today we'll be exploring one of the most tragic characters in the simpsons canon
homer's enemy frank grimes frank grimes or grimy appeared in what many consider to be one of the
darkest episodes in all of the simpsons what made episode 23 of season 8 so unique and unforgettable
was that the frank grimes character actually represented a normal person a hard-working
persevering american everyman stepping into the simpsons universe frank grimes is most of us but
what was it that made frank grime so relatable yet so tragic it was the shape of his story
charting character's journey through a story is a good way to ensure they don't stay stagnant
this can be done by monitoring how the character moves up and down the rankings of fortune
what happens to this character what does he or she do from beginning to end and do those events
in action yield something good or something bad in a 2004 lecture the author of slaughterhouse
five kurt vonnegut showed the variety of shapes a story can take on a graph he drew on a chalkboard
on the vertical axis the gi axis top represents good fortune for the character
they get a promotion they get married or they win a championship and at the bottom ill fortune they
get sick they get fired or they lose everything in a hurricane on the horizontal axis the b-e-axis
the left is the beginning and the right is the end of the story using this graph we can see the story
of frank grimes more clearly and recognize how to use triumphs and failures to build a character
frank grime's life begins like any other somewhere just above good fortune for having been born
yet early in the story he is stricken with bad luck at the age of four frank grime
was abandoned by his family orphaned at such a young age this sets his life in a downward trend
at least he gets a job but he doesn't rise up far for his job as a delivery boy delivering toys to
richer more fortunate children fortune continues going down for many years until his 18th birthday
when frank grimes is blown up in a silo explosion the bottom falls out and we find our character as
low as he's ever been frank grime recovers slowly rising upward and begins learning to hear and feel
pain again gradually he climbs using his leisure time to study science by mail 17 years past since
his accident working hard and persisting frank grime finally crosses the line from ill fortune
into good fortune at 35 years old he received his correspondence school diploma in nuclear physics
with a minor in determination he experiences a blip immediately after this as a bird tries
to steal his diploma a week after frank grime's fortune soared higher when his segment in kent's
people aired and mr byrne sought to hire him as the executive vice president of the power plant
now if frank grime's story was to end here it would be a true underdog story a man starting
at zero and rising to the top however in this episode this is where the story really begins
the story begins with frank grime at his peak and we see how quickly his fortune reverses
grime spent no more than one full day at the pinnacle of his fortune the next day mr burn
watched another segment of kent's people this time about a heroic dog and had already forgotten about
the self-made man having been put out of the way grime begins a slow decline into madness first
with homer touching his pencils then calling him stretching eating a special dietetic lunch
then destroying his pencils and finally being annoying and shirking his job especially when
there's a 5 13. even as annoying as homer is grime doesn't fall below origin that is until he saves
homer's life knocking a haphazardly placed beaker of sulfuric acid out of his hand and into the wall
melting it completely this just so happens as mr burns is walking by things drop significantly
when mr byrne doesn't terminate grimes but gives him one more chance at a reduced salary
grimes is not a rock bottom things aren't worse than when he was caught in the silo explosion
but it's a dramatic turning point for grimes who wants nothing more to do with homer
as bad as grime's life is living in a single room above a bowling alley below another bowling alley
and working a second job at the foundry things don't get any worse until homer tricks him to
come over to his palace for an extravagant lobster dinner and to show off his perfect family after
seeing all of homer's achievements going to space and winning a grammy the floor falls away
and grime nose dives but catches himself when he storms out after calling homer a fraud
in an effort to get even expose and disgrace homer and get some positive fortune grime fools
homer into participating in the children's nuclear design contest things were looking
good for a short moment but then homer hits his car on his way home to work on his design
all that would be fine if homer is embarrassed on stage but his plan fails and homer wins the
competition this time grimes is unable to catch himself losing his mind he mimics
homer self-destructively causing a scene and eventually electrocuting himself to death
grime's life ends at a new low point to accomplish all he had and to end up so disrespected
frank grimes character journey truly represents the tragedy of the american working class
how hard-working people can overcome so much and still implode upon themselves yes homer's anime
is a dark episode but it's also one of the most memorable ones because when we watch the simpsons
in reality more often than not we are in frank grime's shoes we all face good and ill fortune
that is what makes a character relatable if you want to create your own character that experiences
profound change i recommend plotting their life on a story shape graph make sure they face good
and no fortune through their lives then choose a starting point in the case of frank grimes
the story starts while he's most fortunate maybe that's a good place to start the story of your
tragic character as well do you want to see the shape of a story for another famous character
let me know in the comments it can be from a movie television show or literature i'll do my best to
make it possible and for more videos on writing and the creative process don't forget to subscribe