit.
Even the Simpsons' couch came from "the curb outside Flanders' house". Homer has
since come to have a love-hate relationship with Flanders, sometimes
being his best friend, partly due to Ned's selfless tolerance of him, and
other times treating Flanders with complete disregard. Homer seems to
genuinely care for Ned, despite still expressing and often acting on feelings
of loathing. Nowadays Homer seems to regard Ned as more of a nuisance. An
early running joke was that Marge considers Flanders to be a perfect
neighbor and usually sides with him instead of her husband, which always
enrages Homer. Flanders is normally oblivious to Homer's disdain for him,
although on occasions he has snapped at Homer after being pushed too far.
Flanders has been shown to call Reverend Lovejoy for advice often, even over
minuscule things, to the point that Lovejoy has stopped caring and has even
suggested that Flanders try a different religion. This was a running joke in the
early seasons, but has been used less in the later episodes. In the eighth
season, the episode "In Marge We Trust" would examine the relationship between
Lovejoy and Flanders, and shows the history of their relationship and how
Lovejoy became increasingly uninterested in Flanders' problems. Flanders is shown
to have a room in his house filled with memorabilia of The Beatles. He claims
that this is because they were "bigger than Jesus".
Character = Creation=
Ned Flanders, who was designed by Rich Moore, first appeared in the season one
episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". The episode was the series
premiere, but not the first episode produced. The first episode in which
Flanders and his family were prominent is season two's "Dead Putting Society",
which also contained the first appearance of Maude and Rod Flanders.
Flanders was named after Flanders St. in Portland, Oregon, the hometown of
Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Groening described the inspiration for Flanders
as "just a guy who was truly nice, that Homer had no justifiable reason to
loathe, but then did". It was not until after the first few episodes that it was
decided Flanders would be a faithful Christian. Mike Scully noted that
Flanders is "everything Homer would love to be, although he'll never admit it".
Flanders had been meant to be just a neighbor that Homer was jealous of, but
Harry Shearer used "such a sweet voice" and Flanders was broadened to become a
Christian and a sweet guy that someone would prefer to live next to over Homer.
Flanders is known for his nonsensical jabbering. His first use of the word
"diddly" was in "The Call of the Simpsons".
= Development= Ned Flanders was not religious in his
first few appearances and in the first few seasons he was only mildly religious
and his primary role was to be so "cloyingly perfect as to annoy and shame
the Simpsons", whereas Homer Simpson has always hated Ned Flanders and always
tries to undermine him. There has been a consistent effort among the show's
writers to make him not just "goody good and an unsympathetic person". In the
later seasons, Flanders has become more of a caricature of the Christian right,
and his role as an irritating "perfect neighbor" has been lessened. For example
some recent episodes Flanders has appeared to show rather prejudice
attitudes against gays and people of religions other than Christianity.
Ned's store "The Leftorium" first appeared in "When Flanders Failed". It
was suggested by George Meyer, who had had a friend who had owned a left-handed
specialty store which failed. The episode "Hurricane Neddy" shows Ned's
faith being tested and the writers also used the episode as a chance to examine
what makes him tick. There have been two occasions where
Flanders was not voiced by Harry Shearer. In "Bart of Darkness",
Flanders's high pitched scream was performed by Tress MacNeille and in
"Homer to the Max", Flanders comments about cartoons being easily able to
change voice actors and on that occasion he was voiced by Karl Wiedergott.
= "The Adventures of Ned Flanders"= The Adventures of Ned Flanders is a
short film that appears at the end of the fourth season Simpsons episode "The
Front". The only one to ever exist and titled Love that God, it highlights
Flanders' dedication to religion and perfect family niceness by showing Ned
nearly scolding Rod and Todd after they refuse to get ready for church–only to
have them inform him that it is, in fact, Saturday. Ned laughs at his
mistake with a trademark "okely dokely do!" The segment was added when "The
Front" was too short and the producers had already tried "every trick in the
book" to lengthen it. Although the episode was scripted by Adam I. Lapidus,
"Love That God" was written by Mike Reiss, Al Jean and Sam Simon.
Generally, fans reacted with confusion as to why the short existed. Bill Oakley
and several other writers loved the short so much that they wanted to do
more, but time limitations prevented them. As a result, Oakley and Josh
Weinstein decided to produce an entire episode that was nothing but
loosely-associated shorts, which became the season seven episode "22 Short Films
about Springfield". The Flanders/Lovejoy segment of that episode was written by
David X. Cohen. "22 Short Films about Springfield" in turn inspired the
Futurama episode "Three Hundred Big Boys".
Reception Although in more recent seasons Flanders
has become a caricature of the Christian right, he is still a favorite of many
Christian viewers. Dr. Rowan Williams, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, is a
confessed Simpsons fan, and likes Flanders. Ned's "unbearable piousness"
has been described as "The Simpsons‍ '​ sharpest critique of organized religion.
The show's implicit argument seems to be that humorless obsessives like Ned have
hijacked religious institutions, removing them from the center of society
to a place where only those who know their brides of Beth Chedruharazzeb from
their wells of Zohassadar can seek solace." Steve Goddard of the website
Ship of Fools said, "Ned is an innocent abroad in a world of cynicism and
compromise. We love him because we know what it's like to be classed as a nerd —
and to come out smiling at the end of it."
Cultural influence Ned Flanders has been described as "The
United States' most well-known evangelical". According to Christianity
Today, "today on American college and high school campuses, the name most
associated with the word Christian—other than Jesus—is not the Pope or Mother
Teresa or even Billy Graham. Instead, it's a goofy-looking guy named Ned
Flanders on the animated sitcom known as The Simpsons. The mustache, thick
glasses, green sweater, and irrepressibly cheerful demeanor of Ned
Flanders, Homer Simpson's next-door neighbor, have made him an indelible
figure, the evangelical known most intimately to nonevangelicals." Former
Montreal Canadiens goaltender Peter Budaj had an image of Ned Flanders
painted on the back of his helmet. In 2001 and 2002, the Greenbelt
festival, a British Christian music and arts fest, held a special "Ned Flanders
Night". The 2001 event featured a look-alike contest, as well as the
tribute band "Ned Zeppelin". It was held in a 500-seat venue that was filled to
capacity, and an extra 1500 people were turned away at the door. A second event
was held in 2002, with Ned Zeppelin reappearing.
= Merchandise= Flanders has been included in The
Simpsons merchandise. In 2008, the Flanders' Book of Faith, part of the
Simpsons Library of Wisdom was released by HarperCollins. The book takes a look
at Flanders' life and his ever enduring faith.
See also References
Bibliography External links
Ned Flanders at the Internet Movie Database